'86, 2.5l, ax4 clutch problems

Small back story first. I bought the jeep from a family friend. It was running, but he wanted to rebuild the motor(ie burning oil). He pulled the motor and before he had a chance to rebuild it he got another project truck. I bought it from him for $250 with the motor pulled out and in the back cargo area. I pulled about 5 miles from his shop to my house. On the way home the throw out bearing and shift fork fell out and I couldnt find it for about 3 months. Once we did find it the face of the throw out bearing had a small dent on it. The fork was a little rusted but was bent on one end (imagine setting it on a flat surface....one half of it sat flat and the other end was raised about half an inch). My dad said that it was probably designed that way and it should be fine. We finally rebuilt the motor and dropped it in and now the clutch pedal sits about two inches from the floor. At first we thought the maybe the fork slipped off the points that hold it in place and the the rod from the slave cylinder was not hitting the fork. We have bleed it over and over so im pretty sure that there is no air in the lines, but the clutch will not dissengage.

Could you guys please give me any help or ideas that we could try out? I have tried to be as descriptive as I can so please read the whole post(I know its long but im sure it will help out for those who know anything about this kind of thing).

here are some pics of everything.

This is before I put the fork and throwout in, you can see the slave cylinder rod, and the little knob on the other side where the fork rests
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This with the fork and throwout in the trans. I dont remember if the throwout ever was aligned right, I think it probably centered itself when we put the motor in.

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This is the beastly 2.5 that we rebuilt


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This is looking in from where the starter is to make sure that the rod from the salve cylinder was lined up on the fork.

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This is how far the pedal is from the floor

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This is how far the plunger for the master cylinder is from the firewall when released

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This is how far the plunger for the master cylinder is from the firewall when the pedal is on the floor

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Could the plunger for the master cylinder not be moving far enough, thus making the clutch not disengage? If I found a way to raise the pedal and make the plunger move further in would that make the clutch disengage fully? How mush travel should the plunger for the master cylinder have? Could any of you measure yours and left me know? Could it be that the clutch fork is not supposed to be bent and it is not letting the slave cylinder push it far enough to disengage? Could it be that the throwout bearing not seated flush on the fingers of the pressure plate and not pressing the fully or at all? These are the things that are running through my head, haha thanks for any help yall can provide.

any ideas?

You need to determine why the pedal is so close to the floor. It is either partially depressing the master cylinder or not able to push the rod through its full travel.

The pedal assembly to MC is mechanical, the MC to slave is hydraulic. I would examine the pedal assembly to MC for a problem first.

I'm pretty sure you are missing the spacer on the slave cylinder end, it's an aluminum "sleeve" that mounts the slave further out. If not, did you ever fix that bearing mount? I'm pretty sure that both sides should be the same distance from the ground if you set it flat, otherwise your pedal travel will be severely limited.

And your rebuild is PRETTY! Mine looks similar, but everything is blacked out except the power steering pump, alternator, intake manifold, water pump, and distributor. Mine is all same-year as yours, but i have 98 accessories... haha.

Looks like your CPS might need some help too? I hope it's getting replaced!

Mr_Random said:

I'm pretty sure you are missing the spacer on the slave cylinder end, it's an aluminum "sleeve" that mounts the slave further out. If not, did you ever fix that bearing mount? I'm pretty sure that both sides should be the same distance from the ground if you set it flat, otherwise your pedal travel will be severely limited.

And your rebuild is PRETTY! Mine looks similar, but everything is blacked out except the power steering pump, alternator, intake manifold, water pump, and distributor. Mine is all same-year as yours, but i have 98 accessories... haha.

Looks like your CPS might need some help too? I hope it's getting replaced!

Click to expand...

that metal sleeve is on there you can see it in the first pic, or at least i think that is what you are talking about. As for the bearing mount ( i call it a clutch fork, but that name may be wrong) i havent messed with it. We assumed that it was supposed to be like that, but I may have to pull the trans if I cant figure it out. Thanks for the complement unless you mean pretty as an insult. haha Post some or pm me some pics of your motor. Is it a 2.5L? What is the diff between 86 and 98 accesories? And by CPS do you mean crank position sensor? Sorry im still learning all the jeep acronims. What does it look like is wrong with it?

I have it fixed for now, I hope. We pulled the slave out and compressed the rod and bled it that way.

That is the correct way to do it. I guess I assumed when first reading your post that that was how you did it. Never assume anything.....!