Noisey Clutch Pedal

[captainwillie]

Help! My clutch pedal makes ticking, ratling noises with the truck in gear and the clutch released. Partially depressing the pedal seems to make most of the noise go away. I tried moving the pedal assmeble, but cannot duplicate the sound, so I think the bushings inside the pedal shaft are probably ok. Anybody got any ideas? Thanks.

[mclairmo]

Replace those plastic bushings and grease them well. I believe the "Help" section of most parts stores carry them as brake pedal bushings. I have several boxes of them for all my old cars/trucks. I believe the bushings are the same for the clutch and brake pedals.

[captainwillie]

Thanks for that thought. Doesn't seem to be much play in the pedal though, so thought it might just be the 'speaker' for noise of slack somewhere upstream. Are there any other bushings in the linkage? Could the throw-out bearing be making a clinking/clicking noise that is being transmitted through the linkage? And just how do you get to the pedal shaft anyway, as I haven't even seen the top of the pedal linkage yet. Smile.

[jef5150]

With your truck RUNNING in "neutral",

(only)press the clutch pedal in and out

you hear a strange noise "also"

[captainwillie]

Originally Posted by jef5150

With your truck RUNNING in "neutral",

(only)press the clutch pedal in and out

you hear a strange noise "also"

No, no noise in nuetral, but in gear, either running or with rear wheels off the ground. Higher pitched clinking kinda thing.

[unclewatts]

HA! I know exactly what your problem is because I had the same problem. It's the clutch Bell crank/crosshaft. Inside the bellcrank is two ball studs. One bolts to the side of the block and the other bolts through a bracket to the top of the left hand frame rail. Also inside the bellcrank is two little plastic seal rings. In the middle of the crossshaft is a zerk type grease fitting. When the grease in the crosshaft dries out, it rattles like crazy! pushing the clutch pedal down a little takes up the slack and the Damn thing shuts up. There are two possible solutions: One: inject a whole bunch of grease in the crosshaft zerk and hope that solves it or Two: (preferred) pull the crosshaft and replace the ball studs, plastic seals inside, felt washers and the crosshaft itself if there are any wear grooves inside. www.lmctruck.com has the parts on page 136. What happens is over the years the ball studs wear out and a clearance is created inside the crosshaft and the vibration of the engine causes it to rattle like hell and drive you absolutely nuts! (Classic Parts stocks the crosshaft itself for $34.95) I have found that most garages who grease your truck will miss greasing that zerk because they don't know it's there. If you replace those parts I GUARANTEE that it will fix that rattle.

[captainwillie]

Thanks Kermie,

I recently lubed the shaft, but will try to force a little more in there and see what happens. I think the clutch pedal 'rattle' may just be the speaker for a worn out throw out bearing or pressure plate that will make its presence known somewhere down the road.

[WorkinLonghorn]

I had this exact problem and found that the return spring was broken and the peddle was vibrating. Once I replaced the spring it went away (the noise).