Probably the zbar is bending. It should all be in one plane.

UPDATE!!!!!!!........
Looked at the clutah/Z-bar and stuff while helper pulled pedal up and pushed down(really hard to depress)
Z-bar looks good MS butt-eye may weld a couple of gussets on it to strengthen it.
Either I screwed it up while tinkering with it or......(this COULD be the prob all along) butt...the release arm came loose from the bearing!
Now I have the tranny pulled loose and partly slide back from the bell. Gonna try and reach in/around the side hole and see if I can re-position everything.
I don't hold out much hope in being successful doing that though.  Will probably need to pull the tranny all the way out  so I can work on/replace the bearing and arm.
WIWAIT......I discovered my modified stock tranny support of over twenty years ago, was broken in two!! Need to re-weld that, I guess. Fits too good to replace with an aftermarket that prolly WON'T fit!
Second thing I discovered was......When I  moved my battery to the trunk many-many years ago...I ran the big wire....starter power wire.....aux fuse block  feed wire.....and several other  wires(over the years) along the top part of the driveshaft tunnel. Had them mounted/hung really well (don't say it Don!) so they wouldn't get damaged.
Well......they were damaged...several mashed almost in two!  Seems when I have passengers in the back seat/loaded trunk for MSBB/or combination and hit a big bump/pothole....the rear U-joint  would smack the wires!!
Durn rubber snubber was worthless!! I repaired the wires and tucked them up/away from the  "U-joint hammer"!!
I also put a 4-washer spacer between the snubber and the  attachment point to get a little more  "Clarance".
Anybody wanna come to the beach and help an old man re-install a T-5?!!
6sal6

Sal, sounds like you need more than one helper, you sound like you have the clutch mechanical linkage diagnosed, but another set of eyes, hands, .... may help and you mentioned "wairs" which I have never had hooked to a clutch, and then you mention clutch hammer and "clarance" so I am thinking you may need an army of help. Wish I were closer! Sounds like a good time!

I think what may be the issue is the travel of the pushrod to the fork is working in a sine wave in relationship to pedal travel. With the pushrod connected at the Z bar at a 90* angle at rest, a little travel from the pedal in the car is going to move the pushrod to the fork the greatest amount. As the pedal travels to the floor, the pushrod to the Z bar angle is changing and going away from 90* and slowing down or not traveling as much. Maybe to the point where it's hardly moving. I'll bet if you readjust the linkage so there's a angle and approaches 90* as you push the pedal in, it may fix the problem.

UPDATE II.........
Got the T-5 pulled back far enough to drop the bell and found a surprise!
One of the clips on the release bearing was missing.    It being broke like that let the bearing come loose from the arm.
What's the odds of that happening?! 

I've NEVER even HEARD of that happening  to a manual tranny under street driven conditions anyway.

Speaking of release bearings and arm.....is that about a cheezy set-up or what?!!
I'm surprised the arm doesn't come loose from the fulcrum point more often!  My arm is sooo wide it has a lot of slop between the two holes and the two "points" of the fulcrum on the arm.
The puny little spring is ALL that's holding the arm in contact with the fulcrum!!

Anybody ever tried "modifying" that part to make the arm a little more secure to the fulcrum on the bell???

I "finally" found a bearing at NAPA that suppose to fit my T-5. They wanted 60 BUCKS for it!! (and it had to be ordered)
Advance... 20 bucks and its in stock.
Far as I know its made by the same  North Korean  sweat shop as the one from NAPA!!
I'll keep ya'll informed.
6s6

Last edited by 6sally6 (8/16/2017 6:01 PM)

josh-kebob wrote:

Sal, don't cheap out on a t/o bearing. Ford/Ford racing is what u want. Spend the extra monkey...U doubt.....ask Glen...

Hey Josh......you have a PM
 

Well..............Got the TO bearing...made by National Bearing(part of Federal Mogul)
I have the T-5 mated to the 66 bellhousing sooooooo I hafta use the 65 style bearing!!
Did a little digging on the net and nothing bad about National Bearings. Made in China butt..........so is a lot of the Timken Bearings.  SKF is "supposed" to be USA made butt a coupla complaints about their quality!
Rock Auto also sells National for my application. (for about the same price!)
Couldn't find a Timken that would fit my application butt..........they be "china-pena too" so what thu????!
comments!
6s6

Wish we could come visit Mike so I could help you out.
 

