1951 Hornet Clutch Repair

Jake_N_His_Hornet

Hey All,

I am in the middle of getting my Hornet Back on the road and am finally ready to start ordering parts. I found that my clutch disk was completely wrecked, with not cork left in it at all (just bare steel left). I am looking for some input on what all i should be ordering to get this fixed. I obviously need a clutch (from Dr Doug) and i need a transmission mount, but I'm not sure if I need anything else. My pressure plate looks good, as does the flywheel, could i just have these resurfaced? Or is it best to go with a new pressure plate? Also what about the throwout bearing?

My U-Joint for the front of the driveshaft (trans side) could be replaced as well since i have it apart, does anybody have a part #? 

Any input could be greatly appreciated, I'd love to get this thing together before the snow flies here in Iowa! 

Thanks,

Jake

IvarSweden

Check the clutch bell housing cross shaft bushings for wear, these are apparently always worn out. On my gearbox, the throwout bearing fork was very worn too. Doug Wildrick sells a kit to replace these parts.

http://www.wildrickrestorations.com/120611Hudson.html

Glowplug

The Stepdown Hudson clutch "system" is a combination of clutch linkage ,clutch, pressure plate and flywheel all operating together as one. These cars have over their life times been exposed to all manner of use, misuse and lack of maintenance. The result is of course clutches with out corks etc.

Your desire to correct the obvious MUST include the less and non obvious pieces of the SYSTEM.

Several points are well made above and I will add to them with the following.

The Hudson clutch throw out bearing mount cross shaft is mounted in the bell housing and it is operated by the clutch pedal and it's associated linkage. This piece of the SYSTEM is very vulnerable to the dirt kicked up from the road surface and over the 60+ years of life it will wear and when it does the clutch adjustments shown in the maintenance manual CAN NOT be achieved. The inspection and repair of the frame mount bracket for the clutch pedal paddle interface is ESSENTIAL. If wear is found correct it, check fit with the shaft both at the mounting bracket, alignment to the bell housing paddles, and that the shaft that enters the bell housing is straight and properly fits the rubber bushing found in the bell housing. A must is replacement of the rubber inserts which fit on the clutch cross shaft paddles and the bell housing rubber bushing.

Finally clean each piece of the linkage, paint and lubricate when re-installing. When re-assembled the cross shaft linkage should have a fiber oil washer installed at the end where it enters the frame mounting bracket . As all surfaces are metal to metal they should be regularly inspected, cleaned and lubricated after repair re-installation and adjustment to manual specifications.

J Spencer

Old farmer is right on.  a few years ago I was having trouble with my 51 Pacemaker not releasing. The clutch and cross shaft bushings were new a while back and I found the trouble in the worn frame bracket /shaft and clutch pads. It is fine now. I do however suspect that the clutch fork and releas bearing collar may be worn where it rides on the release bearing.  I have a couple of old ones that are worn for comparison.. I also have a NOS collar and fork if I ever need them.

Jim Spencer

Western New York Chapter

Jake_N_His_Hornet

----UPDATE----

I finally bit the bullet and ordered everything from Wildrick Restorations, might even be back on the road yet this season (with a little luck)

Thanks for all the info

Jon B

You're making a wise decision.  When you consider all the work it takes to replace the clutch and its component parts, it makes no sense to scrimp when replacing those parts.  The few extra dollars you'd spend for a rebuilt or new part, pale in comparison with the number of hours it would take to disassemble the clutch, replace the parts, and re-assemble it, a SECOND time, should the used part (that you elected not to replace because of the cost) fail!

Good luck on getting it all put back together and buttoned up before the snow flies. At least you know that you'll probably not have deal with the clutch again (given the stellar reputation of Dr. Doug and his parts!). 

Per

The cross-joint kit for the universal joint is easily available.  It is used on all Hudsons from 1936 to 1954.  It is also used on old jeeps, up to at least 1975.  When a parts store doesn't list Hudson, I ask for a 1973 Jeep joint, and that gets them to the right part.  There are most likely  other applications that I don't know about.

Per

Jake_N_His_Hornet

So I don't have a clutch alignment tool, any advice on how to put this together?

onerare39

Jake,

Since you got your clutch from Wildrick Restoration they might loan you one.  They could mail it to you and then you just mail it back when you are done.  Call them and see.  

John

mdwhit

I bought a clutch alignment tool from Russell Maas. It's the last item in the following link:

http://21stcenturyhudson.net/products1.htm

Jake_N_His_Hornet

Hey All,

Just wanted to say thanks for the help. I got the Hornet back on the road last weekend and took it to it's first car show!

Everything worked perfect, I even got to verify that the overdrive works. 

I'm so glad I found this forum, made my life significantly less stressful

-Jake 

Jon B

Glad to hear you've got it back on the road, Jake!

