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CJ5 sideways play in bellcrank

2K views 17 replies 5 participants last post by  waldzinator 
#1 ·
First, I've read up on this a bit and this isn't caused by a body lift. My bell crank sits flush, as far as I can tell. After getting my transmission back in, while trying to adjust the clutch, I noticed that the bellcrank kept popping off the tranny side. I ordered new bushings. I also noticed on the firewall side, the PO stacked about 5-6 , I assume to limit the sideways motion. My question is, with the washers removed, what prevent the sideways motion of the bell crank? Is it possible my clutch rod is loose? It seems to have a lot of play where it mounts under the dash. This is such an annoying issue. Any help is appreciated. By the way..I measured...bell crank is 9".
 

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#4 ·
Funny the mounts were mentioned. I replaced both motor mounts since I had the motor out. When I was dropping it back in, I noticed that it was easy to get the passenger side mount to seat, but the driver side mount seemed not to quite land right. In other words, the engine seemed to wanna sit over toward the passenger side. The mounting ears for the motor don't appear bent...maybe frame is bent a little? That would pull the engine and bell toward the passenger side and increase the distance between the mounting bracket on the firewall and the bracket that bolts to the bell housing. Does anyone know what the frame internal measurement should be? I'd like to check for bend.

I've read about the heim joint conversion. Would it help here? From my research, that would fix the link from pedal to b/c. It would appear that my b/c would still come up a bit short. Maybe keep the washers on the firewall side as spacers?
 
#8 ·
Aren't there clips on the bel rank to limit side to side movement?

Brought to you by the letter "O"
My Jeep works off a different alphabet. I didn't have clips. I think I'm still going to replace the clutch rod with a nifty heim joint variety, but I definitely am gonna get me some O, which is of course a reference to the seminal fast food dive establishment in Pittsburgh.
 
#7 ·
I replaced my engine mounts with poly mount from Daystar ( I think. It was last year). According to the directions the holes in the frame mounts had to be enlarged. Not sure if this applies in your case but I couldn't get the engine to drop in until I did even though the mounts would go in individually.

Yes, there are clips on the ends.
 
#12 ·
Hey John,

Im not sure if you mean the b/c or longer clutch rod when you say steel tube. From what I can tell, the bracket on the firewall is mounted in the stock location. To be fair, I still need to put the skid/tranny mount back in, which may drag the bell an inch or so over; however, this was an issue when the skid was on. At that time though, I didn't have clips. I just had the large washers stacked on the firewall mount....well, PO did. The pics I posted in the initial post are what was there.

I was thinking g about fabricating something similar to the pictures you posted if all else fails.
 
#14 ·
The only thing I can think of is the frame twist or the tub shifted on the mounts.

If your bell crank is level, you may get away with just drilling two holes in that tub support. Best get everything mounted and bolted down before making any modifications.
Agree. The body looks like it's sitting fairly level and plumb with respect to the donuts and body mount ears. Maybe some frame twist. Do you know what the distance should be frame rail to rail?
 
#17 ·
Short term, I'm gonna make whatever bracket is necessary. Longer term, I may consider an aftermarket frame. Alternatively I could modify one of the engine mounting ears. Overall it looks like it needs to move about 1 inch towards the driver side. You can see the sideways angle in the rear drive shaft to
 
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