Pantera Clutch Adjustment

By Al Chelini and Bill Taylor

SO Bill Taylor and I were knocking the subject around recently, and neither of us could figure out why the skinny little stop bolt near the clutch slave is even needed. I suspect that during the original design plan, the slave cylinder assembly was an off the shelf unit also used in some other automotive application, and was applied to the Pantera without modification.

This procedure has worked for me for decades and was developed out of necessity for use with non-bolt-in aftermarket clutch assemblies. The free-play adjustment should be verified periodically, especially during clutch break-in.

But as always, use this procedure at your own risk - and be careful out there.

1) Set the emergency brake and/or chock the wheels, then put the transmission in neutral.

2) Disconnect the return spring at the slave cylinder. Be careful, that sucker can bite your fingers. Use Vise Grips.

3) Remove the OEM skinny stop bolt and nut. Store in a commemorative historical location, since you won't need it anymore. It's redundant, like the two centering devices on the Pantera shift linkage, and just confuses the issue.

4) Remove the main clevis pin (~ 3/8" dia) that connects the actuation arm to the slave cylinder. You may need the Vice Grips again. Then push the slave cylinder piston all the way in to the back of the cylinder (until it stops).

5) Look at the 4" long actuation arm (a.k.a. - bellcrank) that goes on the splined shaft. Imagine a line between the two holes, ignoring the shape of the arm. While placing a light force on the upper end to take up the free play on the throwout bearing, locate this splined arm so that the imaginary line is approximately 90º to the centerline of the slave cylinder. It won't be absolutely perfect due to the limitations of the splines but you're loosing mechanical advantage the further the arm is off of the 90º angle.

6) If the arm is much out of alignment, remove the pinch bolt at the base and slide the bellcrank arm off the shaft. Remove free-play by rotating the splined shaft clockwise so that the fork inside the bellhousing is just touching the throwout bearing. Then re-install the arm on the shaft so that it’s roughly perpendicular to the slave cylinder axis.

7) Clean and lube the clevis pin and adjustment (pushrod) bolt then re-assemble. Don’t forget the snap ring on the end of the clevis pin.

8) Adjust the length of the pushrod bolt assembly until there is only 3 mm or so of free play at the slave cylinder piston face (i.e., adjust so that there is only a few mm from the bolt resting on the slave cylinder assembly). This is crucial to the life of the clutch. You are actually preventing a preset load on the throwout bearing. Re-attach the return spring (don’t forget the Vice Grips).

9) Inspect the assembly for correct operation.