Clutch release bearing squealing again

I hope all of you in the Unique family are doing well. I haven’t posted on the Forum in a while. I’ve got a problem that I need your help on. I’ve got a 351W built by SA with a RAM 11” high performance clutch, a 1-1/16” small spline Toploader, a Lakewood bellhousing, and a conventional clutch slave throw out bearing and clutch fork set up (photos attached). I believe the release bearing is a standard Ford type with a zerk grease fitting on it (presumably greasing is a one shot deal when installing the bearing because it’s covered up by the bellhousing after installation). I had the clutch bearing replaced two years ago (at 4,000 miles) because it was squealing like crazy with the car in any gear and moving. I thought I had fixed the problem because the squealing went away after the replacement. I’m now at 6,000 miles and the loud squealing is back big time; same as before while the car is in gear and moving. I didn’t check the free play between the clutch slave piston and the clutch fork right after my mechanic did the replacement. I checked it last year and it was tighter than it should be so I loosened it up. Before I have the tranny dropped to replace the bearing or do the work myself, I want make sure I achieve a longer lasting fix. How should I best address this problem? Is there another type of clutch release bearing I can use that will be longer lasting (with the right amount of free play set), or is this the only type I can use with my set up? Can a hole be drilled in the bellhousing to provide access to the zerk fitting for greasing with everything assembled? Are there any other solutions? I would greatly appreciate any advice you can provide so I can get this problem permanently solved. The weather is warming up here in Naperville,IL and its time to start rollin!

Thanks,
Dick Untch

I have a 351C setup that I have been driving since 2003 and suffered many of the same problems you mention. After 4 clutch assemblies in about 20,000 miles I got really fed up and did a piece by piece survey of the drive line. Here's what I found.

- the pivot wedge for the clutch arm is different between the stock, cast bellhousing and the Lakewood shield. Using the wrong part slightly throws off the geometry of the mechanism and seems to consistantly lead to rapid throwout bearing failure (4 in my case). If you go into the clutch assembly again, purchase a new pivot wedge specifically for the Lakewood shield and install it with the other new parts.

My car runs great and shifts as smooth as silk since correcting this problem. BTW it is a very cheap part!

Check this out:
http://4speedtoploaders.com/shopsite...lhousings.html

Thanks Souzape. I'll contact Allen or Maurice at Unique because they assembled the driveline for me back in 2004. They've always been very helpful. Maybe they can tell me more about the clutch fork pivot I've got on my Lakewood bellhousing. I'm not sure if its a pre or post 1968 fork.

It sounds to me like the adjustment on your slave cylinder rod is off, if it is too tight it will wear the bearing out.

Alan- until I got the alignment issues with the clutch fork corrected, it was impossible to get a good adjustment at the slave cylinder rod. You were either in a pre-load or slipping situation which would cause the face of the throw out bearing to be ruined in short order. The clutch would slip and squeal within 50-60 miles of driving after replacing the entire assembly. At the last clutch replacement the misalignment had caused so much assymetric force on the fulcrum that one of the bolts holding it to the scattershield had bent and broken. My point is simply that if you've been having this type of problem, check to make sure that the fulcrum is the correct one (for clutch arm length and type of bellhousing), that the clutch arm has not been bent/deformed, etc. If you can't positively determine that it is the correct part, replace it with a known part...it was rather cheap complared to the cost of anew clutch assembly. In my case, replacing the pivot fulcrum solved the problem completely.

Phil

I didn't know there was different pivot brackets for cast iorn and blow proof bell housing, we always put a shim behind the bracket if it needed it.

Before I replaced my entire clutch, my problem was it wouldn't disengage completely because the fork piviot was to close to the bellhousing and the arm was binding against the bellhousing. I made up a 1/2" alum spacer and it works great. I did notice when I pushed the trans back through the bearing and clutch the bearing unclipped on one side. Need to make sure the bearing stays clipped to fork on both sides.
Bob

Thanks for the information. I've decided to replace the clutch bearing myself this weekend. This will be my first time doing this particular replacement on the car. I'll check out the operation of the fork pivot then. This time by setting the freeplay on the clutch slave rod myself, I'll know what I've got, rather than relying on someone else. What you learn by doing the work yourself is invaluable.

Dick - When you get it apart, look at the fork and see if any effects of binding against bellhousing. See attached photos.

Here's another photo

Replaced my squealing clutch bearing today. I'm still very much a rookie when it comes to doing major work on my Unique. Dropping the transmission wasn't that bad, but it took me most of the day to get it done. Being able to check out in detail the fork and bearing, and how the clutch fingers are engaged was very helpful. I was running with way too little free play between the slave rod and the fork. The test drive this evening went excellent!

Thanks for the advice Bob and Alan!

Next up.... I've got the chrome coilover springs front and back. I'd like to flatten out the way the car corners. I'll be investigating new springs and shocks for my 351W. Also, I'm thinking about switching out my Edelbrock Performer 600 cfm carb, for one of the new MSD Atomic EFI systems. Looks very cool, and it's a returnless system!