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Technical hydraulic throwout bearings

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by The green latrine, Mar 24, 2017.

  1. jvpolvere1 likes this.
  2. earlymopar
    Joined: Feb 26, 2007
    Posts: 1,608

    earlymopar
    Member

    There are hundreds of thousands of cars from the factory that use these. But, I don't like the idea of hydraulic fluid and the potential for a leak near a high dollar clutch. For this reason, I used an external hydraulic slave cylinder (also from Speedway). -EM
     
    Montana1 likes this.
  3. Baumi
    Joined: Jan 28, 2003
    Posts: 3,043

    Baumi
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I have put one in my 34 behind a 312 Y-Block. Mine´s from Howe´s Racing.It seems to be nice quality, I think it was about 150$ through summit. The car is not yet on the road so not so much exeperience here. IMG_4714.JPG 01.03.2017 003.jpg
     
  4. Stonebird
    Joined: Dec 19, 2008
    Posts: 109

    Stonebird
    Member

    Not from personal experience but I have heard they can be very difficult to bleed sucesuflly
     
    Ol Pasqualy likes this.

  5. I have experience with the McLeod ones. Very straight forward and a quality piece.

    As with most products, do a search on here, you will find many discussions and a lot of them involve the difficulty/pain in the butt factor of adjusting Howe ones with their shims.
     
  6. I also use the McLeod hyd. bearings . I have had one in my truck 390 ford ,toploader ,for 5 years now and never a prolem
    and one in my car ,also 390 t oploader . never a problem. the only wat to go in my opinion !!!!
     
  7. mike bowling
    Joined: Jan 1, 2013
    Posts: 3,560

    mike bowling
    Member

    I had no problem with one from speedway on a flathead/ 5 spd set up, but access to the inside line to bleed is a challenge. We ended up cutting up an open end wrench and " making" a tool. I almost considered cutting an access hole in the bell housing, but it wasn't necessary. DSCN1387.JPG
     
  8. ace5043
    Joined: Sep 28, 2008
    Posts: 128

    ace5043
    Member
    from Florida

    I have a Howe...worked great for a little while but now leaking and clutch slipping. Changing out to an external slave. I would not do it again


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  9. Fern 54
    Joined: Oct 21, 2010
    Posts: 45

    Fern 54
    Member
    from Pomona, CA

    I'm also running the McLeod one on my 34. I called and told them what I was running, they hooked me up with the correct one so no shims were needed. Not too difficult to install and has worked great for me.
     
  10. One of the good things about McLeod is they don't use shims.

    Adjustment is via piston length. Measure correctly, fit the right piston and all is good.
     
  11. I have a master/slave in my '06 Pontiac GTO 6-speed. The up side is in the factory's favor because it allows them to easily build for both left hand and right hand markets. So any linkage issues can be solved which may be helpful to rod builders, too. The down sides are one more fluid to service, contamination and leaks are possible, and adjustments are done with shims (in my case) and is not a simple project. I have no experience with the mix-n-match we do in the hot rod world so I'll let others who actually know tell the tale.
     
  12. H380
    Joined: Sep 20, 2015
    Posts: 483

    H380
    Member
    from Louisiana

    Just a FYI. When it leaks you will need to drop the transmission to work on it. The clutch disk will be toast from the brake fluid. I have a stock 97 chevy truck. 350 with a NV 3500 daily driver on its 3rd clutch because of fluid leaks. The 2nd "Part store" system started leaking in less than 30K. Something to think about. For me I would look at an external cylinder setup. They can be changed out in 15 minutes and the fluid is not close to the clutch material. If you need the internal setup. Spend the money and buy good name brand parts.
     
  13. R Pope
    Joined: Jan 23, 2006
    Posts: 3,309

    R Pope
    Member

    Ford uses that hydro clutch bearing on pickups. They blow the seals in cold weather, and the transmission has to come out to change the bearing. PITA!
     
  14. alphabet soup
    Joined: Jan 8, 2011
    Posts: 2,017

    alphabet soup
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    The things you find when your not looking. Not 20 mins ago my buddy called me about troubles he was having with the one for his '55 Nomad. I have never used any after market ones. So I am of no help. He is using a McLoed one. He said to get the pedal hooked up. He has to have some pressure on the master cylinder. He doesn't think it's enough to move the throw out bearing much if any. But it doesn't seem right to him. McLoed has been calling him back for three days now. But hasn't yet. Anyone have similar problems??
     
