Ok - keep reading ... we're almost there ....

So I put everything back together ... now this time, I was very careful with inserting the clutch fork. As I mentioned before, there is very little space in the throwout bearing area and you will find yourself cursing the Mopar Gods as you try to get your big hand in there to guide things together. It was at this point where I realized that the fork retainer clips on the throwout bearing were causing a problem. The clips on the throwout bearing tend to be on the wide side so when you are trying to get the fork inserted, the clips don't really land in the right spot. I have a few new throwout bearings and the clips on all of them tend to be set wide. I did a little bending to improve the situation. And I was very careful to be balanced against both clips as I pushed the fork in that last little bit. This is where the tight confines of the QT work against you. With the LW, I could get most of my hand in there and guide the fork into the throwout bearing clips .... no way can you do this with the QT! So I got everything inserted, I carefully checked that the fork was fully seated into the pivot and that the clips were properly connected to the fork (boroscope). The adjustment on the clutch adjustment rod was right where I wanted it so the pivot height was proper. I buttoned everything back up and have been driving it with no issues for the past three years!!

It was quite a bit of work to get it right and a hydraulic throwout bearing would have really simplified things but it is what it is. I hope that by reading this, I might save someone some headaches ....