Clutch pedal Heim Joint Mod Complete!

Finally got tired of pushing the clutch pedal thru the floorboard to shift and got off my keister and got the mod done.
While digging around under the dash I found that the firewall had the TSB done for the structural weakness. Well for a grand total of $5.67 and 1 1/2 hrs of knuckle bleeding the mod is done and WOW what a diff!
No more 2 " of play and all is tight. The heim joint repair did the trick as the trans shifts smoother than ever. No more fighting the shifter or grinding gears.
The mod was done a lot easier than thought. And it looks pretty sweet too.
Especially with the night shot view.
As bad as the pushrod had egg shaped from the PO's lack of maintenance and me engineering things to "get by" It was the easiest option for repair and very inexpensive.
I took a couple of extra photos of various stages of assembly for anyone in the same boat as me.
Not sure if this is worth of a write up but was good for me.:draw

Happily shifting,

Ron

I took a couple of extra photos of various stages of assembly for anyone in the same boat as me.
Not sure if this is worth of a write up but was good for me.

Click to expand...

Keeping things lubed up has allowed me to go thus far on the original setup, but I would like to see the pictures for future reference.

Thanks for taking the time out from the job to take them.

I second RFT's request...my clutch pedal's pretty hard. I know I need to get the firewall strengthened and replace the throwout bearing, but it's a fair bet the linkage has seen better days as well. With my bad back, the clutch pedal is stiff enough (even after trying to lubricate the throwout bearing) that I sometimes can't push the pedal down. To be honest, I don't even know what a heim joint is...

Thanks!

I would love to see how you did this, I got clutch pedal "issues" to deal with as well. I think I have an idea of where you put the hemi joint, and ya, great idea!
Post them pics!

Here they are

This one was at the start of the project. One of the ends had already been cut. You can kinda see the wear without a good bushing.

After the eye was removed and ground down.
You can see the rod end has already been removed frm the clutch pedal. I found it was easier to remove the nut above the tab on the clutch pedal and remove it to grind the weld off the back side. Once the weld was gone, one swift tap removed the rod end and left a nice 3/8" diameter hole for the bolt. No drilling required.

The finished product.
Looks pretty cool with the night vision. Was dark out by time I got everything going.

Items needed for this mod.

1- 3/8" Heim joint
1- 3/8"x1 1/2" grade 8 bolt
1- 3/8" nylon stop nut
1- 1/4"x 1/2" set screw
1- 1/4 20 nut
2- 3/8 flat washers

Total cost? Under $6.00

How did you cut the eye off, what did you use to cut it. How did you determin how long the rod need to be.................. Thanks............. Jim

Excellent repair. How about a part number for that joint?

A few of us mentioned this mod earlier here:

You'll have to scroll down a bit but dieselmaster included pics of the heim joint he used.

http://oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4033

I did the mod as well and it is way better than ford ever engineered it!

Jim,

I used my Dremel tool with the 24" extension as room was sparce. I used on of my old chainsaw sharpening grinder bits and went at it from the inside out where the eye meets up with the shaft. The first pic kinda shows the cut thru on that. Once I got it cut I figured I better take some photos for y'all to take a gander at.
Once I got it close then I switched to the outside of the eye and got it pretty close when she gave in. Had to wait a few in between cause the metal kept getting hot and my 3 yr old had run off with my needle nose visegrips. Bout the only thing I had to get in there was that or my hand.
After I got things cleaned up the best I could I then took another bit and ground the threads off the inside of the joint as things were still a little snug. Putting everything together and of course having the joint drilled and tapped at work by the maintenance gurus. was an exact fit. The shaft length was just right and nothing had to be cut down as it bottomed all the way on installation and gave ample room for travel. Full extension of the clutch pedal put the end of the heim joint right up to the face of the clutch interlock switch. Pheww!
No more slop at the top of the pedal AAANNNEEE more!

Mel,
On edit, found the wrapper for the one I modified.
It is made by Aurora Bearing Co. IN Aurora IL and the part number is CW-6.

DC,
I remembered that one just couldn't remember where I saw it. Darn CRS again.

I bought an extra joint just incase I the first one FUBARED but didn't need it. I will prolly mod that one and bring it on down in Jluly for show and tell hour. Gotta show em I can do something. :Sly

Ron:draw <- love that smiley guys.

and bring it on down in Jluly for show and tell hour

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Great!

DC,
Were you already working the writeup?

Ron

Originally posted by Dsl_Dog_Catcher
DC,
Were you already working the writeup?

Ron

Click to expand...

I havent started doing a write up, but getting started is gonna be the hardest part! I'll have to take some pictures to illustrate the job well, I think the whole thing could just be pictures with a few words and it would be very clear.

WELL WENT TO EVERY PARTS STORE IN TOWN AND CANT FIND A JOINT ANYWHERE, THE PARTS GUYS JUST LOOKED AT ME WITH A BLANK STARE, WHATS THAT THEY SAY ITELL THEM HIEM JOINT/SPHERICAL ROD END. NAPA WAS THE WORST , IS THERE APLACE ON LINE ICAN ORDER ONE FROM?