Clutch return spring question

You're talking about the spring on the clutch pedal, under the dash?

No way that'll change anything to do with the clutch engagement. All its going to do is hold the pedal up. The only way anything to do with clutch engagement would change is if they made any adjustments while it was in the shop.

 

The spring being broken wasn’t alowing the pedal to go all the way up. Now that it has a spring the peddle travel is feeling different and longer. So now it is probably just amplifying the clutch needing adjustment. The last one inch of hard squeeze to the floor is for the clutch brake when at dead stop. That keeps you from hitting that brake during normal shifts if you use clutch to do so. Peddle should have around 1-1/2 inch of freeplay from top to the spot were it starts to pull clutch. Adjust clutch first. You Have to make some simple measurements on clutch inside the housing to get it perfect. Than if the peddle has linkage you fine tune that if needed to get the “slack” out.
My old Pete has the peddle go directly to the cross shaft on the trans though the floor board. Very different feel from a peddle mounted solid that uses linkage. Noisy too.

 

I’ve never driven an air clutch or hydraulic in a big truck before. So I don’t have anything to go on about the difference in feel on those. None of the traditional mechanical ones I’ve had have been hard to push. I’ve had car clutches need more leg pressure. The clutch peddle in my ‘72 Chevy C10 is a lot harder than any big truck clutch I’ve ever pushed.

 

The clutch return spring has nothing to do with clutch brake, engagement or release.

It seems the shop didn’t adjust the clutch brake properly when it was in for service.

 

Right. But what I said was that the length of peddle travel can change if the new spring is pulling it back farther to its resting place. This change in travel can make the clutch feel different than what you are used too. Even if the clutch is in perfect adjustment. Its like maybe before the peddle was only coming up 5 inches from floor and now it comes up 6 or 6-1/2. You will notice this difference and it will be weird till you get used to it again.

 

That’s true, but the clutch pedal must’ve really been hanging low for it to feel that way.

I replaced the return spring on my hydraulic clutch and it didn’t feel too different on engagement, except the pedal coming back up more on disengagement was different, but not too drastic.

 

check for leaks around the clutch resevoir and actuator