Chinese junk is garbage

[jwalterus]

stronger clutch pushrod

I have been eating clutch pedal pushrods this winter, been going through one every time it's below -10*F, they fail right at the threaded joint in the 2-piece rod every time (lifetime warranty on the master cylinder, but those are such fun to change, I'm pretty proficient at changing and bleeding them now though, it's a 20 minute job for me )
my master cylinder died last summer, and I changed it, got the almighty "Made In China" stamped plastic body POS they sell at Oreilly, it was working until it got cold
so here's a modified version of the Heim joint mod for those of you who get stuck changing the master and get the new cheap (weak) pushrod
I'm not going to go through the entire mod, I'll just put in a link http://oilburners.net/articles/Heim%20joint%20clutch%20pedal%20mod.htm for those of you who don't know what it is

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here's the new junk style pushrod, cheap metal

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grade B-7 3/8" redi-rod, picked it up locally for $3/ft (4 ft stick)

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outside diameter of the retaining nub on the pushrod

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outside diameter of the redi-rod after grinding just the threads off, I burned up 2 dremel wheels grinding it, B-7 isn't soft, I rounded the end slightly and ground off 1" of threads

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I went hunting in the junkyards for a truck with a metal bodied clutch master cylinder, bought a rebuild kit for it (new piston included), cleaned it up and put it together, the new rod slides in firmly, and comes back out with a little force, no more having to mess with the plastic clips trying to change the pushrod because it doesn't have a shoulder to slide past them, I used a grade 8 heim joint with a threaded male fitting on it, and hooked the rod to the heim joint with a coupler nut, that way if for any reason I ever manage to bend the rod, I can unscrew it easily and put in another, it also made it easier to cut the length, since I could hold it up next to the heim joint and put it into the master cylinder, just had to mark it with a soapstone and hack it off (using a grinder, if you try to use a hacksaw on B-7, you'll be there all day)

 

[asmith]

I need to do this to my truck. can you get a picture of the heim joint? i am not sure what you are talking about when you say you used a coupler nut. Thank for the idea of using the redi-rod (i have always called it all-thread) that makes it so much easier.!!

 

[opusd2]

That was a great improvement and the kind of thing that distinguishes a true mechanic from a "parts replacement specialist"

 

[jwalterus]

not a problem, I'll take a picture in the morning and post it on here

 

[riotwarrior]

I opened this as I had absolutely NO idea what it was about....once I read it I thought, this should be in tech section with a better name describing what it is ...

I actually thought this thread was about a boat!

Sure was surprised to find out it wasn't, not that it's not a great thread.

Thanks for the good description and resolution you have to your problem.

 

[NO_SPRK]

Sweet thread and thank you for posting. What trucks came with iron master cylinders. Early 80s?

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[OLDBULL8]

I actually thought this thread was about a boat!

Me to, "JUNK" that's what they call Fishing Boats in China, and they do haul garbage.

 

[ToughOldFord]

I opened this as I had absolutely NO idea what it was about....once I read it I thought, this should be in tech section with a better name describing what it is ...

I actually thought this thread was about a boat!

Sure was surprised to find out it wasn't, not that it's not a great thread.

Thanks for the good description and resolution you have to your problem.

 

[jwalterus]

Sweet thread and thank you for posting. What trucks came with iron master cylinders. Early 80s?

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I pulled one out of a 83 F350, don't know if it was original factory or not, but it sandblasted clean and the new plastic caps fit close enough

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crappy phone pic, you can see the coupler nut on it (essentially it's just a 1.5" long hex nut), the black around the heim joint is gorilla tape I used to mark my stopping point on the shaft so the nut was halfway on the heim joint and halfway on the redi-rod

one thing I noticed about this mod I will mention, in the original writeup it mentions that the stud is held into place by a tack weld..... NOT ALL PEDAL ASSEMBLIES ARE LIKE THAT! my pedal assembly had a rivet-style driven stud (fully mushroomed out) that had to be ground off completely to remove it

 

[asmith]

i get it now. makes sense. thank you for the picture. to get the proper length you just stuck it in the master cylinder and then lined up the holes on the heim and pedal arm with the pedal all the way out? after driving it how does it feel? does it feel sturdy enough? hopefully in a few weeks i will get a free weekend and do this. thanks for all the info, i am really excited about fixing my pedal, the hole right now is really egged out.

 

[jwalterus]

stuck it in the master cylinder and mounted the heim joint to the pedal arm (finger tight on the nut)
then marked it and cut it, pulled the heim joint back off the pedal arm, put it all together and mounted it up for the last time

one nice thing about the coupler nut, if you cut it just a little short on accident, you can always use tiny washers as a spacer between the heim joint and the pushrod inside the coupler