KE Clutch Cable Adjustment Issue

[Banjo]

One of the “perennial” problems with our early Rollas, is the adjustment of the clutch cable.

Perennial   “lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring.”

Now I hear some of you suggesting, “well just go hydraulic”, but that is usually implemented by those, that have upgraded to a gearbox, that is hydraulically operated. 

There are posts on this forum, with various adaptions of the clutch pedal to hydraulic, but they are not for the faint hearted, & the fact that the cable pulls, & the hydraulic pushes, to operate the clutch, does not help.

So I’ve decided to stay with the clutch cable, & here is how I have sorted it.

The first thing I have always found, is that lubricating the clutch inner cable inside the outer sheath, is extremely important.

The cable end to end changes the direction of force through 180 degrees.  As it turns the big bend in the engine compartment, there is binding of the inner cable on the inside of the outer cable.  I have experienced heavy clutch pressure needed in early days, only to find that extra force required, was to overcome the friction within the cable itself.

The fix is simple. Remove the clutch cable completely from the car.

Hang it up at one end, from the out sheath.

Drip some light oil in the top end, & work the inner cable up & down.

Keep adding oil, & continue to “jiggle” it up & down, until the oil starts to drip out the bottom end.  (once I had to leave it overnight, for the oil to get to the bottom, on a very tight cable)

I even saved a cable for someone once that was literally seized, by feeding WD40 down the cable inner, for 24 hours on & off.

The real problem with the clutch cable, is that horrible adjustment design, up on the firewall, with a single circlip, clipped into one of a number of grooves in the cable outer.  The circlip is very hard, & the alloy grooved section of the cable is relatively soft.  On top of that, when you push the clutch in, the cable pulls down slightly, so the  circlip area does not stay flat against the buffer area.

Well, early into my KE ownership, years ago, I ditched the circlip altogether & just had a small screw hose clamp around the cable. Actually, I think I had two in "series".  Then, I came across a brand new circlip, & decided to remove the hose clamp.  Well, it worked OK for 6 months, then one night in the city at 2:00 am, after picking up my daughter, after her restaurant shift, at a set of lights, the clutch pedal went to the floor. I pushed the car back, & searched in vain, for the dislodged circlip.

In the end, I gave up, took a hose clamp off the crankcase breather oil collector, & fitted it around the clutch cable, & got home, travelling roads with no traffic lights, so I didn’t have to stop & start.  Success, although daughter was not impressed.

Anyway, I then decided that’s it; I’ll fix this design issue for good.  I finally came up with the idea of using 2 x circlips, & filling the space in between them, so they both effectively shared the load.  It was pretty simple really. I fitted both circlips, adjacent to each other, then found a large mild steel washer, about the same OD as the circlips.  I then reamed out the centre hole of the washer, so it was the same ID, as the OD of the cable. I then cut out one side of the washer, so it became a “U” shaped washer, that could slip down between the two circlips. It was a bit tight at first, so I placed it on the band sander, until it was just the right thickness, that it could be tapped in gently between the circlips.  I was intending to put a drop of Araldite on the washer, so it couldn't turn around & fall out, but 2 months later, it is still snug & tight.

The other issue with the clutch cable is, that as you push the clutch in, the force on the circlips, is on the bottom edge, as the cable pulls down. It needs a support on the cable, to hold it pretty much horizontal, for the first 300-400 mm, away from the firewall.

I’m sure that a KE55 coupe I once had, actually had a bracket that came off the master cylinder, or thereabouts, to support the cable. No such bracket was ever on my olde KE30.  So I rigged up a support bar, to experiment with the best place to support the cable.

I’ve now found a spot, so will make up a permanent bracket which will attach to a couple of spare mounting points down on the inner firewall, which you can just see in the fourth picture down.

Anyway, it all works well, & the clutch even feels better under the foot, as energy is not used moving the outer cable position.

The 180 deg curve of the clutch cable outer sheath, is important.  I have noticed over the years, that some aftermarket clutch cables for the KE series are 30-50mm shorter than the originals, which creates a tighter curve, & greater drag, on the inner cable.

 

 

 

Hope this description, & associated pics, might assist, & inspire some, to solve their clutch adjustment retention issue, as I have done.

 

Cheers Banjo

Edited February 21, 2020 by Banjo

[coln72]

Always used to support the circlip with a hose clamp. Always had a spare circlip ready to go on the clutch cable just in case though. 

Vaguely remember my KE35 having a support for the clutch cable

Edited February 18, 2020 by coln72

[altezzaclub]

Its the green cable that causes all your problems!!

Over the years I've done all that, and even had a 10mm spacer in there to take up the stretching. The grooves for the circlip just break away, so I'm a fan of the hose clamps too.  I am impressed that I've never had a cable break, Toyota over-built that part of it!