Thread: Guardian Angel

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Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Sometimes your guardian angel will play gremlin to keep you from bigger problems.

On a 64 C10, my clutch linkage popped out. No tools, and I could not get it back in. I walked home. Next day, I came out to look at it before calling a tow, and the inkage just slid in. I gingerly drove it home, and grabbed wrenches to adjust.

Riddle me this, bat man: the adjustment was perfect. I couldn't see how it popped out, nor how I should have been able to slip it back in.

You think like I do, that there was a fatal accident just waiting for you a few miles down the road, so your angel fubared the linkage to prevent you getting there. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

By the way, there is a way to get home with no clutch. I had to do it one Sunday after fritzing the linkage (broke the pivot) on my '59 Studebaker at the Hamilton, Ohio drag strip. This happened on my last pass for the trophy, going into third gear and pulling ahead of my opponent.

From a standstill with the motor not running, put the trans in first gear. Key the starter and the car will go forward while starting the motor. Run up to 20-25 mph in first gear, then modulate the throttle to shift to second. You can shift without any grinding if you get the motor going the right speed to coordinate with the wheel speed. Run up a little in second and then do the same balancing act for shifting to third and so on. When you have to stop, go to neutral and kill the motor, coasting to a stop. When you have to go again, repeat the procedure. I drove the 40 or so miles back to home in Dayton with this procedure (thank God for strong starter motors back then). I don't know where Ken (NTFDAY) was that Sunday, he normally would have been with me, but that Sunday I was by myself.

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