Who has or where to find a clutch cable????

The housing rusted away on my latest Commando, the '67. It's different than my 68 or my 71 in that both of those have 2 cables to operate the clutch.



This 67 has only one cable. Actually it still moves, but the housing is shot. I only saw a 49"+/- length cable available at Partsdude, mine measures around 83 inches long. Anyone have or point me to where to source?

 

That may be a hard one to find. Jeep part #994759. Jeepsterman in NJ has a picture but doesn't seem to have one as there's no price and recommends the solid conversion kits. Strangely enough if you google 994759 jeep clutch cable there seems to be a pile of them across the pond. I'd maybe check with Parts Dude and see if he can get that cable from Crown.

 

That could be fun to find. My '69 Commando is converted to a solid linkage, it works but I have to remember to lube it on a regular basis.

 

Yes, I called Jeepsterman and it was explained to me to use the $160 conversion, as the long cable has always had issues. Say it involves 2 bellcranks, 2 short (and cheaper to replace again later) cables, some threaded rod, misc needed hardware and welding was not included, but required.

So, I have to wander over to Crusty in the back yard and see what remains of stock clutch operation parts. I know there's a short cable in the parts tote that came with it, think it's the pedal connected one.:? Pedal assy from that is in the tote too, one of them oversized ones.

On other other had, if I can configure a way for Fussy's clutch to be fully hydraulic by fabricating a bracket that would support the slave cylinder directly pushing on the fork, I'd have half of a conversion for the cable-impaired 67, who remains to be named.....

When I recently had to replace the clutch master on Fussy, it turned out to be a 1989 240ZX clutch master! New was $22 locally, just took an hour of thinking of cars to check the photos of clutch masters on RockAuto. Soon as the thumbnail popped on screen I knew it was the one. LOL. Neat I got a season and 2 months of travel on the old parts as purchased, I mean it was an old conversion rig. Master cylinder will be next, getting very sinky on slow easy stops. Just another reason manual shift rules.

 

The long cable was part of an attempt to control clutch chatter. Basically part of a kit that replaced the Z bar with an added bracket on to the TC. I believe around early/mid 70 they eliminated the Z bar and they all had the long cable and the TC mounted bracket.
It's also getting hard to find quality after market cables that last, most of them are just junk. I don't know anybody that's ever regretted going to hydraulic.

 

:iagree: Yep, Fussy loves to chatter since it's only 1/2 hydraulic (I'm lucky that noisy throwout bearing at first start up a year ago got quieter as I travel daily in Fussy).

Plus making the clutch hydraulic is still an upgrade that remains on the level of simple technology too (no computer or chip required). Looking under Crusty this morning, I saw no evidence of the existence of any clutch ever! Saw a bracket on the frame for an emergency brake, but that's about it. This "new" 67 is the most solid Commando with the nicest interior (aside from barn smell) I've collected yet. Was tickled pink when 1 hour of soak time with ATF loosened the Dauntless right up.



I'll start a build thread for un-named soon but these pics speak for themselves...



and...



I foresee 2 Jeepster Commandos converted to hydraulic clutch operation, Fussy's half way there......

 

My 84" cable still works great but I thought to have a replacement available for emergencies. Thought I found one on ebay and made the purchase only to get a cancellation two days later. It said there were ten available! I have a question as well, mine has the four speed and a dana 60 in the rear and many parts seem to be harder to find such as a pilot bushing. Any thoughts?

 

I saw some Commando parts on clearance and was going to buy what I thought may be of use in the future and clutch pilot bearings were in the list. I rigged a shorter clutch cable into Fussy and have come to the conclusion the throwout bearing is seized to the input shaft as it fails to move at all. Then, upon closer examination, I found the bellhousing has cracks in it on the right side at both right side bolts. Tried to take some pics, but only one came out OK. Still have to get this newest Jeepster on the hoist to really look it over well.

 

Is that the bellhousing or just the tin inspection cover?

 

No, it's the bellhousing - 4 cracks off the lower bolt and 2 off the upper bolt (both on the right side). I salvaged the bellhousing from the 69 I scrapped last summer, so at least that part is no problem. Part of my closeout parts order came in today, so now I have a set of new shocks for the back of Fussy. Can hardly wait to install them.

Had to replace the front shoes on Fussy last night. Had one new wheel cylinder, which I put on the LF, rebuilt the RF cylinder with a kit, repacked the front bearings, replaced the front seals and installed two new brake drums. Have one heck of a brake pedal now in spite of the bad master cylinder. New master cylinder will arrive in a few more days along with my other closeout parts.

 

Well, finally had a chance to get the latest Commando on the hoist at work. Always like to do an evaluation of a vehicle on the hoist before getting too carried away with fixing things.



Not too disappointing....





But it does appear that the underside of the new floors was not properly painted, so it is all flaking off and has surface rust.



The backing to the rockers was poorly added IMPO. Just a filler sheet braked and attached in-between the supports......



