Clutch pedal broke while driving
 

My clutch pedal felt a bit weird while I was driving home. Since I didnt have any tools at the time and the clutch still worked fine, I decided to drive home to check it out. After a while, the clutch pedal no longer came up and was forced to make a pit stop in a parking lot at 2am. When I got out I saw the "push rod" (goes into the clutch master) laying on the floor mat. I figured it came loose and it was an easy fix. To my surprise, the threaded part of the rod was still stuck on the pedal leaving me stranded with no clutch 30 minutes from home.

Since I had no tools to ghetto rig something, I realized I had two options: 1) Face a $150 tow truck bill or 2) drive it home. I chose to drive it home with no clutch https://www.rx7club.com/forum/images...es/biggrin.gif. I pushed the car to get it rolling in the parking lot, quickly hopped in the drivers seat, got the tranny into second gear and drove the car home.

I ordered a new push rod to replace the broken one but when I removed the clutch pedal, I found more damage. Do I need a new clutch pedal? The hole for the push rod assembly doesnt look right to me. The FSM shows this hole as being round, not oval-shaped like mine. Heres some pics...

Before I took the pedal off:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...d=124898&stc=1

Broken push rod:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...d=124899&stc=1

Clutch pedal assembly. Is this hole supposed to be like this?
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...d=124900&stc=1

Push rod assembly. Note the bad spacer:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...d=124901&stc=1

That is unreal.

That spacer looks perfectaly good. Just a small crack.LOL, kindda odd though...

Heres a screen shot of the clutch pedal from the FSM for comparison purposes:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...d=124932&stc=1

Looks like the bushing ("spacer") broke long ago and this allowed metal to metal contact between the soft aluminum pedal and the hard steel pin. Notice the heavy galling on the pin; this wore the clutch pedal over time. I'd replace the pedal as the hole should in fact be round.

The pushrod is a classic fatigue break right at the end of the threads. Once the bushing broke and the pedal was worn so badly the clevis in the end of the pushrod was able to move around and no longer stay centered over the end of the master cylinder. After enough cycles the pushrod snapped because it was being bent slightly everytime it was actuated.

The root cause was the plastic bushing wearing out. The rest of the damage probably took years to come about. Ever notice tiny aluminum shavings in the floor mat? It would have looked like grey powder.

Definitely not a common failure, but I think Damon's got the failure right on the head. It should be pretty easy to find good used parts, maybe replace that bushing with a new part just for insurance.

Dale

Wow I didn't even know such a failure could happen on a car thats only about 10 years old.
It gives me one more thing to worry about while driving my old azz hoopty first gens adn my FC turbo.......
Geez its been about 2 years since my last FD........now I am sad.....

Hmm thats interesting I just had a problem with my clutch last night where it was sticking and not returning to my foot, I had it towed but it was $43. I hope its nothing major.....

Since were on the topic of a clutch pedal....a real quick question. Do you guys know of any replacement for this bushing, mine broke off.

Call Mazda, P/N 0727-41-023

-Rob

Thanks!

Mine broke recently too. I went to the hardware store and bought a short nylon bolt and nut to put in the hole. Works great.

I've seen this kind of issue before.
Not to failure but the brake pedal on my FC did the same thing
http://www.negative-camber.org/crisp.../pedalhole.jpg
Notice the elongated hole for the pushrod.
FWIW
Crispy

Thanks for the replies. Now the fun part of finding a new clutch pedal begins. I searched the FS section but theres a few wanted ads for clutch pedals with no replies. If any of you have or know where I can get a pedal, please let me know.

Thanks

Are "JDM" right hand drive pedals different?

Wow. I'm going to check mine tonight when I get home and see how it looks.

You may have to bite the bullet and source a new one. I'd call Ray at Malloy and get a quote at least.

If you have a friend who is really handy with a TIG maybe he could work something up for you. Regardless the pedal has to come out of the car.

A new clutch pedal box runs for $300 dollars. Mazda doesnt sell the pedal by itself. https://www.rx7club.com/forum/images/smilies/frown.gif

The pedal is in my room right now. I know a good welder but I have to find his number. Getting it welded up and fixing the hole was my last resort.

