I'd seen Advance Adapters' chain linkage upgrade but it was still mechanical and I wasn't sure it would resolve the issue of the clutch fork not being pushed far enough to disengage. After having to crawl under the Jeep over a dozen times on one short trail to make the pushrod shorter or longer (depending on which way the Jeep was twisting), I vowed to resolve the clutch issue permanently. That's when I saw Advance Adapters' hydraulic upgrade for early Jeeps equipped with mechanical clutch linkage. It sounded like the perfect solution.

That was where I should have remembered the "if it sounds too good..." bit because it took a lot longer, and quite a few more parts than AA happened to mention for me to make this come out all right. Let me start by saying the people I spoke to at AA were very helpful and I was impressed with the effort they gave my cause. But, it seemed obvious to me this conversion was something written in their catalog but not done (or tested?) with a real life application.

Issue One: The hose specified(l) is what AA says is supposed to work, but it didn't with my '74 with a 304 V8. It had about 18" of bent tubing where it was supposed to connect to the slave cylinder which put the end 16" away from where I needed it to be. I only needed a 2" 'L'. (I'm speculating but AA says some linkages pivot from the transfer case and this hose may have worked for that setup, but not mine) Rather than hassle with finding an EOM hose for an application that never existed in production, I opted to purchase AA's steel braided hydraulic hose(d).

Issue Two: The braided hose needs two male/male fittings (which I specifically asked for twice when I placed the order) to attach to the cylinders. When the hose arrived I only received one of the fittings. So, another call to AA. This time, after I thoroughly confused the guy who answered, I finally spoke to someone higher up (he might have been the owner), he knew what I was trying to explain and said he'd mail the second fitting to me.

Issue Three: You don't just remove the mechanical linkage and attach the pushrod from the master cylinder. The m/c pushrod was two inches short of connecting to my clutch pedal(a). One guy at AA said a pedal assembly from an '80 CJ should bolt in. First, there were a few different assemblies used from '72 to '86 and none of them just bolt in, except for what I already had. Second, like the hose, I didn't want to spend time or money trying to find or alter an OEM hydraulic pedal assembly to fit my Jeep when one was never intended to. So, a little more thinking and I decided to alter the m/c pushrod instead of the complete pedal assembly. I picked up a master cylinder core at a junk yard thinking I'd cut the two pushrods and connect them into one that was long enough to reach my pedal. On the way home I stopped at a NAPA (looking for the second male/male hose fitting I needed) and I saw something called a Clutch Adjustment Rod (Ford). It's a pushrod that comes in two pieces so the length can be adjusted(c). That was perfect so I bought it. Of course nothing is perfect. The m/c end of the adjustable pushrod is smaller than the end of the pushrod with my new m/c. To keep the new pushrod from just pulling out of the m/c I had to go buy a small flat washer to put at the base of the new pushrod(k). That made it stop against the washer that holds it in the m/c. I also had to shorten each piece of the pushrod by about a 3/8" so it wouldn't push too far into the m/c with the pedal on the floor. Basically, the shortest length of the adjustable pushrod was just a tad too long for me. So, to be safe, I thought it would be better to have a shorter minimum length.

Issue Four: I still had to address how the pushrod was going to connect to my pedal. I finally found a bolt that had enough thread to bolt through my pedal with a nut on each side of it(k). It's a 'socket cap screw' bolt or something like that (it's got an allen wrench hole at the top).

Issue Five: AA instructions said to drill a hole through the clutch fork, put the threaded shaft from the slave through and hold it in place with one bolt on each side of the arm. I wasn't comfortable making such a permanent change and didn't think a nut digging inside the indent was good in the long run. So, I opted to use the clutch rod adjuster from the original linkage(o). To make this fit, I measured the threaded shaft, then cut off enough of it so it was a little shorter (end to end) after screwing the rod adjuster onto it (since it can be extended).

Issue Six: The hose connection to the slave cylinder wound up being only an inch from my exhaust pipe(f). I checked with 4-Wheelers Supply and they said that's the minimum distance but it might be ok if I added some insulation. Since I don't like the phrase "might be", I took that opportunity to install a set of fenderwell headers which moved the exhaust further from the slave cylinder hose(p).

• p/n J5359822 - master cylinder (4-Wheelers Supply)(a)

• p/n 716331 - slave cylinder kit (AA)(b)

• p/n J53004162 - hose to connect the cylinders (4-Wheelers Supply)(l)

• p/n J5359822 - master cylinder (4-Wheelers Supply, cheaper elsewhere)(a)

• p/n 716331 - slave cylinder kit (AA, to save $30, just buy the slave and get your own bolts & spring. Verify p/n J3241867 with AA, same slave as in their kit.)(b)

• p/n 716130H - braided steel hose (AA, includes one fitting)(d)

• 1 additional male/male fitting (AA)

• p/n 615-1187 - Napa clutch adjustment rod (duh, Napa)(c)

• clutch rod adjuster (from the original mechanical clutch linkage)

• misc. bolts and washers

• fenderwell headers, and mufflers

• The good thing about not getting the correct parts from Advance Adapters the first time was I had lots of time to plan for each component.
• I measured the throw of the clutch pedal and the in/out lengths for the pushrod and of the slave cylinder.
• I also determined what hardware was needed, and how the pushrod was going to connect to the clutch pedal.
• After test mounting the slave cylinder, it became obvious where the braided line connected to it was too close to the exhaust pipe(f).
• So, while waiting for the second male/male hose fitting to arrive from AA I installed a set of fenderwell headers(t).
• By the time the last fitting arrived, I knew exactly what, and how everything was going to connect together.
• If you attempt this conversion, make sure you look for every potential problem.
• This also allowed me to just have the Jeep down during the final installation, and not while running to the hardware store or waiting for a part to arrive.