OK, so I finally got the car started with the TKO installed, and decided to check the engagement of the transmission with all 4 wheels in the air. I discovered that the wheels were still turning if i had the car in gear and the clutch pedal all the way to the floor. Hitting the brakes stopped them without stalling the motor.

I'm wondering if there's so little resistance through the driveline with the wheels in the air that incidental contact between the clutch disk and flywheel/pressure plate is enough the turn the wheels with the clutch pedal depressed. Is this plausible or should I be worried?

When I bought the car, there was no transmission in it at all, so I have no concept of how the clutch was before, but when I took it off to check the bellhousing alignment it looked almost brand new (and definitly not the original for a car with 97K).

I am able to turn the driveshaft by hand with the car in gear and the clutch all the way down (so I surmise the clutch is doing something).

I think my next step is the bleed the clutch system if for no other reason than to get some fresh fluid in there, but I hope I've given enough info for some of you ladies and gentlemen to give me a read on if I need to address this, or if it's a a simple break in issue.

Thanks!
Bill

 

There's often just enough drag between the pilot bushing and the input shaft, to continue to turn the input shaft even when the clutch is disengaged. I wouldn't worry, based onyour description.

 

I've noticed this with most cars I've had. I would only be concerned it it was an issue while the car was on the ground.

 

There is some drag from the pilot bearing/bushing and from the disk slightly rubbing against the pressure plate and flywheel. All manuals do this. As long as you're not having any grinding going into reverse or hard shifting not to worry.

 

If your using the stock master/slave, bleed the **** out of it and try again.
I have a hard time believing that friction between pilot and input shaft could turn the wheels.

 

I just went through the exact same thing after installing a tko and a new clutch/flywheel/bearing. Bled the crap out of it and the wheels kept turning in 1st or reverse.I thought I had installed something wrong or had the wrong parts.I talked to a G.M. mechanic and his comments were similar to 383vett except without any explanation why.
It shifted into first and reverse without grinding while still on the jackstands. I went to the trouble of having someone hold the clutch down and I grabbed the wheel to try to stop it with it in gear. There was some drag but the wheel stopped. I was relieved when I put it into gear and it stayed still when I took it off the stands. I have put about 300 miles on it and it works ok.

 

This is pretty common. As stated above, if it goes into gear easily while parked, including reverse, without grinding, it's good.

 

8 years later, I know, and I don't even have my 85 any more, but I figured out what I did wrong here and figured I'd share when I saw I was still subscribed to the thread in case if would help someone else. I had the throwout bearing installed incorrectly per this graphic (inside the clip spring). This causes extra deflection in the clutch. After bleeding, swapping slave, master, and hoses, and even making my own longer pushrod for the master, I never figured it out. I then had to put the car in a storage unit and head to 5 months of language training, then Afghanistan for a year.

That was Apr 2011. That May, I had a bit of down time and was looking at LS swaps in Jeeps since my wife had just told me the motor in our XJ Cherokee had taken a dump (an AMC I6 with only 130K, who would have thunk that? She arranged to have a used stock motor put in in about a week, so no LS). I came upon a graphic just like this one and I could see my hands sliding the throwout bearing on the fork incorrectly in my mind's eye, and I only not have to wait 11.5 months to get a chance to fix it.

I did fix it when I got back and got the car down to my new house (my wife also moved us to our new base while I was away, I chose well). It worked great, then I ended up selling the car to raise the funds for my C6.

So that's the story to close the loop on this thread. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions almost a decade ago!

V/R
Bill




Believe me, shifting is rough when it's wrong.

 

If you think there is still air in the system after bleeding, here's a process that may help - provided to me via a former GM Mechanic.
With the reservoir full, cap off: pump the clutch about 10 times rapidly and the last time hold the clutch down for about 5 minutes. When the time limit was done, slide your foot off the clutch and let it pop up on it's own.
What happens is if there's air in the line, it works up the line to the turn above the master cylinder. When you slide your foot off the clutch and let it pop up it (if all goes as planned) will push that air back into the master and out of the line.
I had bleeding issues with mine and this is how I resolved it and it's worked fine since.
Hope that helps.

 

 

I've often seen this when starting a vehicle with the rear wheels off the ground. The clutch disc also moves along the splines of the input shaft; there's also some residual friction as the clutch disc alternatively gets some minimal contact with the flywheel and or pressure plate.