musubk

Late update here, but I've been doing a lot of traveling recently and only today got this problem solved. I thought I'd update here for the sake of closure. The flywheel pilot bearing had partially come apart; all the ball bearings were still in place but the 'side' wall that covers the bearings was missing and a fragment of inner bearing race had broken off and wedged itself between the friction disc and pressure plate, preventing the two parts from being able to move independently, effectively making the friction disc and pressure plate into a single joined part. Therefore my symptom of pushing the clutch pedal, and seeing the cable move the top of the release fork, but it never actually releasing and letting me shift. I had a new clutch kit on hand today because I wasn't sure what I'd find in there, so I replaced the shattered pilot bearing and threw the new friction disc / pressure plate in as well, and she drives beautifully now.

I think I found someone on one of the facebook groups to send me another fork, but it'll probably be a couple weeks before I can get in there and see for sure if that's the problem. I just can't see any issues at the pedal assembly or with the cable. I want to have a new clutch/PP/TO bearing on hand when I open it up, just in case the problem is with one of those.

I just did and I can't see anything cracked or flexing there, it looks solid.

No I didn't, I guess I've learned a lesson on that.

I think your guess is a good one though. I don't see or feel anything out of the ordinary with the cable or pedal, and I can see the top of the fork moving when a friend presses the pedal, so the problem has to be either down at the bottom of the fork or somehow with the pressure plate. The pressure plate and TO bearing are new this summer, and there's no TO noise coming out of it.

Are those forks available new? Do you happen to know a part number? What do people do to fix this? Try to weld in some reinforcement on the fork? I have a new fork for a 1988 wagon. Completely different trans, I know, but any chance that would work?

I just stacked 6 washers under the clutch cable adjustment, then tightened the adjustment all the way in, and still no difference. It did feel stiffer. I also tried it while the cable was completely disconnected. It makes absolutely no difference how the cable is adjusted or if the cable is even connected at all. Something must be wrong in the clutch/pressure plate area.

Okay, back to this problem again. It's been driving fine since I last posted here, but it started doing it again today. I can't see any crack at the pedal box, but it's hard to see up in there so I could be missing something. But the pedal feels the same as always, the throw doesn't feel hard or wobbly or out-of-whack in any way. It just... doesn't fully disengage the clutch. It happened when I drove to the gas station. All was fine, I started the car to leave, and suddenly the problem is here. I drove the mile back home, shut the car off, restarted and the problem was gone. I get a few miles down the road and it's back again. It's very hard to get into gear from a standstill, grinding on every shift if I don't rev-match perfectly, and pretty much impossible to get into reverse with the engine running. Sitting still, in gear with the clutch pedal pressed all the way, the car wants to move forward and I have to hold the brake to stay still. I've tried adjusting the cable at the clutch fork and it seems to make little difference no matter where I adjust it. If I tighten the adjustment all the way to where it's bottomed out (around 6 full turns tighter than usual), it still behaves exactly the same. I'm thinking the problem has to be at the release lever or the clutch disc / pressure plate. Has anyone else out there had a similar problem before?

Winter in Fairbanks, a Subaru's natural environment: Flaunt it by Jason Ahrns, on Flickr 1977 Subaru Wagon by Jason Ahrns, on Flickr 1977 Subaru Wagon by Jason Ahrns, on Flickr

When I left work today it was back to its normal (relatively) smooth-shifting self, so I'm not sure what to think of it. The gear oil of unknown age and condition probably isn't doing me any favors in this weather, so I should probably change it out.

I was driving my 1977 wagon around the last few nights and it was shifting nice and smooth, then last night it started getting harder, as if the clutch wasn't fully disengaging. I thought the underhood cable adjustment must have loosened up a bit so I tightened it a turn or so, which made little difference. I get in the car to drive today and it's worse, I basically have to just ram it into gear and grind any time I go into 1st or reverse, the others I can usually get with a little rev matching, as if it's still a clutch adjustment problem. But I started tightening the adjustment screw and still no difference, so for an experiment I tightened it ALL the way until it bottomed out, which was around 6 full turns in from where I was previously, and it still made no difference. Any idea what's going on here? Today is the coldest weather I've driven the car in so far (~5F), is it maybe just a known problem with these cars and cold weather shifting?

That seems likely. It was a tight fit and I used a hammer and punch tapping around the edges to get it seated, and accidentally seated it too far and had to tap it back out a bit too. Maybe when I get it back out I'll just take it to a shop with a press and pay a few bucks to have them swap the bearing.

Now there's a horrible squealing noise coming from the bellhousing. It goes away when the clutch cable is slack but starts if I tighten it up, and changes when I hit the clutch pedal. Throwout bearing? It's a new bearing though. Maybe it didn't get seated correctly?

Well this is embarrassing. It turns out there was nothing wrong with the alternator at all, I just forgot to plug it back in after reinstalling the engine.

^^^that's a pretty coupe... I had my hubs redrilled to 4x114 and fit these Enkei Apache II wheels, along with a set of the smallest Blizzaks that Bridgestone sells. So that's a 15x7 wheel with 38mm offset , and 185/55r15 tires. They seem to fit but it's pretty tight on the inside edge of the rear. I've got some 14mm spacers I can throw on the rear if I have problems but I'm going to see if I can get by without them. Wagon build log 30 by Jason Ahrns, on Flickr