Clutch pedal droop

[Ianc]

I asked this question before, but not as succinctly. My clutch pedal rests about 10 Cm below the level of the brake pedal. I have looked at various web sites that tell me how to remove the pedal and repair it, but they don't make it clear just what causes the problem. Looking at mine, the weld on the engine side of the firewall looks good, so it's not the weld letting go. So does the clutch shaft twist? Or does the pin holding the clutch shaft become loose? What happens? My thanks. (I ask this because to fix it, if the shaft is twisted, it seems that I should cut the shaft off, machine a new one, and weld it to the pedal. The sites I've looked at don't talk about that.)

[John M]

Hey Ian:

If you are referring to pedal box failure....the weld in question is inside the pedal box where the pedal connects to the shaft. I have not had to do this repair so going out on a limb here. But I do believe you must remove the pedal box to get at the spot needing rewelding.

Best Regards,
John M

[MrT]

Well..... The weld in the engine bay is probably your problem, anyway. The arm has a hole bored in it, into which a necked-down portion of the shaft is inserted. A weld is done, adding material to fill the hole, but not beefing up the narrowed portion of the shaft (maybe 5/8"or so, metric equiv. of course) where the shaft butts up to the arm (this is where supplementary welds are done by folks tired of twisted shafts). The body of the shaft is keyed to the pedal and can't really rotate there. The body of the shaft is also of greater diameter than the portion welded to the arm. The narrow portion of the shaft twists under strain coming from jammed slave cylinder or (in my case) a blocked clutch flex hose.

I put in a new pedal shaft/arm on a newly acquired and clutch-impaired Spider, and within about 30 seconds after starting the clutch bleed process also had a newly broken shaft/arm. To replace it, you need to pull the upper and lower pairs of nuts holding the pedal box in place, disconnect the clutch and brake lines from their M.C.'s, and pull the pedal box out enough to access the key holding the shaft in place. It is held there by a 10 mm nut. Back off the nut a few turns (to the end of the threads) and bap it with a (perferably soft like copper or brass) hammer to loosen it. Or press it out with a C-clamp. The pedals don't readily come out through the pedal box hole with the shaft locking them in position. Maybe you can wrench them through, but I had to pull the shaft to get them out.

Buy a new shaft (~$35) or re-position your pedal manually where you want it and re-weld it when you pull it out. (I really don't recommend re-welding, but it's up to you.) Replace your clutch flex hose (<$20) as cheap insurance. I never would have guessed it was my problem, but it was the _only_ problem in my system. When the fluid won't move and you keep pushing the pedal, either the M.C. seals go (unlikely) or the shaft does (likely).

Michael