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Old July 31st 05, 05:47 PM
Painless
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Most people are very satisfied with the truck:
http://www.carreview.com/mfr/chevrol...x.aspx#reviews
Frank

> schreef in bericht
ups.com...
> This design screwup applies to my '96 Tracker, but I'm finding it
> applies to some others, too, that use a similar pedal arrangement:
>
> The clutch pedal flatbar is welded to a rod, which rides on bushings in
> a 7" or so tube & thence to a pawl which both pulls the cable &
> actuates the starter lockout switch. The pawl is bolted to the end of
> the rod.
>
> In my Tracker, the ****ty & partial weld failed & permitted the rod to
> rotate about 10 deg, which is major loss of movement & made declutching
> as well as normal starting impossible. No abuse was involved & it
> happend suddenly at abt 107K miles of mostly gentle driving.
>
> When this happens, you are instantly fooked. No amount of playing or
> jury-rigging the cable will get you by as an interim fix. As an
> insult, the factory manual depicts a splined-on clamped pawl that could
> be repositioned enough to get you by, but the actual vehicle has a
> square-holed pawl & squared shaft end which cannot be practically
> realigned.
>
> All you have to do, is take out the clutch pedal with its rod, have it
> rewelded (in the correct position!!), reinstall it & you'll be fine.
> Simple.
>
> Unfortunately, simple is not easy, and in the Tracker this is one
> unbelieveable bitch of a simple job.
>
> The problem is removal clearance to slide the pedal & its rod far
> enough to the left to withdraw or reinsert it. Even this hassle looks
> simple enough until you try removing the interferences.
>
> First, the ECM and its supporting bracket must come out. (Factory
> manual erroneously states it is only the EBCM in the way - did U ever
> see an EBCM with 60 ****en wires attached on a non-ABS vehicle (mine is
> 2-dr covert/no ABS)? Only 2 10mm hex/Phillips bracket screws must come
> out, and 1 other loosened. HWVR, the 2 to be removed are sealed with a
> hard locking compound (clear, don't recognize it), and may only be
> accessed with great difficulty through a removed lower dash panel & a
> long, slender extention & socket shoved though 3 interfering harnesses.
> A high-quality long Phillips driver will not work due to the cementing
> of the near-inaccessible nuts. Good luck ever getting either one back
> in, though with a magnetized very long Phillips driver you may get one
> after a dozen tries and repeated screw-finding expeditions inside the
> dash on your back again. That is, if you figure out a way to hold the
> ECM bracket up in alignment with the holes - none of which you can see,
> nor reach at the same time.
>
> Then, the pedal return spring must be removed. Perversely, they picked
> a very heavy spring for this little job & made its hooked attachments
> so deep that you may fook with it for over an hour before finding some
> way to destroy it. Naturally, there is no room for a cutter strong
> enough to chop it. They made its link to the pedal arm pin
> keyhole-slotted so you could stretch it to remove or replace it, but
> made that impossible to do by making sure that when you have withdrawn
> the pedal far enough leftward to slack the link, it is jammed against
> the pedal & cannot be moved nor grasped with tools known to man.
>
> After the spring is finally destroyed, and with whatever may be left of
> your lower back, when you finally attempt to move the pedal far enough
> to the left to free the rod from its bushing tube, it's welded
> bracketry will foul the main harnesses with an inch and a half of more
> travel needed. You must abuse the harnesses repeatedly, unless you
> plan or dewiring the whole vehicle's essential systems, and if you are
> very lucky, you may get the pedal out without destroying the harness.
>
> Allow most of a working day for only the removal phase if you are
> reasonably competent but working outdoors & laying under the pedal
> area, with enough breaks to just barely keep you from lower back
> injury. Don't forget to fish out the 2 ECM bracket screws that fell
> into lower dash neverland. Then, you can drive it without a clutch to
> someone with a MIG & have it properly rewelded for $5. Be SURE to have
> the rod rotated back as far as it will go in alignment with the
> original welded position, OR your rewelded pedal assembly will be very
> expensive scrap or an interesting refabrication project, because of the
> assholes who put splines in the manual dwg but not on the rod or pawl.