RL Chilton

Great picture!  Congratulations on getting her on the road and to her first show.  Great feeling, isn't it?  

ratwasp

I have been battling this clutch issued J Spencer describes below for a year now. Starts up in neutral just fine, but after warming up the clutch seems to do nothing. OK cold go a few miles, then the shifting begins to grind to eventually not disengaging at all. The shifter is stuck in whatever position it is in...Shut the engine off, put it in gear, start the engine, then go.

I have added Hudsonite fluid that a friend in the HET Club supplied me, and had the the cork disc redone along with throwout bearing by Ron Fellows. I plan on inspecting the linkage this weekend, does anyone sell these parts?? brackets/bushing/fiber washer?

Old farmer is right on.  a few years ago I was having trouble with my 51 Pacemaker not releasing. The clutch and cross shaft bushings were new a while back and I found the trouble in the worn frame bracket /shaft and clutch pads. It is fine now. I do however suspect that the clutch fork and releas bearing collar may be worn where it rides on the release bearing.  I have a couple of old ones that are worn for comparison.. I also have a NOS collar and fork if I ever need them.

Jim Spencer

Western New York Chapter

Glowplug

I have been battling this clutch issued J Spencer describes below for a year now. Starts up in neutral just fine, but after warming up the clutch seems to do nothing. OK cold go a few miles, then the shifting begins to grind to eventually not disengaging at all. The shifter is stuck in whatever position it is in...Shut the engine off, put it in gear, start the engine, then go.

I have added Hudsonite fluid that a friend in the HET Club supplied me, and had the the cork disc redone along with throwout bearing by Ron Fellows. I plan on inspecting the linkage this weekend, does anyone sell these parts?? brackets/bushing/fiber washer?

Old farmer is right on.  a few years ago I was having trouble with my 51 Pacemaker not releasing. The clutch and cross shaft bushings were new a while back and I found the trouble in the worn frame bracket /shaft and clutch pads. It is fine now. I do however suspect that the clutch fork and releas bearing collar may be worn where it rides on the release bearing.  I have a couple of old ones that are worn for comparison.. I also have a NOS collar and fork if I ever need them.

Jim Spencer

Western New York Chapter

Clutch grabbing has been a problem with new and rebuilt clutch assemblies every since Hudson started their use.  As a respondent, I am unable to diagnose a specific reason or process that is causing your unique problem.  There are several things that you can do to identify your specific concerns.  

1. All cork clutches are prone to cork swell.  Each cork will react to the fluid environment uniquely.  When a rebuilt/re-manufactured clutch is to be installed the disc should be subjected to several days of complete immersion in a clutch oil bath. The bath will allow all corks to become saturated with the same oil used within the sealed clutch and pressure plate chamber.

2.  To operate properly the clutch cover (pressure plate) requires exacting adjustments for the clutch throw out bearing fingers which will assure the release tolerances are met when the clutch pedal is depressed.

3.  The clutch disc when properly soaked can exhibit cork discs which have absorbed more fluid than their neighbors. The uneven absorption will result in high and low spots on the clutch. 

4.  Installation of the clutch and cover is done with a cover gasket.  The thickness of the gasket is a part of the adjustments and required to allow the clutch fluid to remain inside.  The cover gasket is part of the total measurement used in setting the interior clearance needed for the proper release of the clutch disc.  Being new to this type of clutch you would not know this fact nor that to compensate for cork swell there maybe the need to add additional gaskets to create the necessary clearance for your clutch to fully release each time the pedal is pressed.  

5.  The linkage for the clutch release along with the cross shaft bushings need to be in good order.  Wear like that shown in my previous posting will contribute to poor release, resulting in heating of the clutch due to incomplete release. The repair of these external linkage pieces is explained and you are welcome to ask for assistance if needed.

6. Assuming the mechanical linkage and physical clearance within the clutch cover have been made to match factory recommendations, you will still have to adjust the  external clutch release linkage to meet the factory specification.   

Finally an example of how a friend got a newly installed clutch to quit sticking.   He placed the front bumper of his car against a tree and released the clutch slowly slipping it so that it burned the corks evenly.  Of course this also burned the clutch fluid and more than likely scorched the pressure plate some.  But, this enterprising Hudson owner drained the fluid replacing it with new and 5 years later we crossed paths again. His car had more than 20,000 trouble free miles since the clutch slipping tree action and the clutch had not slipped or grabbed during that time.  

Hope these tid bits help...

ratwasp

Dr Doug Wildrick thinks I may have the wrong pressure plate, an earlier design. Hoping that's not the case, but I will inspect the linkage first!

Thank you for all the input, huge help!

ratwasp

UPDATE: Doug and the Wildrick team have been a huge help and has solved my clutch issues with new parts and guidance.  I had mismatched parts and now am back on the road!

I also recently purchased a fuel pump from them and will be installing that in the next week or so.  Thanks Wildrick!!