Clutch pedal replacement in 1/2 hour! (Pics)

[Vincent Vango]

Anyone in Portland OR have experience with this? Any specialized tools needed besides what's in the post? I've been told by Halsey that my clutch pedal is "broken" but instead of having them remove, refurbish, and replace for $500, I'd rather take it out and have a look myself. Funny thing about this is, he did'nt remove it, he just knows its broken.

Just learning to work on my van, so I appreciate any and all help.

I'll probably tackle the first of the year...

[dobryan]

When I did mine I used nothing special as far as tools go. It seems that mine was more difficult to get the shaft off than most but I got it done with a lot of patience. Go for it!
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[Vincent Vango]

Thanks dobryan, good to know. This post is inspiring.

If anyone is in the area in a few weeks and wants to drink my beer and point at things while I do this, PM me.

[Ahwahnee]

Either inspired or deluded by this thread - I undid mine this afternoon.

Prior to removal I measured a bit over 1" of free clutch pedal movement - not alarming but given the age & miles seemed prudent to have at it.

To my surprise (or chagrin) there was absolutely no wear in the clevis pin or pedal.

I am tempted to slightly adjust the length of the pushrod to take up some of the 1" of free travel though I obviously do not want to remove all of it.

Any idea how much I can safely lengthen the pushrod and still have a dab of free play?

I experimented on the bench with pedal movement vs pushrod movement so I have an idea but would appreciate anyone's experience with this adjustment.

[Ahwahnee]

To answer my own question I measured 3 ways - direct observation of the linkage, a geometry exercise and basic 5th grade math. Pretty much the same answer all around: 1" of pedal movement = 5/32 of pushrod movement.

Armed with this I adjusted the pushrod length to leave 1/16" of free play as that is a typical spec on my cars where the free play is regularly adjusted.

I expected to remove the master cylinder to make it easy to re-insert the rod into the boot & M/C but made one attempt to fit it up with the M/C in place. I could immediately see that the vestigial horn of metal on the upper side of the arm was limiting my maneuver so I lopped that bit off with an angle grinder. With that gone it was easy to fit up the pedal and pushrod.

The rest was as described above except for the tool I used to push the E-Clip home on the shaft. I tried a modified screwdriver as described by Syncro-J in another thread but w/o success. Then I whittled this from a 12" length of 3/8" wood dowel and with the clip was held securely (duct tape) it was popped home.

As for those who get this done in 30 minutes -- they are likely younger, smaller, craftier, smarter or just luckier than me.

[xflyer]

Fig 1 on page 30.3 of the Bentley shows where the roll pin on the pedal shaft needs to be.
For anyone that needs to adjust the clutch pedal to clutch master cyl pushrod this is how I figured out how to do it.
Remove the two bolts that secure the master cyl to the bracket. Push the clutch pedal down a bit. The locknut and adjuster nut on the shaft will now be accessible. At this point it's as easy to adjust as an old bug brake pedal pushrod.
You can check the adjustment without bolting the master back in by holding the master up with left hand and lightly moving the clutch pedal with the right. You want a little bit of clearance there otherwise the clutch release bearing can be overloaded and or the clutch will slip. Leave a little more play than you need as it will get less when the master cyl is bolted back in.

Guess I lucked out on this as I had the dash out of my 84 when it was about 20 years old and 200K miles. I replaced the clutch master cyl, brake booster and master cyl, and re greased everything. Pedal and pin were good. Seen plenty of worn out clutch clevis pins and levers on the old bay window and splittie vans.
_________________
1989 Campmobile, 1984 7 passenger beater Vanagon
Both with cool A/C

[T3 Pilot]

Done a couple of pedal repairs on vans with the dash removed, wanted to try this shortcut method to avoid opening the hydraulic system and to turn around the van overnight. It is doable, but if that shaft sticks add some lube, we were lucky and got it moving. Helps if you stretch before crawling in there

Favourite tool for this job was my eyeglass LED light.

Trick that I can add to the collective pool of experience was using a rare earth magnet to control the spring clip while installing it on the end of the pivot shaft. Using a 1/4" magnet you can use a flat blade screwdriver to position the clip, then press it home. The magnet can then be recovered with the tip of the screwdriver.

_________________
1988 Vanagon

The most important part in every vehicle is the nut behind the wheel......

[svswan]

Thanks to this fine thread I once again have a high and tight clutch pedal ;-} Here are a few things that helped me.

First - what I found when I pulled my pedal. Hula has 250k on the chassis -

One thing to note - I blindly stuffed a long screwdriver up to pop the circlip off the pivot rod without thinking of where it would end up after I popped it. I found it after about 10 minutes of searching. Push slow when you pop it free!

