Hemi 4 speed very hard to get into gear when running

[timmycharger]

Ever since last year when I had my 18yr old son try the Charger in a parking lot, it has not been shifting very easily.  When I was showing him how to drive a manual, I noticed he was really pushing down hard on the clutch pedal and had to keep reminding him to push it down slowly when just cruising around.  I jumped out to get some pics and vids of him driving it and when I got back in the car to go home, I noticed it immediately.

I finally got under the car to take a look. First thing I did is re adjust the shifter linkage, using the pin to hold all the mechanism levers in place while I put the car in neutral and adjusted the swivels and levers until they fit perfectly. I am not sure if he bent the reverse rod as it looked a bit wonky but after adjusting, it goes into every gear smoothly, with the engine off.

With the engine running, its a different story.  I have to push the pedal all the way down hard to the floor to get it to even go into the gears, even then it doesn't feel right. 

Looking into this issue, I am reading that I may need to adjust the clutch fork nut as the clutch is not disengaging properly. That is my next step but before I crawl under it again, wanted to see if anyone knows of something possibly else it could be?

For the record I am using a Mcleod 3 finger style pressure plate (pic shown from install 10 years ago) with the over center spring still attached.

prior to this issue, the transmission/shifter was the smoothest and easiest Mopar 4 speed I ever drove, like only 1 finger to move the lever into gear, like butter. Now I look like a novice, grinding gears to get into reverse, its quite awful.

Any suggestions are welcome. 

[metallicareload99]

Sounds like you are on the right track there. On my car that nut would loosen up before I got it adjusted properly. I'm kinda surprised your over center spring still brings the pedal all the way up? If you still have the clutch fork to bell housing spring you should have a lot of adjustment available 

[timmycharger]

Sounds like you are on the right track there. On my car that nut would loosen up before I got it adjusted properly. I'm kinda surprised your over center spring still brings the pedal all the way up? If you still have the clutch fork to bell housing spring you should have a lot of adjustment available 

Thank you, I read a bunch about people having to remove that over center spring but my clutch pedal always comes up to the top, never got stuck down. I will have to check if that clutch fork spring is still there as I am positive I installed it 10 years ago.

Thanks again for the feedback! 

[John_Kunkel]

Closely inspect the Z-bar where the levers are welded to the cross shaft, the levers sometimes break away at the welds and reduce the fork travel.

[timmycharger]

Closely inspect the Z-bar where the levers are welded to the cross shaft, the levers sometimes break away at the welds and reduce the fork travel.

  Roger that. Thank you, I am using an original one that I put new bushings in, that would be wild but makes sense.