So there are big holes behind the rockers forward of the rear wheels. Overall, it IS solid though.



Of course that means holes behind the front of the rockers too, behind the front wheels....



Well, to get to replacing the cracked bellhousing and the seized throw-out bearing, this transfer case will have to come out. For how wet the case looks, it was quite a surprise to see it was still full right to the fill plug, as was the transmission.



BTW, here is the brake line I replaced, allegedly the cause of why this 67 Jeepster sat for 15 years in the barn (as the story was told to me)....



Always, I pulled the driveshafts and then the T-case...



Then the transmission, the seized to input shaft throwout bearing was no match for my biggest prybar with the Commando on the hoist....



Here's what I was then facing...



Then I pulled the worn-out clutch (likely the REAL reason it was parked)....



The flywheel has been smoother days....



I pulled the flywheel and it's been sent over to the local NAPA store to be refaced. Meanwhile a close-up of the original bellhousing...



Even closer....



I also disassembled the starter to clean it out and paint along with the tin clutch cover, the cable brackets and what-not. Also cleaned up all the fasteners on the wire wheel. I'll be back at it as soon as the flywheel shows up, hopefully today!

 

What the heck could have broken the bell housing like that?

My first thought would be a collision. Or maybe forced assembly when misaligned somehow? Seems unlikely that abuse would make cracks like that.

 

I know Tim, what the firetruck REALLY happened. The cracks show age, so I doubt it's from me trying to get the clutch to work with my cable rig. I'm at a loss to understand the failure at this point.

Anywho, the flywheel came back yesterday so I started to re-assemble the drivetrain. First the cleaned and iron cast-coat painted bell housing....



The refaced and re-installed flywheel.... Ain't she purty?



The new clutch kit which was made in South Africa???



The clutch and pressure plate up and torqued in place....



I cleaned the parts of the underside of the floor areas where the trans sits while everything else was out. Then I applied Rustarrester brush-on coating from Zep products. It looks milky white going on, but turns bluish, then purple and finally black as it "cures" the rust. In the pic, it's still wet. Installed my painted bell housing after the painting...



Sprayed a top coat of satin finish black over the treated floor areas this morning, now on to cleaning off the transmission and case before I re-install them. Then I am going try try and weld up the hole in the fuel tank!

 

New pilot bushing?
LUK is a quality product, no worries there.
Haven't seen a busted bellhousing like that either...broken mounts or loose mounting bolts?
or stump pulling....

 

Well, to add to why the bell housing cracked, I did have to remove the aluminum that separated from the old bell and transposed itself onto the front flat of the adapter. Some of the aluminum was over 3/8 inch thick and was mainly on the bottom and right side. Maybe as it expanded, it pulled on the bolt holes? Kinda like a tree growing in a crack in concrete? Either way it did chip off with a 5-in-1 scraper.

How it's looking as of today...



The other cleaned and painted parts installed....



Clutch cable rig (emergency brake cable conversion) appears to disengage the clutch fine with the trans in after I added a ginzu brace to keep the emergency brake bracket from pulling forward towards the clutch fork. Still can use for the emergency brake as well, kinda cool having one bracket in one spot do both cables! Fuel tank is out, Looked darn decent inside for 15 years in the barn, a little light rust and no signs of varnish-gas solids. So I welded the hole with the welder on 1. Blew the hole bigger at first, but started to catch and proceed to fill. I'll grind it down and try a re-weld overlay on 2 (Boss's welder has 1 to 4 settings). Then when it cools off, use some gas to clean the inside and check for any pinhole leaks on the tank.



A shot of the rust I will be removing today while the tank is out......



Still need to clean the T-case, only got as far as scraping the heavy grease off. Already looks better just scraped off! So the clutch job is moving along, but we added the tank service and that added the rust clean service which then requires the paint dept and finally the fuel lines need to be re-plumbed and I noticed a huge crack in the rear fill J hose at the tank neck so have to check my parts stash for one of those. Think I saw one in one of the totes. So your guess is as good as mine as to when I will actually drive this Commando off the hoist.:smash:

 

Surprisingly, the 67 moved under it's own power off the hoist today. My emergency-cable-become-clutch-cable seems to work well. My cleaning out of the starting motor eliminated the whack-with-hammer that was needed before to get it to turn over. I did snap 2 pics yesterday before I finished up the clutch replacement job. Had to install the frame to T-case bracket and install the spring on the fork.

First, the floor above where the tank will someday go coated with the ZEP Rustarrester.....



And a shot of the cleaned up transfer case before it was re-installed yesterday....



Fuel tank held where I welded it. Too bad there are two other spots that want to leak though! One is on the bottom near a dent on the rib, the other is behind the brace that holds the tank in on the single bracket side. So, I'm unsure what I will do with the fuel tank situation right now. Then there's the brakes that need a pump to exist and the what I will venture to guess is some seized wheel cylinders causing excessive effort to stop the 67, even just in the lot.

