Vanagon clutch pedal hurts my knee?

[denver_westy]

I drove the 1987 westy yesterday first time in a few months. My knee hurt. I injured my miniscus skiing a while back it rarely gives me problems except when I drive the vanagon! Something about the driving position, knee at 90 degrees rotating the foot pushing in the clutch occasionally causes intense pain I have to stop van get out straighten leg so it pops then pain is relieved. Anyone have similar problem?

[djkeev]

Not a clutch based knee priblem but one Summer my right knee hurt so bad it was all I could do to press the gas pedal!

I installed cruise control to help.
But I mostly drove with my left foot. It is amazing how quickly you can learn to operate the gas pedal with the left foot!

BTW, I have an Automatic and for that trip to Montana I was really Glad I did!

Dave
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[denver_westy]

That reminds me, similarly I think I've used my right foot on the clutch to avoid the pain.

[AZ Landshaper]

I have the same issue w the knee popping. Really wish the seat went back a lot further than it does. Bad knee injury in the 90s left me with knee problems. Actually didnt resurface till I hit 40. Some days it sucks. Others nothing. I did notice it was worse after having my seats rebuilt. The cushions are not as flat as the original westy seats and they seem to push me further forward. Oh well. Such is life in my case. Nothings easy. An auto tranny sure might help though.
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[danfromsyr]

YES..

and yes..

I even went so far as to cut & modify my camper cabinet.. mine's an ASI Riviera. so was easier to cut to allow the seat more room to move back.

maybe try putting a towel rolled up or foam wedge under your legs to change the angle you engage the pedals..
each person is unique in their physiology. so may work. may not.

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[denver_westy]

I wish seat would go back further as well at least I could straighten my leg with out exiting the van. I'll think about the bolster under the leg seems like it might make it worse but worth a try

[bobbyblack]

Hmm... Well at risk of being the guy who says this, there have been folks who could not get along with the Manual transaxle. It is possible to convert to auto.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5722768
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[Ahwahnee]

[joetiger]

I somehow executed a compound meniscus tear hopping into the front seat of my Vanagon last summer while tailgating at Red Rocks before a concert.

After that I had to move the seat up really close to the steering wheel to get a pain-free angle (more of a straight downward push) on the clutch.

Then I had surgery and now everything's fine. Most expensive concert ever.
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[MarkWard]

I have a range of about 400 miles. My accelerator leg starts to bind up when driving down the highway. I use the cruise control when ever possible and I can straighten my leg out by stretching into the passenger floor area. That provides some relief.

Back to your problem with the clutch. Couple things come to mind. Since it is hydraulic, with some modifications to cylinder sizes, I bet you could reduce the pedal effort. That is not a simple task, but I imagine it could be done.

The other option, which would be kinda cool, would be to add a air powered piston assembly. You could have a paddle switch on the wheel to activate it for shifts. Again, not a simple change.

Do you think it is the angle or the actual effort that is causing the problem? If at some point you decide to convert to automatic, I have a 90 auto camper that over the summer I will be migrating syncro running gear to. I will probably sell the auto bits on. Can't imagine what the freight for that would be. Good luck getting it figured out.
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[BigNick0]

I have no knee problems and have never had a knee injury. I will tell you that the only time I EVER have knee pain is when I drive the van. Usually within 5 minutes of getting in, my left knee will start to hurt whenever I push the clutch in until I stretch out my leg and "pop" my knee. After that, I can drive all day with no problem.

It's some kind of perfectly bad angle for the human knee for people with maybe certain length leg bones or something. Super weird. I thought I was the only one.
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[campism]

The Vanagon clutch pedal action is different from most other clutches I've driven and I can see how it might be troublesome, being more of a "lift" issue than a "push" issue.

To get more rearward travel on my driver's seat I notched the seat rails, giving me a little more room. I also have Eurovan seats in front, which are a little taller than stock Westy seats and about the same height as non-Westy seats. If you find that a booster pillow under your thighs helps, you could add washers between the front of the seat rails and the seat base to increase the height of the front of the seat and make that boost a little more permanent.

For daily driving we actually replaced a perfectly good manual trans '05 Civic we bought new with an automatic vehicle in order to help our aging joints. The '87 Westy is still a manual but our anticipated replacement vehicle is only available in automatic.
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[bobbyblack]

[buildyourown]

15min with a cutoff wheel and you can get the seat to go back an extra 2". Search for my old thread

[hdenter]

I was in the same boat as you. My left knee was killing me by the end of the day. I was looking for solutions in a different direction. I have two ideas with regards to the clutch mechanism, one was to add a vacuum assist to the hydraulic line to make it easier to operate. The second was to design a clutch by wire system with a peddle mounted on the floor boards and an industrial servo to operate the clutch. Fortunately, a scope job on my knee cleaned thing's up enough that the pain and discomfort went away and I have back burnered the idea. I did pick up an after market vacuum assist module for old English cars that had single cylnder brake master cylnders. At this point though, if the need arises again, I think I would go down the clutch by wire path. I just can't bear the thought of driving an automatic van.

Hans
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[danfromsyr]

you can.
alter and re position the clutch pedal angle/pad

you can
lengthen the clutch pedal lever.. this will in effect reduce the effort..


we did this with mom's brake pedal to increase brake force while minimizing foot/pedal input as she has Gout flares that make it hard to bear the weight of the brakes...


ok here's that..

my post from this thread on Brake pedal lengths.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=630902

[OddN]

On a previous vehicle (Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60) I had some issues pressing the clutch pedal. I installed a remote brake servo unit in the hydraulic line of the clutch. That made the clutch much lighter to operate. Only downside was that it took only a few rapid clutch operation to empty the vacuum reservoir. Like when you are stuck and you rock the car shifting from 1st to reverse very quick. No issues in regular stop and go traffic.

My remote servo unit came off an old Toyota but Im sure many other cars from the 60s or 70s has this. Also available new i think for the Hot Rod crowd.
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[Guybrush]

It's weird. I have no problem with the clutch, but with my right knee hurting badly for a while now, it's the right leg that is a problem with how, in the Vanagon, I have to actually pull my leg up in order to get onto the brake pedal from the accelerator, contrary to other vehicles where only moving the foot is necessary. aside from being unsafe, it's painful.

[bobbyblack]

[Guybrush]

I have Eurovan seats in my van. The ones I have are pretty firm. They are not as comfortable as my Volvo 240 seats when you get in them, but I find that with the firmness and the seating position, more like a truck, less like a car, my legs hurt less overall. In a car, I start hurting pretty quickly from the neither really straight, nor really bent position. If it weren't from that darn brake pedal that's too high...