Ok, so my grab point is very very high (about 1/2" that grabs) and after some basic reasoning I've decided my clutch is not going to give out soon (it grabs strong, no slippage, no chattering etc.)

So I took out the haynes manual and read the procedure for, and read a post, and the information in the stickies which all say the same thing, loosen the 12mm nut on the pushrod going through the firewall (the road that has slits along it), and rotate it (I might add, not one source I read said WHAT DIRECTION to rotate in; personally I think that's pretty important.)

I'm going to assume it is supposed to be a clockwise rotation, and that is what I did.

I've seen that 1/2 a turn is supposed to do "wonders," but for me it did nothing, and I ended up doing a total of 1.5 turns and testing, where my grab point at first seemed to have been moved down slightly, but now it seems as it was before ever adjusting (after only a few miles of driving. It may have not even moved to begin with and just been in my head because I was trying to test it out, not like normally driving.)

So I ask, those that have actually done it, what did you adjust, how much did you have to do, and how much of a grab point do you have roughly.

Also, I read in the haynes that the pedal is supposed to be ~ 6 5/8" to 6 7/8" off the floor, where mine is exactly 5 1/2" off the floor.

Is this the cause of my problem?

Just looking for some input before I go adjusting anything else.

 

If you screw the rod into the floor, your clutch will operate at a higher point; screw the rod out of the floor, and it will operate at a lower point. As far as freeplay adjustment goes, you did it right, according to your discription. You may have other clutch issues beyond just freeplay adjustment.

 

Oh, and forgot to mention: don't go too far one way or the other, it may cause it to not fully disengage or not fully engage when adjusted too far.

 

I thought the pushrod into the firewal with the slits on it was the engagement point adjustment?

Not the free play adjustment.

Also, my pedal didn't move, so quite honestly, I still do not know which way that rod should be moved.

So, WHAT am I supposed to be adjusting here? I don't care if it's the height or the engagement point, I just want the engagement point during the travel of my clutch pedal to be larger then 1/2". Does that mean I just need to heighten the clutch pedal, so the engagement point starts at the same place, and continues higher up with the higher pedal? Is that why my pedal is a full inch lower the the specifications listed in the haynes manual?

I had no freeplay issues, so if I just adjusted the freeplay inadvertendly I want to set it back, and how do I raise the clutch pedal?

 

The procedure you discribed is to adjust where the clutch works at, not how long of a travel during engagement. So you are wanting to adjust the length of travel from onset to full engage? I do not think this is possible. Think about how the clutch works: when you push in on the pedal, it pushes a plunger in and forces fluid to the slave and operates the clutch fork. The length of travel of the pedal/plunger and how much fluid it moves is dependent on the bore sizing of the master and slave cylinders. Since you can't really adjust the bore size of the cylinders, you can't change the length of travel from onset to full engage.

Let me qualify what I have said though. I have adjusted the clutch on my old 240sx (RIP), but not on my Maxima, since I just got it, but from what I've seen on the Maxima, it's the same; so if anyone knows how the two may differ and actually allow the adjustment, let us know, but otherwise you may be stuck with the same distance from onset of engagement to full engagement.

It is possible that the master or slave cylinder is beginning to fail, and is sticking, thus causing it to engage suddenly or too quickly, as opposed to a smooth engagement over a reasonable distance.

 

Turn it counter clockwise for a lower grab

 

kinda funny how no documentation says this, thanks a lot!