So I am happy it key-starts, runs and moves under it's own power, but of course, being a Jeepster that was parked 15 years, needs more love to be on the road again.

 

Well, still have not been able to drive this Jeepster just yet, the brakes just did not stop. Got the right rear wheel cylinder changed out and the new shoes on, the drum resurfaced and that wheel is back together. The left rear drum is shot. I changed that wheel cylinder too and got the new shoes on after recovering some shoe hardware from the spare rear axle salvaged from the half-cab part out. I pulled the front hubs. Right front looked OK, except for the wheel cylinder. Inspecting the front bearings I saw some bad spots on rollers, so I'll need bearings. Opened the left front and had about 3 tablespoons of clear water drain out. That side's bearings had some serious rust on the bearings' rollers. The shoes were disintegrated compared to the right front. So, it's up on stands with 3 of 4 wheels off......

 

Down to waiting on a left front wheel cylinder. Turns out the front cylinders were 1" bore, and my new parts stock only had 1-1/8" wheel cylinders. The right front wheel cylinder was obviously changed and it came apart and cleaned up well. I honed it and cleaned up and re-used the seals since they really showed no signs of wear. Machined 90 percent of the rust out of the drums on the first pass on my brake lathe at home. They measure a tad oversized by the specs after a finish cut, but with the new shoes back on the right front the adjuster didn't have to be brought out much for a nice even slight drag when rotating the drum. Not like I'll put 30K miles on this thing. The bearings are changed in both hubs and the right front brake is all together, but the 4x4 hub is still off. Left front cylinder is shot, broken off bleeder and rusted solid. Ordered it yesterday. Expected in next week.

Rears are all together, wheels on and back on the ground. Had to put a new drum on the left rear, there was no saving that drum! Really want to test cruise this puppy already! Spent quite a bit and no roll down the road yet....

 

One left front wheel cylinder, two more shoes, the hub with new bearings and seal, two cleaned and greased lock outs for both sides, some spins on the left front adjuster and then the front wheels enabled the 67 to get off the jackstands and onward to a test travel Wednesday night.



First test travel was rather nice and for the most part uneventful. The carb on this one works great. Accelerates like a scared cat. Feels like the Dauntless would enjoy a new set of plugs though. Darn quiet for a no-clamp no weld patch pipe in the Y crossunder where it was rusted through and no muffler or tailpipe.



Stopped at Mom's and saw I had left a drip pattern up the center of the driveway. Seems I left a 7/16 fastener bolt hole exposed on the side of the T-case and clean gear oil was dribbling out. A twisted up tiny piece of rag stopped further leaking for the ride home and to the shop in the AM.



I know this 67 has replaced heavier front floors and also the full top, but boy oh boy the ride is just a totally different experience between this and the 68, Fussy. First off, the 67 has no accel stutter so it just goes, pop the clutch no gas needed. Secondly the body does not krunge, bang, slam, dooge and buck like Fussy does since Fussy's floors are so bad. Third, the steering acts like power and it the tightest Ross I've ever had opportunity to steer, it almost even has some RETURN to it! Fourth, the doors just close and sound better than Fussy.



Of course there were immediate issues:
1) No fuel gauge - most likely caused by lack of fuel tank or sending unit.
2) No dash lights.
3) No OIL light.
4) No AMP light.
5) No temperature gauge - most likely caused by temp sender pin is broken off, so the wire just lays on the intake.
6) No right rear tail light.
7) Light switch turns on everything in park or headlamp mode - I know trivial, but I like using my park lights when I'm parking.
8) No horn.
9) Y pipe replaced section needs welded in.
10) Needs at least a muffler, preferably with a tailpipe too.
11) Hood rest clear driving lights atop the hardtop no worky even with power applied to either.
12) Pedals assembly wobbles, the brake pedal is bent towards gas pedal, or as one of my customers called it - get this - the " fuel forward".

So there's the hot dozen for a fix list, nothing really preventing use for local travels.



So last night I had the opportunity to rack this 67, which BTW I've named "Peppy" so I could weld up the new section of pipe I bent for the Y repair. That welded good, some slight spots on the top of either side that are inaccessible, but overall the Y is once again simulating being solid. Found an NOS 2 inch glasspack with offset in and out, really needs a straight muffler, but it was laying 4 feet from the lift, so therefore handy, and I didn't open my wallet either. A few clamps and a section of straight 2 inch pipe to make it to the hanger and I had a pseudo-shorty-exhaust system.



After the exhaust was dealt with I went on to sealing the T-case hole with a short 7/16 bolt with teflon sealant on it. Checked fluid, didn't loose enough to worry about it. I moved onto pulling bulbs out from the dash cluster. Wire brushing the socket contacts, checked the bulbs - four were dead. Found the jumper that rigs the headlamps on - seems only one headlight switch terminal works anymore - I should have a spare for that somewhere. Had to replace the right tail's bullet connectors to get that light working again.

So the night was quite the success, I cleared 2,3,6,9 and 10 off the list!:driving: