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Welding Pressure plate to Flywheel

A guy said the clutch is shot in his old beater mid 80's F-150 farm truck with manual tranny. He said he only uses it on the farm and dont license it for road use. He was going to junk it, but someone told him to just weld the pressure plate to the flywheel and shut off the engine whenever he stops. The guy told him that he can shift the gears without the clutch as long as he knows when to shift, by the sound of the engine, but he has to stop the engine to shift into reverse.

He seems to think he can get years more out of this truck by doing this. I just shook my head when I heard this, and asked him what kind of nut told him this. He told me the guy is a mechanic. I just laughed and said "A mechanic on the Red Green show maybe"!

I just hope he dont really try it, that sounds dangerous and scary.

Has anyone ever heard of such a stupid thing actually being done?

Reply to
graybower
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I've never heard of that, but can you imagine the grinding and gnashing of teeth when he puts it in gear from Neutral? Unless it starts very easily, it would stress everything by starting it in gear. Who knows how long the starter and transmission would last like that? And unless there's an inspection cover on the bottom of the bell housing (I've never worked on the transmission on an F-150), he'd have to take it apart to weld. And if he goes that far, he might as well just change the clutch.

Reply to
SC Tom

I think your buddy is pulling your leg.

Reply to
David

While it is certainly true that on the roadway (hard surface) one can easily and routinely shift gears at the proper speed for making a change from one to the next, or the one before, on soft ground this is difficult to do, and boarders on impossible much of the time.

I once (not long ago) had an '81 Jeep CJ5 that was fitted with a NP435 transmission out of a '65-ish F250 (or whatever the model was for the

3/4-ton truck back then), and I could easily make the shift without using the clutch when making any shift that did not involve 1st gear, and I have a '94 BMW 3 Series that I can shift without using the clutch, although it is more difficult than with the NP435. The point is, it is indeed possible to weld the pressure plate to the fly wheel and make your shifts by matching the speed of the engine and the tires. The problem comes when you are in soft dirt and the vehicle speed falls dramatically as the gear selector passes through N as it goes between the gear you are in now and the gear you want to be in next.

I don't understand why the mechanic just doesn't suggest putting a clutch in the truck and buying several more years of useful operation instead of several more years of a pain in the ass.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

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