What does "urging" the clutch pedal mean? (And what is this "treading" force?)
Everyone with a Toyota-4Runner 3rd-generation manual transmission and similar Toyota Tundras and Toyota Tacomas has a problem that a certain tiny plastic bushing invariably fails within a year or three in the clutch pedal double-helix torsion spring return apparatus.
The "repair" costs upwards of $150 for parts alone, simply because the clutch pedal bracket assembly and the pedal itself are usually toast, even though the three tiny P & Q bushings costs only five bucks each and the spring itself is only about double that.
We have already redesigned the clutch pedal return assembly but what we're now trying to figure out is WHY Toyota used such a complex torsion spring mechanism when our redesigned linear tension spring seems to work fine.
My problem, right now, is just *understanding* the patent description:
"The present invention relates to an apparatus for reducing the treading force required to operate a pedal, such as the clutch pedal of an automobile. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improvement of the means for urging the pedal."
Given they talk about both a two-spring and one-spring setup:
But our setup is clearly just one spring:
what specifically do you think they mean by "urging" and "treading"?