>
> Before you jolly off clutchless to tempt traffic & fate, not to mention
> your starter & synchros & shifting skills, remember to remount the ECM,
> or you may end up wearing an airbag. Fortunately, the close-ratio box
> shifts well unclutched if you know what you are doing.
>
> Go buy a new spring that is wimpy enough to deal with & to get
> reattached up in the cramped pedal bracket area, unless you have found
> a small gorilla with 10" fingers who is willing to stretch & rehook one
> with the tension of the original, while standing on his head.
>
> Alternate & much faster idea (considered but not done due logistics):
> leave the pedal & rod in, remove the spring & its link which partially
> interferes with the weld area, remove the negative battery terminal,
> protect the module with a rag, put a crescent on the pawl to yank the
> rod into rotary alignment against the pedal bar, and MIG it in-place if
> you are very good with a MIG in very tight quarters. Accept that you
> will melt or burn the fooken plastic bushing in the tube at the pedal
> end of the rod & live with it on the sloppy side. Or, partially
> withdraw the pedal/rod only enough to expose & slice the bushing (still
> a bitch), get it off, reweld, then stick it back on & in.
>
> In 45 years of working on machinery, this is the most avoidable &
> stupidest hassle I have ever seen a builder commit. I completely
> understand the online accounts of people paying over $400 to have a
> shop fix it, and more if a new pedal assembly is furnished vs
> rewelding. Certainly it's a little (not much) easier to reach & dub
> with using a lift. Being able to partially stand in a real shop,
> having all tools within reach & no mosquitoes or thunderstorms to deal
> with might knock it all back to 3 hours if it goes well. But serious
> collateral electrical damage is a possiblity.
>
> If you ever push down your was-fine-feeling-and-working-great clutch
> pedal and suddenly feel the first 2 inches or so go soft, and very soon
> can't shift well, declutch fully or restart the engine, but with the
> lower half of the pedal travel still resisting force, don't even waste
> time looking at the cable & levers or trying to adjust them, this is
> your sad misfortune to deal with. A clutch is a safety-related item
> for an average driver and this should've been a free recall & still in
> effect. We can dream...
>
> OR, if you are building up a Zuke/Tracker/Sidekick for a cool & agile
> offroad toy, remove & reweld the damn thing BEFORE it lets go out in
> West Bumfook. If you live simply in a rural area as I do and depend on
> the truck for survival, do the same.
>
> This '96 4WD 2D Tracker is a wonderful little rollerskate with amazing
> 4WD capabilities in competent hands, 34mpg with the EGR disabled, near
> sportscar-like handling, very very cute, very stable in crosswinds for
> a light tiny truck & contrary to myth, goes like a raped ape when
> needed, is relatively trouble-free, is very well engineered in the
> larger sense, and well worth what it costs in cared-for condition. But
> it has some sick, ridiculously expensive or difficult things to replace
> that you must pray never fail.
>
> Contrary to usenet armchair wizards, good parts wrecks are not
> plentiful because people drive them forever until they are irreparable
> or totalled and many that are still half-decent are wholesale exported
> to South America. What used parts that may be found through breakers
> and are those which commonly fail & are expensive new, are also
> expensive used. Do not think: "Oh, I will just get another framistan
> from a junkyard." You might luck out, but 60 other people have already
> been looking for one nationwide for 6 months, and this little truck is
> the Jeep of the 3rd world, as well as a very popular project
> rock-crawler, with almost none sitting around neglected for long. You
> will be competing for used parts with guys who are spending $6,000 on a
> $3,500 truck with a diminishing quantity of available salvage. You
> will usually have to bite the bullet & get the best new parts price you
> can find.
>
> - Frank
>



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