Thread: Clutch pedal height on td5 02 Xtreme

hi paul, i have just converted my auto td5 to a 5 speed and it has a brand new clutch and dual mass flywheel. it was all done by a specialest in adalade when i got the car back i first noticed the action of the clutch was dead low, as in the friction point was 5mm off the floor. i beleave its blead corectly and there is absolutly no adjustment on the pedal or master cylinder, some other cars have a nut on the back of the pedal ( plunger conection side) others the rod actualy screws in or out of the master cylinder, however on ours it apears there is jolly well no adjustment at all. as the plunger goes straight into the master cylinder where it has some type of uniball witch is fixed into the mastercylinder.

some master cylinders you can cheet by taking out the push rod and placing a 5mm ball bearing inbetween the push rod and cylinder however ours dont alow for that.

my mastercylinder apears to have 10mm of free play at the actual push rod. witch turns into about 80mm at the peddal.

i think the solution aside from a possibul bad design is a replacment master cylinder im also looking at cutting my rod and welding in a screw adjustment.

have you had any luck in the mean time ?

jeff.

Thanks Jeff,
I decided after some discussion with my father who is visiting at the moment
(a retired mechanic) to attempt to get the pedal height to spec 140mm as Dad is convinced the throw angle for the pushrod will be wrong if I leave the pedal where it is at about 170mm and could cause premature failure.
So how to? with no adjustment stop.
We ended up lengthening the pushrod by adding a nut to the end which was hitting the pedal box, this gave us some adjustment to lower the pedal height to spec.
We then used the two locking nuts and the nylock to adjust the pushrod to master cylinder to spec and correct pedal freeplay, the result was great!
The bite point is about halfway through the pedal travel and having the clutch pedal lower than the brake pedal seems good too.

There was also some discussion about brake fluid in particular type.
Dot 3 or Dot 4?
Some say they are compatible and of course some say not.
The manual states Dot 4 so that is what went in however the 3/4" Girling master cylinder would certainly predate Dot 4.
The main difference between the two appears to be temperature tolerance with Dot 4 being higher this appears to have been due to the advent of disc brakes (don't quote me).
So this had us thinking since the seals in the Master Cylinder where very soft and falling apart when I took it out was this from the Dot 4?
It would be interesting to know if Series and County LR's with drums all round and Dot 3 in the master have had the problems that the more recent Defenders appear to be having.
Also if the advent of Disc Braked Defenders changed the spec from Dot 3 to Dot 4 ?
It was a genuine LR master cylinder kit to by the way.

So only time will tell and if I get a failure and the seals look to be the cause I will try Dot 3 next time.

hum..... sounds like we may have a diffrent mastercylinder ? mine is on a discovery 2 but also a td5...... i dont have any nut on the end of mine when you said that you lengnthend yours do you mean you cut the end off and welded on a bolt or stud then threaded it onto your fork pivit point ? i half thought of doing that but dont have a welder hear..... insted i have brought it to a brake specialest and im going to get him to sleeve the master and slave tomorrow, i sopose there is no sence in doing only one side... ill let you know the dammage tomorrow. lol.

jeff.

guys, its the same clutch master thats been in use since the series III its just got metric fittings on it.

you can even use the MC from a trailer brake system on it.

dont worry about it dot 3 is the minimum you can use but dot 4 is better. The reason they dont mix is because the fluid retains the properties of the lesser quality fluid (more or less)

Hi Jeff,
the pushrod has a continous thread from the end furtherest away from the cylinder to in front of the pivot point or trunnion.
So I just threaded a nut onto the end a couple of turns and used the width of the nut for adjustment then removed it and added loctite and put the nut back on the same amount.
I don't think the Disco and Defender M/C's are the same.

Cheers,
Paul.

i got the truck back from the clutch shop, the peddle had heeps of free play when i brought it in, i have blead braks heeps before, but have not done too meny clutches, after picking it up he said he gave it a good blead. it wha heeps better. so i guess some times you just have to take it to a pro. not bad result for 50 bucks.