Contact Fritz Flynn. He has EVERYTHING!!!!!

Crispy

^^LOL! So true. His name even comes up at our local meets when talking about finding parts.

Can anyone confirm if this infact is the right part number... My rod broke off the other day. and i have the exact same problem as the poster. I've ordered the push rod but could not get the guy to find me this bushing spacer..

TIA

No offense, but wouldn't the clutch "feel" kinda shitty? like something was "clunking" or "clicking" .. anything but a solid feel to it?

I got all of my parts from Mazdatrix. It helped that I knew the sales guy and they're within driving distance from me. I ended up buying a used clutch pedal from a local wrecking yard that had some FDs. It was almost impossible to get a clutch pedal on the forum when I was looking for mine. I'll look through my receipts to see if I still have the bill from Mazdatrix with their part numbers. If I recall correctly, all of these parts are available from Mazda. The "spacer" is a bushing. I dont know why I kept calling it a spacer. Must have been a really good brain fart I was on.

Shoot son, where's the wrecking yard with FD's in it? I'm down to strip those sucka's down to nothing!

Wrecking yards, not junk yards. The guy with this wrecking yard was shady. It's at the end of long dirt driveway. He had about 3 FDs total which were all cut longways in half. I think I still have his number and address. We can go check out the place and talk to the workers one of these days. :)

Shit, how did you drive home with no clutch?

I know you put it in 2nd gear but what about stop lights/signs? Getting into the driveway of your home?

Or in easier terms, braking?? lol

^ I had to do that for a week before. I know my starter was hating it because I left my pedal at the floor (because my clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder died) and when I was forced to stop at traffic lights and I couldn't coast long enough from far away, I would shut it off and then when I had to go, I would keep it in 1st and crank it over and give it gas and off I went. The rest was all speed shifting, which I good at real fast. My car was my only mode of transportation and I had to work. I was also waiting for the parts to come in.

After searching I saw this thread and thought I might update it with an picture to show my experience as well!

http://www.imagechicken.com/uploads/...5068007100.jpg

It broke just like "wan" had described. Except I loaded it on a trailer instead of driving it back :-)
A $3.50 part has my part broke down for two days until the part comes in courtesy of Ray at Malloy Mazda. Actually the shipping was more than twice as much as the part itself.

Did you read the rest of the thread? This will happen again shortly if your bushing is defunct and the clutch pedal is worn as described previously. You need to fix the root cause, not just the result!

God, reading stuff like this makes me scared to drive my car now lol

same thing happen to a member named sweeley on this form...he welded it back in get going again...

I pushed the car as fast as I could (I was alone), jumped in the drivers seat and I had enough speed to get it into second gear. Putting it in first would have slowed me down significantly and possibly would have stalled the car.

I got home by floating the gears and timing the stop lights by driving real slow up to them crossing my fingers they would get green before I reached them. I was on the freeway most of the way which wasnt a big deal but I did end up running one red light right as I got home, good thing I was the only car on the road at about 3 am, and coasted up my driveway with the engine off. Going up the driveway was the scariest part since I only had so much room to get in and brake before smashing into the house without power steering or the brake booster helping me :lol:

Make sure you check your clutch pedal for wear and replace all those parts like I did.

Yup. :icon_tup:

I did read the rest of the thread, but I had already ordered the part while the car was still on the side of the road and I was waiting for the trailer. I'll look more closely tomorrow and check the remaining part of the clutch assembly.

Just noticed you have the same FD as me down to the year, color and package! The only difference is mine has an all black leather interior. Must be a conspiracy against white FDs :ponder:

I'm going to go check my pedal now haha.

Ha, yeah it must be a conspiracy! Your FD looks amazing and an all black interior is what I'm shooting for as well... I wonder how many of ours with the same color and package there are?

Good. Just wanted to make sure you didn't get stranded again!

Dave

My clutch pedal started to get sticky at about 140,000mi or so. Upon inspection, I too found a broken bushing and elongated hole.