6sally6 wrote:

UPDATE III......Got the bell cleaned up.....shot a little paint in it/on it......tweaked the spring hickey that holds the  clutch arm to the bell.(still a cheesy set-up if you ask me!)....clipped on the TO bearing and climbed under!
Got the bell bolted up and first attempt of "stick'in the shaft(don't say it Don!) knocked the TO bearing off the arm!....Pulled everything BACK out of the way and dropped the bell to re-install the TO bearing......bolted up the bell...got the tranny  partically in the hole.......back of the T-5 jacked up with blocks.....got an "alignment pin" stuck between the T-5 and bell holding it up butt knot the shaft in position......too exhausted to continue. Wiped up the AT fluid all over the floor and went in to eat supper.

ANYBODY got any good "tips" on how to get this puppy in and seated?!!!!! Working by myself  under the car on jackstands.
Let me hear a few....this thang is "kill'in me"!!!!!
6saly

 
I have a piece of steel plate with a pipe nipple welded to it that mounts on my floor Jack . I Rachel strap the trans to that and lift and push. That's how I do it working by my self. Nothing beats a helper.

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH......LET THE CELABRATION BEGIN.....DRINKS ARE OWN ME.......SING AND SHOUT .....HALLY-LOU-YOURRRRR!!!
Once I managed to get the shaft in the right spot, in the hole....I just kinda wiggled and pushed and  used both hands to hit the sweet spot....and it sloooowly slide right in!!(Don.....DON'T EVEN.....)

I held the TO bearing in place this time by driving a wooden wedge in the side opening to hold the bearing and clutch arm hard up against the pressure plate. That kept the input shaft from pulling the bearing loose from the arm while wrestling the tranny up and in.

When I hit a spot where it would go no further.......I put the driveshaft in and with the T-5 in 3rd gear I twisted the shaft and when the teeth aligned with the clutch/pressure plate....it slide home.

I hope I didn't screw up butt.....in my haste/frustration to install it....I forgot to grease the  retainer/TO bearing!!!!  I realized it about the time I was turning the driveshaft trying to get it to seat into place.

You know "Red"......putting the T-5 AND the bell together first is "the-ticket" if you're working under a lift and have a tranny jack to slide everything in place. Last time the engine was out I put it back in with the tranny attached.  Wayyyyy simpler that way.
IF.....I hadn't sold my "cherry-picker" when I moved to my new place I mighta pulled the engine/tranny and did the re-place.  Really pretty EZ to do when working alone. This time......I didn't have the room  because my jack stands weren't high enough AND I didn't take my exhaust off. (MS......you're right!!!!! the X-pipe is a convenient place to hold up the rear of the tranny!!)

Well the saga is over....for awhile. Still need to install the starter....repair that crushed wire I mentioned...re-weld  my "home-made" tranny support....weld some gussets on my Z-bar and adjust it.

You guyz shoulda seen that big stupid grin on my AT fluid/sweat soaked  face when that puppy slide home!!!!
Shout.......HALLY-LOU-YOURRRRR!
6sal6
 

Last edited by 6sally6 (8/18/2017 9:19 PM)

A bit late here, but - if you have the rubber boot that goes over the clutch fork where it sticks into the bell, that boot will actually help hold it in place. The little "cheesy spring" you were talking about - is that this?
[img]http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxNjAw/z/L4gAAOSw65FXvOUQ/$_1.JPG[/img]

If so, that's just an anti-rattle spring - it doesn't actually hold the clutch fork in place. Of course, you could be talking about something else since you've got a T5, who knows.

Glad that you found your issue in the throwout bearing. I was also going to suggest that you check the end of your lower clutch rod where it pushes on the clutch fork. A few months back I was wondering why my clutch had gotten so out of adjustment (had to push the pedal almost all the way down to get the clutch to disengage) and found that the pointy end of the lower clutch pushrod was pushing THROUGH the clutch fork. The locating hole in the clutch fork had just gotten hogged out enough over the years to let the pushrod start pushing through it.