Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Clutch pedal flopped very far forward

Hello gents, the clutch pedal my 1965 trad +4 is flopped pretty far forward with a fair amount of play before the clutch linkage engages.

I noted that neither the brake or clutch pedals have return springs...I'm wondering if adding the return srings would hold the pedal closer to the firewall?

Any help or advice appreciated:

If the pedal goes well down before starting to act fitting the spring will just mean the pedal doing the same thing but with a spring ... I'd be looking at where the lost motion was before anything else ... my '75 has cable operation, if yours is the same then look for slack in that ... either way check the clevis pin for wear and think about adjusting the pushrod.

K

Again, mines a bit later (72) but a return spring would hold the pedal in the position it is in now. Mine recently snapped, but haven't bothered replacing as it appears to serve no real purpose.

Mine has a rod linkage, so like Keith has said, I'd be looking at that to see where the slack is.

Perhaps tempting fate here in typing that I have not ever worked on my Morgan`s clutch, however it seems to me that the idea of a return spring in the pedal assembly may well be designed to offset the chance of the driver resting his foot on the clutch pedal perhaps more so in busy traffic situations thus creating additional and unnecessary wear on the clutch release bearing, which on older Morgans may be carbon faced where it contacts the pressure plate assembly and far more susceptible to wear than modern release bearings, (perhaps 80`s onwards?) which I suspect have been redesigned to more cope with the effects of ever more traffic queues on the roads...?

I suspect the spring strength, if fitted, will be chosen to act as above but also not to increase greatly the effort required to depress the pedal..?

Edit... Just thought to add that it may be possible on some Morgans that the spring may be found at the gearbox end of the clutch actuating mechanism again providing the same release bearing preservation function...

I have a 'foot rest' to stop me having to rest my foot on the pedal

There is an adjustable linkage accessible from under the car. It connects the short lever, attached to round tube to which the pedal is brazed, to the actuating lever. The only thing this linkage adjusts is the pedal position. It adjusts nothing to do with the clutch mechanism itself.

Undo the locknut at each end and rotate the rod to take up the pedal slack. Then retighten the nuts. Simples. Except that It can be awkward to reach unless the car is on a ramp.

See part numbered 11 on this chart on the Morgan Spares site.

https://morgan-spares.com/4-parts/clutch/

Cheers, Colin

I was informed back in 2008 by my local dealer that the strong spring was there to allow the pedal to be used as a footrest.

Dave all well and good, though the stronger the spring the heavier the clutch is to operate, which can be a real pain in stop go traffic and perhaps more so as we age....?

Not saying I agree with it, but the dealer was most insistent!

Like the footrest TBM