My solution was to bore the lever and press in a roller bearing. Before you flame me, I considered the stresses in the beam and concluded that this would work fine.

Putting a real bearing here substantially reduces friction and has transformed the feel of the clutch, it makes the plate feel lighter and it is much easier to modulate. One of the best mods I have made to the driving feel and enjoyment of the car.

In so far as reliability is concerned, I did this mod 6 years ago and have put 50,000miles of daily use on it with lots of stop & go; most of those miles with a heavy ACT EXTREME pressure plate installed (and a reinforced clutch fork). No problems.

^^ Knew this one was coming.

I always wondered how you did that. Thanks for the pics.




This is now linked to in the FAQ thread.

If there is interest out there in having this clutch pedal bearing conversion performed, let me know; I'm sure I still have the tooling.

You are the man, after I looked at the clutch arm; it's in the shape of an oval :-) I will perform this mod and save myself the time of searching the net for a good replacement arm as well as possibly buying a new one! This is my latest bookmark ;-)

A few questions about this mod in the effort to save time...

1. Did you buy a replacement pin or bushing to go back in the bearing?

2. What size of roller bearing did you purchase?

3. How much would you charge with shipping in order to do this?

Thanks man!

No problem, in response to your questions:

1) No, I used the existing pin as it was undamaged. It properly fits the ID of the bearing with no bushing required;

2) I don't recall the exact size off the top of my head. It is a metric size, as most
bearings are, it fits the pin in the ID and the width of the brake pedal; the od is de minimis;

3) I estimate the cost of the service at about $65 to $75, including bearing and return shipping (shipping is based on a medium-sized domestic USPS priority mail flat rate box) Maybe a little less if there is enough interest.

Additionally, I will estimate turnaround as 2 to 3 days from reciept at the standard price. It will be more if you want same day/rush service and/or overnite shipping. I think this is reasonable. And you'll like the result.

A note of warning: If you attempt to do this yourself and you oversize the hole--by even a small amount, it will eventually result in a fatigue failure due to constant flexing over time. This mod depends on the bearing to provide structure to the beam section (removed by boring) while it is under compression. Conversely, the bearing cannot be pressed in too tight as the back side of beam is thin and could easily be split.

The way this operation will be performed is by boring (not drilling) the lever in a mill fixture to properly locate the bore, sizing the hole for a very light press fit and fixing the bearing. Pin location remains stock.

Hope this helps.

If I may, I would like to suggest an alternate fix:

Use a "DU" bushing for the repair - these are used in many racing applications and have extremely long life, high load capacity, very low friction, small OD, and are inexpensive, while requiring less hogging out of the pedal. They are available at almost any bearing-supply house. For instance, Applied industrial Technology ( http://www.appliedindustrial.com/ ) has them.

1. Size the "DU" bushing (steel outside, layer of porous bronze inside that, and Teflon/lead layer inside that) to be the proper ID and width to fit the pedal arm and the pin.
2. Machine a spacer to fit the OD of the DU bushing (they are quite thin-walled) to make the OD match the hole you want (as small a possible while having a circular hole) in the pedal.

The advantages are price and smaller hole in the pedal. If i need to repair mine, that is what I will do.

Well I got the part in the other day and after a few days of driving around; the clutch feels sooooooo much better! It makes my pettit rally pressure plate feel almost like stock now. The shifts are very much improved, especially 3rd gear. The whole thing just works and I shouldn't have any troubles with the new setup!

Attachment 718898
Attachment 718899
Attachment 718900

I picked up the bearing at a local bearing and transmission shop. It's from a company called "Peer Bearing" and their part number is "608-ZZ-C3" It's labeled dimensions are "8x22x27, shielded"
Attachment 718901
Attachment 718902

Oh and in the second picture, the rod was replaced by a brand new one. So things are nice and straight ;-) <---- Preventing any post about that.....

Did you find out the answer for this?

Looks like Grainger carries that bearing too...and it lists all the specs including load capacity. http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/1L001

Was the ID a good match?