Clutch chatter ...

[fastEdsel]

Hi everyone, Well just getting into my '67 Mercury Ranger 4X4 but have another pesky project to kick out of the shop. We restored a 1964 International 1100A model 2 wheel drive, 131 inch wheel base. We installed a 345 V8, T18 4 speed and is turning a 3:73 posi trac diff. Anyway one of the three forks on the pressure plate failed so pulled it all apart and had everything rebuilt. Flywheel resurfaced, new clutch disc, rebuilt pressure plate and resurfaced, new clutch release bearing, new pilot bearing. The clutch is a 11 inch hydraulic unit so very easy to operate. The truck is very strong and runs as fast as any International will run with 3:73's but starting off from a stop the thing chatters with all those new parts installed and installed right. There are no oil leaks and everything went together dry as it should be. Any thoughts? I know it's not one of our beloved Fords but the clutch doesn't know what truck it's in. Keepin' the rubber side down ...

[70shortbox]

I fought a chattering clutch on my truck for a couple years. Turns out the drivers side engine perch bolts were loose on the crossmember.

[fastEdsel]

Thank You 70shortbox for your reply and am familiar with the bolts you refer to. There actually is much discussion about the motor mounts and clutch chatter but I can't quite get my head wrapped around the relationship of the two. International motor mounts have two on the bell housing bolted to a cross member and one big one under the front vibration dampener also bolted to a cross member directly under the radiator so these engines have 3 mounts. And the only practical way to remove a clutch/flywheel components is to pull the engine. So when I did all this work it was all out on the bench. Engine removal is actually fairly easy and all bolts are readily accessible. But everything about these trucks is also very heavy so a lot of cross checking and safety concerns are in order. But I am going to recheck all the mounts and report back. The shop that did the work is about 50 miles away and they will be getting a call and I may take the truck there for them to drive or check. They have a good reputation and have been in business a long time. I now wonder if the pressure plate is running square to the clutch plate. In my opinion a wobbly pressure plate would almost certainly make a huge chatter. Chatter is there but most likely not as bad as a situation like that would be.

[Twisted_Steel]

This might not be much help since I've never seen the clutch setup on a Jeep, but I'll give it a shot.
You say you've got a hydraulic clutch, if it has the master and slave cylinders, make sure they are the same bore. For example, if one is 1" bore and the other is 7/8" bore, it won't engage the clutch fully or not let it release fully. I ran into this problem on a V8 swap in my Ranger.
Good Luck!

[Busboy]

I’d put a dial indicator on the flywheel and bell housing to make sure the flywheel is running true. A diaphragm type pressure plate is more forgiving in This area.

[62SY4]

I’d put a dial indicator on the flywheel and bell housing to make sure the flywheel is running true. A diaphragm type pressure plate is more forgiving in This area.

Probably less of an issue with the trueness of the flywheel and more of a flywheel face to bell housing face misalignment or the input shaft is not coaxial to the crankshaft.

[Busboy]

Yeah probably.