Stranded by clutch trouble

Hi guys, I am posting this for my husband who is now stuck at work. I really appreciate any helpful advice you have to give. Thanks! ~Courtney

"All right, I've got another, slightly more urgent question. Getting off the freeway this morning on my way to work, my clutch pedal went nearly all the way to the floor. I couldn't get it to go into gear with the engine running. I checked the fluid, and it was right where it should be. The pedal swings back and forth like it isn't connected to anything. Any ideas as to the cause? What can I do to a) limp it home 20 miles and/or B) fix it more permanently? 4.0/French 5sd/2wd"

perhaps the linkage came off the pedal or worse the part where the linkage attaches to broke off.

I had the pedal break inside the cab on my 4x4. I bought the assembly from a donor manual tranny Cherokee at the local pull a part. If it's just swinging freely, thats my guess. I can't recall if it looked like it could be repaired by welding. But, seems like that was my plan of attack if I hadn't found a replacement. Good luck.

This is NOT recommended for every day driving but it will get you home in a emergency. Put trans in neutral. Start engine and let warm up. Turn off engine. Place transmission, and transfercase, if applicable, in lowest gear. Now start engine. As you build up speed, shift gears without the clutch. The trick is to get it out of gear as you let up on the gas. Then into next higher gear before giving it the gas again. If 18 wheelers can do it with 300-400hundred horse power diesels and 13 speed trannies, then it can be done with a Jeep. I've done it. Altho easier on open roads it can be a bear in heavy traffic. The trick is syncronizing engine, vehicle speed.

Hey all, thanks for the advice - y'all saved me a spendy little tow. I limped it home without the clutch, and when it cools down a little, I'll go out and do a little diagnosing.

driving without use of the clutch is a great tool to have in your arsenal. :D been there, done that.

driving without the clutch works great if you don't have what happened to me today-replaced the master awhile back and never bled it fully due to a rusted bleeder. it worked fine after a few pumps so i forgot about it, stuck in heavy traffic today and it jammed in gear due to low fluid in the resivior, it finally burped out the last of the air in the system...2 months after i replaced the master... thankfully a guy parked around the corner happened to have some spare dot 3 in his truck...works great now!!

lol burn up everything and swap it for newer $#!&, like an AX-15

lol burn up everything and swap it for newer $#!&, like an AX-15

When the tranny goes, I won't be spending money rebuilding it, that's for sure.

Just replaced the pedal assembly in mine due to a broken clutch pedal def. something to look at not the first thing you would think of, I sure didn't.

Just replaced the pedal assembly in mine due to a broken clutch pedal def. something to look at not the first thing you would think of, I sure didn't.

That's a possibility. The clutch on mine feels like it's not really connected to anything until I'm an inch or two from the floor, and then it feels a bit like it's trying to disengage the clutch. I can swing the pedal freely backward and forward though - is it possible that there is some kind of return spring that broke?

I am pretty unfamiliar with the workings of a hydraulic clutch. I'm not losing any fluid, and like I said, the clutch seems to try to do its job, but with only an inch or two of travel, it seems to run out of room.

thats exactly the problem a few of our members ahd when the clutch pedal broke.

AFAIK, the only springs that push the pedal back up are the springs on the pressure plate.

thats exactly the problem a few of our members ahd when the clutch pedal broke.

As I didn't pay very close attention to the under-dash workings of the clutch before I started having issues, are there any clues that I should look for in order to test for a broken clutch pedal vs. bad master cylinder?

I've had brakes that needed to be bled, and brakes where the booster was out of whack, both giving the pedal a "squishy" feel, where it doesn't do anything until the pedal is close to the floor. In those instances, the pedal doesn't feel disconnected. In this case, it feels like it's just swinging loosely, but once the pedal gets down to 2-4 inches (I measured again) from the floor, it feels just like it did before, as though it's trying to disengage the clutch and just doesn't have enough travel.

Found this on JeepForum, it's for a YJ, but same procedure...

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/clut ... nt-728960/

Pay very close attention to the last picture in the first post:

That's what the connection to the clutch pedal should look like.

By the way, I see that the YJ doesn't have the design flaw the MJ does...the CMC isn't directly above the fuse panel, so you don't have to worry about a leak destroying your electrical system.

There's an excellent diagram of the inner workings of the CMC at: http://jeep.zerok.ru/index.php?page=75 about 2/3 of the way down the page.

Last I went to the auto parts store, they had stopped selling the CMC repair kits, and you can now only purchase new CMCs for Comanches.

I may just be a dummy for bringing this up, but there's also this spring which caused the clutch pedal to smack me in the face when I disconnected it from the Master.

It sounds to me like the Master, as I'm dealing with this same (exact) problem right now. But you said the pedal doesn't feel like it's connected to anything and could swing it back and forth, so I figured I'd mention it. :dunno:

After looking at this page http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/clutch-master-cylinder-replacement-728960/ and this image, I get the feeling that something is actually broken in the master cylinder. On that YJ master cylinder replacement walkthrough, I can see that the rod with the ring at the end attaches to the clutch pedal and goes straight through the firewall into the master cylinder - I was looking for more linkage than that. It's funny how much higher things seem when they're in the engine bay, rather than under the dash. Anyway, it feels like that rod isn't getting a good seal on the other end, inside the MC.

Looks like I'll have to call around for a new MC tomorrow. Any tips on protecting my fuse box from leaking/draining fluid when I pull the old one?

I may just be a dummy for bringing this up, but there's also this spring which caused the clutch pedal to smack me in the face when I disconnected it from the Master.

 

It sounds to me like the Master, as I'm dealing with this same (exact) problem right now. But you said the pedal doesn't feel like it's connected to anything and could swing it back and forth, so I figured I'd mention it. :dunno:

Hey Vintage, I checked out that spring. It looks like it's still good, but thanks for the idea. When I get this figured out I'll post what fixed it, in case it would fix your problem too. If you have an assistant depress the clutch while you're under the hood, can you hear the master cylinder working? My wife said mine sounded a little "wheezy" like air was leaking somehow, and I thought that could be a possible bad seal or something in there.

My clutch arm bent and I couldn't get the new master (and 2 "defective" ones after it put in by a shop under warranty because I didn't have time) to bleed. Put in the old one from my '87 MJ and Voila! it worked!

Huzzah! New CMC (and a garden hose to flush the brake fluid out of my eye :mad:) did the trick. I pondered taking the old one apart to see what was wrong, but I suffered an attack of no curiosity and chucked it.