Live Clutch Mod (LCM)

Hey, Folks.

This is gonna be one of those that I wish I had done sooner. Call it permanent Clutch Start Cancel, Euro Clutch Mod, or LCM.

Anyway, bikes and cars that I have owned in the past have come with a live clutch. Like CSC being permanent, where you can hit the starter if the vehicle is in gear or the clutch is engaged. I have also converted other vehicles that I have owned to have a live clutch.

About a year ago and because I usually drive barefoot, I found that I could toe the clutch switch and start the Taco without touching the clutch pedal. Since, I tested to see if I could simply unplug the connector thinking it was a normally closed switch. No dice. Now that we're back to winter and I sometimes have shoes on, I have been thinking about making this work anytime.

I have driven quite a while with the switch pushed in and it does not seem to affect the engine / tune. So, I feel mostly confident that it will be good long term. My butt dyno detected nothing with it in, or out.

Today, I was going to toss a jumper in the connector when it dawned on me to just see if the switch itself could be soldered or modded. Well, that was too damn easy.

The LCM is 100% reversible.

Instructions:

-- Unplug the connector.

-- Use a 14mm socket to remove the attachment nut. Mine was pretty tight.

-- Use a pick to remove the front cover. Three tabs.

-- With the cover off, do nothing but remove the spring.

-- Reinstall with the switch plunger depressed. It will stay there.​

Now, you have a live clutch . . . all the time.


This is a personal preference of mine, and I have never once had an issue with my bikes, cars, or Taco. That said, if you do this mod, the Taco will move if in gear and you hit the starter.


Enjoy!

 

Nice!

I remember when I was a kid my parents had a “Lada”. They left me in the car for 5-10 mins or whatever, I was like 7-8 maybe. I jumped in the drivers seat and just wanted to start engine and rev it. Well it was in gear… haha.

Thankfully car parked in front wasn’t super close.

 

Oh man! Not a good experience there.

I spent a lot of quality time behind the wheel before I could drive. As close as I got to moving was my dad letting me reef on the unlocked steering wheel.

 

Yeah I’ve always wanted to get behind the wheel since I was very little. Afterwards, I did spend quite a bit of time sitting on my dads legs and driving around empty and wide roads where there were no cars. Then when I got taller he would let me sit by myself. Rowing those gears at a young age was the most fun!

When I came to NA, I was very surprised that you had to push the clutch in on MT vehicles.

 

I definitely did a good bit of driving before I was licensed. Those were the good days.


The clutch switch doesn't seem to be a requirement, as I bought new vehicles here without them.

 

Man, the best times.

Oh really? I thought it is mandatory here.
Probably in the older days I’m guessing?

 

Ah the good ole days . I remember hitting the key in my dad's pickup when he was fueling . Needless to say , he didn't leave the keys in the ignition after that day .
Definitely going to do this to my coma as I use the CSC button every time I start the truck haha

 

I don't know for sure, but a car bought in 2001 and a bike in 2013 didn't have it.

 

Excellent!

 

What about cruise control? How does it still work?

 

Im guessing some kind of a Swedish marque?

 

Great question. I did not test that.

I will let you know.

 

Yep. Saab was live, but the 2001 Volvo was not.

 

Nice. I want to do the same, but I want it to be selectable with a dash switch or hidden toggle. That way service departments, state inspections, etc can be protected but for myself I can go without and not have the annoying light on the switch on all the time.

I still also want to do a mod where the clutch pressing turns off the light in the CSC switch (if used). That’s how my frontier was and it made way more sense than the light staying on all the way until engine is off again. The light is bright enough to be annoying at night. lol.

 

There is plenty of room in there to solder onto the contacts. So, a second switch would be easy. You would just need to make a hole or two for the new wires to pass through.


The CSC light is odd, but I have not used that switch except a few times.

 

I won’t speak with any authority here but I believe cruise control only interacts with the clutch pedal via the switch at the top (the one that sets pedal resting height). I don’t think the depressed clutch start switch does anything to do with CC.

 

Yeah, I believe I can also just find the connectors and make a quick little jumper that intercepts/provides a new way to a switched ground. Just haven’t spent any time on it. I’m mostly fine pressing clutch for starts but it gets old.

In my old YJ I pretty much always immediately yank it to neutral and crank her up with foot on the brake. No switch there and I like it that way.

 

Good point.

I will go for a drive in a bit to test.

Also note that 2018+ MT Tacos work differently with respect to CC. Older ones do Cancel CC. Newer ones somehow shift through and don't Cancel afterward.

 

Yeah, 18+ cancel on normal cruise still (holding cruise button to enable normal cruise). On radar cruise it will let you shift through. It does that by again monitoring the switch at the top of the pedal, when it notices the clutch moved enough to change that switch position, it holds the rpm where it is (think exaggerated rev hang) and then passively lets the engine rpm go where it needs to go when you let the clutch back out (since it doesn’t know if you downshifted or up shifted).

 

It's super tight back there to solder on the harness side. Shorting the harness is another approach though.


Since the TOB issues, every press of the pedal has me thinking about the next time it might crop up. That and my hate of safety interlocks drives this mod for me.