^ James, honestly so am I. It doesn't take much to make me frustrated so this project is a lesson in patience/determination.
Why You Shouldn't Ignore A Whirring Throwout Bearing
Before I started this project, when I was still driving the truck as unsafe as it was, it was having a stalling issue when the clutch was depressed. If I didn't shift quick enough or tap the gas, it wouldn't stay running. It idled perfectly in neutral; only immediately after the clutch was depressed would it stall. I figured it was some vacuum issue, but never bothered to look into it. I secretly hoped that after I was done with the rebuild, it would magically go away (even though the engine is not part of the rebuild).
As it turns out, the cause may not have been a vacuum issue at all, but a clutch issue. The throwout bearing was whirring loud ever since I got the truck, but it may have been worse than I thought.
What a bad throwout (release) bearing sounds like - YouTube
That's the condition of the throwout bearing. There was another problem though. The pivot ball on the opposite (passenger's) side of the clutch fork was broken clean off at the start of the threads. Not only that, but the aluminum surface where the pivot ball sits was actually DENTED significantly as the pivot ball washer appears to have been driven into the aluminum. It would have taken no small amount of force to do this kind of damage. The only explanation that I can think of is that the throwout bearing was actually seizing up every time the clutch was depressed, causing the clutch fork to put a lot of force on the pivot ball. First it bent and drove the washer into the aluminum, then it broke. I guess I was driving it like this.
A picture of the broken pivot ball and retainer spring.
So the solution was to drill out the broken pivot ball threads, helicoil them, and install a new pivot ball. First I removed the bell housing so I could work on the thing from both sides (the pivot ball hole is threaded all the way through the bellhousing), then started drilling. This was easier said than done, probably
because I first tried welding a nut to the slightly protruding threads and then I had to drill through some of my weld. I killed many drill bits in this process, but finally got it. The hole is ever so slightly crooked, but the clutch fork has plenty of side-to-side play to account for it. If I were to do it again I probably would have a machine shop do it so it was straight...who am I kidding...I'd do it the wrong way again...
The pivot ball I bought was part # 52087542 MOPAR and I bought it here:
Clutch Fork Pivot Mopar 52087542 | eBay
The helicoil kit is a 3/8"-16.
It's much easier to tap from the back side.
I ended up actually using two helicoils stacked so that I could get the full thread length, which worked just fine. In all likelihood it would have worked fine with one.
Then, I filled in the divot in the aluminum with JB Weld and used a grinder on a Dremel to smooth it down. I reused the washer because it seemed perfectly fine.