After welding up the hole and debating on weather to A) find a bronze bushing which might take days or B) just get a new clevis and reassemble I chose the quick path. While picking up a new pin I saw another bin and had an idea -

I put rubber o-rings on either side of the clutch arm in the hope it would keep the grease in there and maybe stop any rattling. Not the best picture...

and lastly I used a roughly 12" piece of threaded 3/8" rod I had and notched it to re-insert the pedal pivot pin cir clip. Notched the end with a reciprocating saw. Add electrical tape as needed -

_________________
Hula - '91 Carat with '03 Subaru JDM WRX 2.0T
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7682086#7682086

[CinnabarVan]

Thank you all for the great posting making the removal that much easier. Yes the pin was worn like the pictures and the hole was oblong too. Only 110K miles on this 87 Syncro Vanagon.

[CinnabarVan]

Well today I am one sore puppy from twisting and bending sideways and upside down to get that "repaired" clutch pedal unit back in place on the roller pin. It took me 3 hours of contorsions, trial and error to get that large pin to move just right and center on the bushings in the clutch pedal.

Then I had to jimmy some more to finish the push of the roller pin to anchor both pedals. I did use a tie wrap on the clutch push rod to keep it from getting in the way and flopping.

Tonight I will attempt not to lose the cir-clip and get it on to finish the job.... if I can bend and get down in there.

Strangely enough (for me) but no beers were consumed during this event but a few mosquitoes did not survive.

Thanks again to all on the Samba for great instructions and commentaries.

[Pcforno]

Another datapoint for this job- I struggled for 6 hrs then called my friend who is 5'7" and 110 lbs. he got it done in 1 hr. Seems like he could get his smaller hands and head into places I couldn't. I'm not huge but am 6' 180 lbs with big hands and I've never struggled so much on a job

[CinnabarVan]

OK this weekend, I finally got the spring installed on the pedal. BY FAR THIS IS THE WORST JOB ON A VANAGON.......

[Pcforno]

To those like me who found this to be near impossible, I recently did the big brake booster mod. Low and behold there was easy access to the dreaded pin that I struggled for 10 hrs with. So to future souls who shall travel here- if you think you might do the big brake booster mod, save doing the clutch pedal till you are there and vice versa. Happy travels!

[BNAGYPSY]

I think I have read too much about this pin replacement!! But me and my mechanic will give it a look in a couple days when we get together. Great information and pictures have been posted. I was wanting to ask if anyone knew the size of the pin they are replacing the old one with along with washer size? If you could let me know that would be greatly appreciated as I want to pick up the parts before hand... cheers

[Pcforno]

Both gowesty and vancafe have them- look for clutch pin and clevis, and you may want to pick up a refurbished clutch pedal with new bushing unless you plan to modify your old ovaled out one instead

[Jamo7]

The symptoms that inspired me to remove my clutch pedal and the actual solution are here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8277693#8277693
This job took me far longer than a half hour. The rod that holds the clutch and brake pedals was just not moving enough and my patience was exhausted so I pulled the dash after about an hour and a half. Even then, it still took me at least another hour to wiggle the rod out- working around the brake booster and the dash wiring. After all that, the clevis pin and clutch pedal were in perfect condition (wth 270,000 miles on the van!) Aye carumba! I'm beginning to learn the cost for peace of mind...
The tips in this post, and the original iceracer post initially referenced were invaluable. I thought I would add my time spent on this job (at least 5.5 hours) into the data pool. Luckily a few weeks have passed since I completed the job, but even so, memories of pushing my head into the clutch pedal, balancing a flashlight behind and above my head and looking with my one unobstructed eye at the spot I needed to reach with a leveraging tool that is too big to fit in the small space available come flitting back. (That's why its my hobby and happy place!)
Oh well, gotta go, more jobs are calling.
Love you van! Love you Samba!
James
_________________
'84 Westy 2.1 wbx

[JealousJack]

Old thread but I started this job today. I'm having THE HARDEST time getting the shaft to go through. I've been prying with vice grips and a screw driver on the brake side and I have the shaft to the wall, but it just won't go any further.
How much further do I have to go? And I've read both threads on this and I don't really understand how the heck you guys got this out.
Would very much appreciate some tips!

[dobryan]

[JealousJack]

Ok, I got it out!! It require me to clamp with vice grips, wiggle and use a wrench to pry it the rest of the way using the brake pedal as leverage. Overall it only took a cool 8 hours! I'm going to have to sand it down a little as I scratched it up pretty good with the grips.
Ok, so here's something to add to the data pool. I felt about an inch and a half or travel, squeaking and clicking, I honesty thought it would snap. But it was almost perfect! I was so disappointed.
I have a welder friend that's going to get it tighter, and though I won't add the bushing, I'm going to put in so washers to help with the looseness of the pedal.
The boot is in two parts now, so I'm going to try and find a replacement today.

Anyways, no regrets.

Has anyone successfully adjusted the pushrod? I'm thinking of doing it.

Thanks so much for the thread help and info. And for people who are going to try this in the future, the shaft has to go about 1/4" past the wall bit and you certainly have to either lift the clutch pedal or press a little on the brake pedal to get it over.

[0to60in6min]

I sincerely admire the ones who replaced the clutch pedal without removing the dash... in 1/2 hour ! ! bravo..

the dash removed... with the help of a friend we took 4 hours to get it done...