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MG MGA - Clutch pedal travel

Theres been discussion in the past on the travel of the clutch pedal and the fact it has to be pushed quite a long way down - at least on my MGA. This can be quite tiring after a few hours of driving especially if your tall. I know that the travel distance is a function of a number of mechanicals such as push rods, clevis pin, release bearing etc but does anyone know what the travel of a well set up system in good repair should be in terms of inches of pedal movement?
John
J H Cole

You should have about 1/2" of free play at the top of the stroke. The clutch should start to release about 1/3 of the way down but does vary some between cars. If the release point is very near the floor you likely have air in the hydraulics. The pedal should be pushed thru its entire stroke when operating the clutch.
J Heisenfeldt

John, If your A was an LHD import converted to RHD, you may find that there isn't enough adjustment on the master cylinder pushrod, and you may have to extend the effective length of the adjusting screw thread. This seems to be to do with the manufacture of the replacement RHD parts not being exact. There was a thread on this a couple of months ago. AB
A Bennett

JH : If your right then the master cylinder clutch piston stroke fixes the pedal movement, other things being equal and in good order. Does this mean that the mechanical advantage of the pedal and other linkages were designed to give the release bearing the correct movement on full depression of the pedal? I was thinking that the clutch was released on less than the full pedal movement but its difficult to judge this when driving.
John
J H Cole

John, That's right - there should be about 1/32 inch free play at the pushrod, which equates to 1/2 inch at the pedal. AB
A Bennett

The clucth release system is as you state, designed to move the release bearing the required amount. In reality when you are moving while and up shifting leisurely things will shift just fine without the full stroke unless you are drag racing and doing full throttle shifts. When stopped, or downshifting while moving you really should depress the pedal fully, your syncro's (balk rings) will live much longer.
J Heisenfeldt

Let me count the ways!
There are many places in the clutch system that slop can find its way in.
See attached picture.
Starting with the clutch pedal. See the oval hole in the top one? The hole was welded up and redrilled in the bottom one. There are two worn clevis pins and a worn yoke top middle. bottom center is a new yoke and pin. top center in the slave cylinder rod and boot. See the oval hole. On the left is a clutch release fork. In the center of the fork is a bushing, it is replaceable. In the picture that bushing is half out of the arm. there is a new bolt through the center of the fork. You can see the wear in the center of the worn bolt. There is also a bushing in the pivot point of the pedal. The worn one has it and it is missing from the repaired pedal.
When the transmission is out check the arm in three places. #1 the fit of the TOB to the arm. #2 the condition of the bushing and bolt. #3 not visible in my picture. The holes slave cyl end of the arm can wear oblong and can be welded and redrilled like the clutch pedal.
The slave cyl pushrod wears oval it and the clevis pins are avalable new.
As you can see there are many little things to check and repair in the clutch release system. AFTER all these items are checked and repaired you can then set the clutch adjustment as J H above describes.
R J Brown

Oops here is the picture.


R J Brown

Good picture RJ, that just about sums up the clutch pedal scenerio.
John
J H Cole

A good rogues gallery of worn parts RJ.
Cam Cunningham

This thread was discussed between 15/05/2008 and 17/05/2008

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.