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Midget stuck in gear

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JimSnack

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Our 71 Midget that has been sitting for years started today and the engine runs great. The only problem is that the clutch won't release.

We removed the slave cylinder and re-bleed it. That's not the problem. It won't release even by moving the lever by hand. The lever just pivots back and forth with very little spring against it.

Could the clutch be stuck from sitting so long? Could the pressure plate be broken? Any ideas?

Jim
 
Disc rusted to the pressure plate and/or flywheel.
Roll the car to where you don't have anything right in front of it.
Start it in neutral, warm it fully up.
Shut it off.
Place in 4th gear, set parking brake, one foot on clutch, one foot on brake, hard.
Start vehicle.

That will usually pop them loose.
Dave
 
dose the pedle feel good on the clutch and is it moving the arm?you may have a master cly problem also
I if that checks out then the disk is stuck :iagree:
but I would try first is put it in 4 gear with the clucth pedle held down and rock the car back and forth
 
It's not a master cylinder problem as the slave cylinder works. The pedal moves the arm, but nothing seems to be moving much inside the tranny. We unhooked the slave cylinder and tried moving the clutch by hand, but nothing releases. The clutch is definitely stuck inside the housing.

Hopefully we will be able to free it without having to pull the engine and transmission and replacing the whole clutch!

I just posted video of the engine running today for the first time about 20 years!

https://www.jimsnack.com/march.htm


Jim
 
You cannot move the release arm by hand.
Cannot be done.

Are you saying the hydraulics work, but the pedal is up and hard and won't move?
If so, it's the release sleeve stuck on the front bearing retainer and the trick I posted won't work.
 
No, the pedal moves fine. It feels like ther is some clutch pedal. And I can move the release lever by hand under the car, but there is not a lot of resistance. It's like the pressure plate is not releasing the clutch. Does that make sense?

Jim
 
dose it make noise when you have the motor running and you press on the pedal ?
is the pin good where the master and the pedal meet?
if you have a lot of slop there it not getting the clutch open maybe?
I have had this problem alot over the years with MG's
 
Makes no sense.
If you have resistance at the pedal, does it feel normal?
You say "some", not sure how to quantify that.
Moving the lever under the car...yes, you can move it back, away from the slave, that's normal.
When you have someone step on the clutch, can you visualize the rod and arm moving?
How much?

You could have snapped the fork off. Should not have done that just sitting. Did it work when you parked it?
 
Pivot bolt broken or fallen out?
T/O bearing disintegrated?
Pressure plate diaphram broken?

If you don't get any movement when you depress the pedal, hydraulics of some sort.
If you do, and it's, oh, an inch or so of rod movement, try the 4th gear-brakes trick and see.
Can't hurt.
 
Sorry for the confusion.

The slave cylinder works when I depress the pedal, but there is only an inch or so of rod movement When I try to shift when the motors running, the gear grind, so the clutch is not disengaging. There may still be some air in the system, so I'll try bleeding it again, and then try the 4th gear-brakes trick.

Unfortunately I'm heading out of town tomorrow morning until next Monday, so I won't get a chance to work on it until Tuesday next week. I'll let you know what happens next week. Thanks.

Jim
 
An inch or so is good.
Try the 4th gear brakes locked trick.
 
I'll also check the pin where the pedal connects to the MC, but I think that was okay.

Don't know how it ran 20 years ago as we are fixing the car for a friend whose father owned the car. When he passed away she got the car and it was stored for years. She doesn't know a lot about the car, but it was driven to storage at a garage.

Jim
 
We've been working on the car for three months...now that it's running, I just want to drive it! I'll bet it's a blast to drive. We'll see what happens next week.
 
More than likely the clutch disk is sticking to either the flywheel or pressure plate. You might be able to get a bent dinner knife (make sure it is an old one from the thrift store and not one of the good ones from the house) up through the inspection hole on the opposite side of the bell housing to the release arm and pry the disc off the flywheel/plate. Do this with the clutch pedal depressed. An inspection mirror and extra light may be necessary to see what to do.

Worn parts decrease the effective stroke of the release arm. Things like worn out release arm pivot bush, pivot bolt, slave pushrod, pushrod pivot pin and carbon release bearing all contribute to reduced clutch disengagement.

An inch of movement at the slave cylinder is gracious plenty. More than enough to get disengagement.

Keep chasing the culprit, but my money is on the stuck disk. Used a putty knife to do the trick on a 67 Chevy panel van back in the early 70's. Clutch disk was stuck to the flywheel. The 71 Spridget must not have had much of an oil leak at the rear main bearing. Usually, there is just enough oil being slung around inside the bell housing to keep the disk from sticking. Sounds like dewpoint condensation got to the disk instead.

HTH,
Mike Miller
 
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