A quick history...in my '37 Ford pick up with all stock drivetrain I had clutch chatter issues and usual 3 speed grind problems, but otherwise it was a functional truck. Then I broke an axle shaft and decided on an open driveshaft/T5 swap during the rear axle build. I bough the adapter from Cornhuskers, installed it with all new clutch/pressure plate/bearing/bushing, resurfaced flywheel, etc. The trans got new syncros, the bearings looked and checked out perfect so they were not changed.... Now the problems....as soon as I let the clutch pedal up the first time to back the truck out of the garage, I had chatter...but it drove fine otherwise for roughly 1 month when it started making a noise only when the clutch/trans were engaged that everyone swore was the front bearings in the trans. I pulled the trans out to find a totally egged out pilot bushing. Had the trans checked out and everything is fine. Took the clutch/p-plate/flywheel to a local shop that rebuilt and resurfaced everything. I check the bellhousing alignment with a dial indicator, and it is within .02". Installed the trans again with new pilot bushing and TO bearing. I still have chatter, bad bearing-like noise is gone, and now...2 weeks later I have what sounds like a failed T/O bearing when I push the clutch in. What am I doing wrong??!?! Any advice is much appreciated.
Did you mean to write .002? If you runout is actually .020, there lies the problem. Make it closer to .002.
Sorry, yes .002. Forgot the extra zero. Without the clutch and pressure plate, I installed some studs in the block and the trans slides right into the pilot. Tightened up the mounting bolts, spun the output shaft with the trans in gear and didn't feel any resistance like it would be binding up in the pilot bushing. So I don't think there is an alignment issue.
Motor mounts are new and in great shape as is the trans mount. I plan on pulling the trans back out tomorrow. Hopefully I will see what is squealing when the clutch pedal is pressed in.
If you used this S-10 trans mount like I did then you may need to make some anti chatter rods like Henry did. The mounts look fine but they allow the engine to move and the clutch chatters. I made some anti-chatter rods from 3/8" rod using front shock upper rubber bushings and washers for vibration dampening. That took care of the problem. Easier than pulling the trans. Good luck and tell us what you find.
Just found this thread & am having a similar issue. Did you ever get this fixed? Did you try the anti chatter Rods?
Flatmotors need the chatter bars......I run an 8BA in my 40 pickup with a RUG 3 speed, open driveline,..and had to fab a set. You said the pilot bearing was "egged out"....is the trans pilot and the pilo a good fit ? If pilot os smaller than the trans input shaft,...that can happen.... 4TTRUK
OOps...Correction....if pilot on the input shaft is smaller than the pilot bushing,...the "slop" can make the pilot bearing "egg out" 4TTRUK
I constructed a migshift ant-chatter & it didn't seem to help. I found out that the pressure plate arms are contacting my offy adapter when the motor is at higher RPM possibly throwing the pressure plate out of alignment? Also could the aluminium shavings be contaminating the clutch?
I just backed my '34 out of the shop yesterday for the first time in several years. I scattered the truck tranny back when and put a T-5 in it along with an 8ba. AND IT CHATTERS! I'll drive it around the block today and see how bad it is. I'll watch this thread close.
I'm running a 10.5" Long type clutch. I talked to some clutch gurus and they told me i'll have a hard time getting it not to chatter due to the style of clutch. He told me to throw it in the trash and swap it out to a diaphragm style pressure plate. I have friends who've run the same setup as I am who have had the same issues but have corrected it some way or another. Seems like most cases are all different.
We put a T5 behind the wife's 8BA and it has been perfect, however...it is a noisy transmission and I am 100% sure that it is mechanically perfect. Coming from a background of many years with GM products I realized that fact from the beginning. Sure makes that little roadster a road rocket.
When I had a T5 behind a flatty, I pushed in the pedal and noticed the motor move ahead. I never even started the motor untill I had built an anti chatter rod along side the clutch linkage. Mine never chattered.
Not sure where the 37 chatter bars went.....The 40 went from back of engine bloc, to the bottom of the X member....They're approx 18" long. For the 8BA block, you'll need to fab brackets, one for each aide, from bell housing to to the holes in the X member. 59A had a boss on each side of the back of the block, to accomodate them. Chatter with an open drive line is greatly reduced, because any fore / aft motion of the driveshaft is taken up by the slip yoke. Torque tubes would "push" the engine / trans forward or back, affecting clutch operation via the linkage. 4TTRUK
After my first av8 in 1960 that had chatter problems a veteran old time hot rodder had me install anti-chatter rods and every flathead build since hasn't left the garage without them. Some of the early swap kits had an L-shaped bracket the preloaded the front motor mount biscuits essentially locking the motor in a for/aft position duplicating the function of the anti-chatter rods. Frank
Hurst anti chatter clips were used on engines adapted to the early Ford trans. Used to limit the front to back movement on the motor mounts just like the Ford rods that limited the movement. The problem is in the Ford and in my case the Studebaker clutch linkage.(same design with a cross shaft in the bellhousing) When you let out on the clutch the torque wants to push the engine forward on the mounts which allows the clutch to unload and slip a bit. Then the engine moves back and the process recurs at a very rapid rate...it chatters.
Makes perfect sense to me. I guess if you ran a hydraulic clutch slave this problem wouldn't happen. (Mine's mechanical).
I think with the T-5, a change to the TH350 type trans mount stabilizes the back end and prevents chatter. Even GM had support rods on the T-5 when used with the bisquik mount. frank
Factory "chatter bars" ran from bosses on each side of the 59A blocks,.just outboard of the bell housing. For an 8BA, you need to fab brackets to bolt to the bell housing bolts....The rods run back, to the lower side of the "X" member. The 40 frams have a "dimpled" hole, the rods are approx 18" long. 4TTRUK