Clutch Pedal Height Adjustment

[Guest Knownothing]

My car uses a standard Sierra pedal box with a yellow quadrant for the clutch pedal. The clutch pedal sits about 1 1/2 inches higher than the accelerator and brake pedal. Is it possible to adjust this height to lower the pedal inline with the others.

 

Thanks in advance

[Guest Chris Russ]

.......there is no .proper adjustment available as it is designed to auto adjust on the ratchet quadrant , but , having had the same problem as yourself ( & being 6'4!! ) , I drilled a hole in the top of the clutch pedal & fitted a 8mm nut & bolt, thus giving you the adjustment as it acts as an adjustable stop against the pedal box!! - if you take out the pedal box & look at the way the clutch pedal 'stops' im sure you'll see what I mean?!

[Guest 2b cruising]

A lot of people have them set high to allow them to put their foot under the pedal for resting it.

Sounds a little iffy but once you are used to it, it becomes no effort and it does work well.

Not recommended for track use though.

[Guest Knownothing]

.......there is no .proper adjustment available as it is designed to auto adjust on the ratchet quadrant , but , having had the same problem as yourself ( & being 6'4!! ) , I drilled a hole in the top of the clutch pedal & fitted a 8mm nut & bolt, thus giving you the adjustment as it acts as an adjustable stop against the pedal box!! - if you take out the pedal box & look at the way the clutch pedal 'stops' im sure you'll see what I mean?!

 

Chris

 

What do you mean auto adjust? I can see that when the clutch is depressed the teeth fit into the ratchet thus pulling the cable. It is difficult to explain but I was hoping to move the position where the teeth engaged on the quadrant therefore lowering the peddle.

[Snapperpaul]

On full depression there is a small piece of metal that in latches the locking pawl and allows the quadrant to reset thus taking up clutch wear and any cable slack

You can adjust this a bit by spacing out the outer clutch cable either at the pedal box end or engine end or possibly shortening the outer

[Guest h34ds]

I have this problem and is on my winter fix list.

 

Also - every now and again when I depress the clutch it will jump off the ratchet - is this a sign of wear, ill alignment or a new unit?

 

I suppose I will have to take the top off and take a look but any suggestions to stop this happening would be great - I don't fancy it 'snapping out whilst in gear and in traffic and lurching forward!.

[Longboarder]

You can put a mechanical 'stop' to set pedal height. Don't mess around with the auto tensioner in an attempt to alter pedal height or you lose the auto adjust.

 

The automatic adjustment mechanism is shown in my pic (pedal invisible to make it easier to see what's happening) and must be left alone if it is to function as intended. The pic shows the quadrant (although a 'demidrant' in mine. Same difference!) and the red arrow movement is as you lift off the clutch pedal. The quadrant is tensioned by the big spring in the opposite direction of the red arrow to take out slack in the cable. The small white plastic ratchet is carried by an extension of the pedal and a spring tries to push (blue arrow) this into engagement with the quadrant, locking it to the pedal. It will be locked into the quadrant throughout pedal travel, all except the last 2mm or so of lift off. In those last 2mm, a little lip on the pedal box itself (yellow cross-hatching) lifts the ratchet out of the quadrant, the quadrant is now free to rotate relative to the pedal and that allows the big spring to tighten any slack out of the cable by pulling the quadrant.

As you begin to depress the clutch pedal again, the first 2mm of movement lift the ratchet off the yellow lip and it's spring rotates it and engages its teeth into the teeth of the quadrant, locking quadrant to pedal again without any cable slack. The next 150mm of movement of the pedal, the quadrant is locked to it and thus moves the clutch cable.

 

If the clutch cable sometimes slips the teeth on ratchet or quadrant must be worn or the little shaft the ratchet lives on has slipped out of position.

If the clutch does not self adjust the yellow hatched lip is not lifting the ratchet. Might just settle if you manually lift the ratchet with the pedal at rest so the quadrant can reset its rest position.

 

Nigel

Edited November 1, 2016 by Longboarder

[Guest h34ds]

Thanks got that Nigel, I was assuming the teeth were worn and I need to replace it. I will take a look this winter as its the last major niggle I have with it

[Guest h34ds]

Well they were pretty worn, in one spot the teeth were not existent. Put a new one in and 10 minutes later - the pedal feels great again.