  15. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 23,263

    gimpyshotrods
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I always use external. Easier to adjust, and replace.
     
  16. External here too, plus I was making mine up as I was going along. I mounted my slave with a plate to the side of my '55 Chevy cast iron bellhousing.
    SLAVE.jpg
     
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  17. Jeff Norwell
    Joined: Aug 20, 2003
    Posts: 14,809

    Jeff Norwell
    MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    I run McLeods.... on both 32's.. never a problem.I wanted to run externals..no room.
     
  18. dodge35
    Joined: Feb 9, 2010
    Posts: 111

    dodge35
    Member
    from kentucky

    I bought one a couple of years ago, then I read the reviews. Seems like the speedway unit had a lot of leakers. Am going to buy the complete external set up from Novak Conversions. Comes with shift fork, slave cyl, beefy bracket, push rod and spring. Fits almost all chevy bellhousings.
     
    turboroadster likes this.
  19. mgermca
    Joined: Mar 2, 2008
    Posts: 261

    mgermca
    Member

    There have been several threads on this subject here on the HAMB over the years. The one thing I have retained from reading them is that the cheaper ones have O ring seals and tend to be 'leakers', the expensive ones ( McLeod and Tilton for instance) have proper square cross section seals that are correct for sealing on a sliding piston.
    One of the posters on one of those threads said it is not correct engineering-wise to use an O ring to seal between two surfaces when one of them moves.
    Made sense to me, bought the McLeod. Expensive but no leaks.
     
    Dr. Greg likes this.
  20. quicksilverart46
    Joined: Dec 7, 2016
    Posts: 460

    quicksilverart46
    Member

    The McLeod takes the place of the bearing retainer and works fantastic. It is a aircraft quality piece that is self adjusting. I have run one in my Chevy gasser hooked to a M22 since '03 with no problems. Has a separate braided AN -3 line for externally bleeding. But a external slave cylinder from Speedway is a good less expensive alternative.


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
    Turbo26T likes this.
  21. Good points on the McLeod and Novak products, totally top-notch and less likely to fail. Not cheap, but spend your $$ once.
     
  22. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 23,263

    gimpyshotrods
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    That one is my favorite. I just put one a '40 Chevy, with a T5.
     
  23. jimmy six
    Joined: Mar 21, 2006
    Posts: 14,795

    jimmy six
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    On our dirt race car all but a Howe all were "Junk" and leaked some right from the package. I won't say whose but the are mentioned above.
     
  24. no55mad
    Joined: Dec 15, 2006
    Posts: 1,956

    no55mad
    Member

    I can vouch that the Speedway units leak - lots of work/expense to repair!
     
  25. 327Eric
    Joined: May 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,116

    327Eric
    Member

    I have a similar unit from Southwest speed in my Stude. 327 with a 65 truck bellhousing and a saginaw 4 speed. No problems bleeding or with reliabilty. I had to remove a shim after the initial test drive, otherwise trouble free for 8 years so far.
     
  26. jailbar joe
    Joined: Nov 21, 2014
    Posts: 415

    jailbar joe
    Member

    i have a mcleod unit in my jailbar 400clevo/toploader..been there a few years and not a problem...
    saved me more than a few headaches over the old standard one.....
    i found being in australia was a bit of a problem when setting it up....couldn't just run down the store and change pistons....so found making shims the easiest option.
    would not hesitate to use one again:)
     
  27. I have a Tilton in my '32. They were one of the first and MANY road race teams have used them for decades now. I really like the feel of it - I'm using Wilwood pedal and master with it.
    I didn't want a slave style as the main reason for going hydraulic was to free up room for the exhaust.
     
    52plybizcoupe likes this.
  28. I put a Tilton one in my car mainly because working in the marine industry I have seen o rings on hydraulic cylinders fail in the Tilton throughout bearing has lip seals


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  29. 32Tudor396
    Joined: Sep 14, 2010
    Posts: 181

    32Tudor396
    Member

    The 57 to 60 Ford truck hydronic clutch works well if you want to have something on firewall that looks traditional.I believe parts can be bought at any parts store.

    Sent from my SM-G930W8 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     

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