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Clutch problems, advice needed!

mr_goodwrench_06

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I started noticing that if I sat at a red light in gear with my foot on the clutch for any length of time, the clutch would slowly start to engauge. A week of this and then I noticed the pedal was low and it became increasingly difficult to engauge gears, espcially from neutral. Finally, I could not get it into gear at all from neutral.

I bought a slave cylinder, bled it as instructed and installed it. No change. Very low pedal. Slave cylinder rod movement of about 1 inch.

I bought a master cylinder, installed it and still no change. We bled the system as you would a set of brakes. No change. I tried opening the bleeder port and just allowing fluid to drain out, always keeping the master full, no change.

I took off the slave and would crack the bleeder and force the rod in and then close the bleeder pulling fluid from the master, still no clutch!:sad:

Any sugestions????:mad2:

Thanks,

Bill
 
The clutch can be a pain to bleed. The bubbles do not want to go up and out. I had my best results power pumping from the bleeder. I use a little 12 volt fuel pump. A bleeder pump or even a lift pump would probably work. You might be able to get a power bleder from auto zone.
I assume you have checked for leaks in the line.
Are you losing any fluid?
 
Any idea on how I could bleed it better? And is there any way to check the pressure plate? I guess if I try to move the fork by hand and it disengauges the clutch it isn't the pressure plate, right?

I'm betting it's air, it seems to get better sometimes and then back to nothing again.

Uggghhhhh!
LOL

Bill
 
I'm not loosing fluid anywhere. Now, the slave cylinder doesn't have a "normal" bleeder. It has an allen key plug in it and a hole that the fluid comes out. The hole is in the body of the slave cylinder. I have a fuel pump I could use to force fluid through the system...I would just need a bleeder screw or a nipple to do it with....

Bill
 
I had the old style with the external bleeder on the 89. Your style sounds like a pain. I can't give any more advice as I've never dealt with the set screw set up.
 
i had this trouble once befor did you get fluid to come out when you gravity bled it? i had a heck of a time getting my old 92 gasser bled i dont think i ever got it working right in the drive way i thik i just kept it full and drove it and the bubbles worked out eventually. i could get the clutch to disengage fairly well tho
 
I started noticing that if I sat at a red light in gear with my foot on the clutch for any length of time, the clutch would slowly start to engauge. A week of this and then I noticed the pedal was low and it became increasingly difficult to engauge gears, espcially from neutral. Finally, I could not get it into gear at all from neutral.
I bought a slave cylinder, bled it as instructed and installed it. No change. Very low pedal. Slave cylinder rod movement of about 1 inch.

I bought a master cylinder, installed it and still no change. We bled the system as you would a set of brakes. No change. I tried opening the bleeder port and just allowing fluid to drain out, always keeping the master full, no change.

I took off the slave and would crack the bleeder and force the rod in and then close the bleeder pulling fluid from the master, still no clutch!:sad:

Any sugestions????:mad2:

Thanks,

Bill
This points to a leaking back master cyl under load.

As you have replaced the slave ,and now the master cyl too.

I would say,the pedal rod might be to tight in the piston,pushing the piston seal on or past the orifice that lets fluid in the cyl,preventing fluid to drain from the tank to the cyl.There need to be some play between the rod and the piston
 
This points to a leaking back master cyl under load.

As you have replaced the slave ,and now the master cyl too.

I would say,the pedal rod might be to tight in the piston,pushing the piston seal on or past the orifice that lets fluid in the cyl,preventing fluid to drain from the tank to the cyl.There need to be some play between the rod and the piston

x2. My 82 FJ60 did this exact same thing 1 week after a new clutch went in. I replaced the slave/master ........ bench bleed the mast before it went on, gravity bleed it........ finally adjusted the clutch pedal...... thats what did it.

I use a hand vacuum pump to bleed brakes and the clutch system, got it at autozone for like $20 and it works great.
 
I experienced something a little like this. No notable fluid loss, but could occasionally sense something felt like the clutch was slowly sliding back towards engaging.

Finally one day out & about, it simply wouldn't release. Made for some entertaining experiences at a couple stop lights. Couldn't get it in gear from a stop so had to shut it off if a light couldn't be timed to roll through. Shut it off, put in 2nd, crank it when light turns green, engine catches, squeally tire noise, then clutchless shifting w/ matching revs as best you could.

Put in a new slave, bleed system/replaced necessary fluid. Would disengage but still didn't feel completely disengaged/right.

Issue turned out to be an area on the metal part of the hydraulic line had worn thru & was loosing fluid. Replaced the line & problem was solved. Apparently the amount being leaked/lost (that caused the mild issues) wasn't very much or I would have caught it. And when it got bad enough the clutch wouldn't disengage at all, was apparently spraying in a direction that didn't hit things in the area so the discoloration could be seen.

Anyway, if you've got somebody that can slowly press the clutch pedal while you watch for possible hydraulic line leaks, it might be worth doing. Prolly good idea to wear safety glasses against the unlikely event a leak happened to spray in your direction while observing.
 
I never saw any fluid loss at all. SmithvilleD, your experience sounds EXACTLY like mine. I'm going to go out there today and see if I can see a leak in the line... I might just buy the new line for fun now that everything ELSE is new. LOL

Thganks everyone, I'll post up my success or failure as it becomes known. :)

Bill
 
I never saw any fluid loss at all. SmithvilleD, your experience sounds EXACTLY like mine. I'm going to go out there today and see if I can see a leak in the line... I might just buy the new line for fun now that everything ELSE is new. LOL

Thanks everyone, I'll post up my success or failure as it becomes known. :)

Bill
 
If you can cap the line on one end with a ball valve and fitting on the other, charge it with air - 100 lbs plus. leave it sit you should know very quickly if the line is leaking
 
The line has these stupid fittings on the end. They aren't threaded, they slip into the master and slave and a roll pin holds them in there.

I was out doing some other things to the truck and just for fun I pumped the pedal about a thousand times and got about half of my clutch back. I can now kind of get it in gear! :)

I'm gonna keep working it like this just to see what happens, if there is no improvement, I'm going to try a few of the other sugestions.

Bill
 
The line has these stupid fittings on the end. They aren't threaded, they slip into the master and slave and a roll pin holds them in there.

I was out doing some other things to the truck and just for fun I pumped the pedal about a thousand times and got about half of my clutch back. I can now kind of get it in gear! :)

I'm gonna keep working it like this just to see what happens, if there is no improvement, I'm going to try a few of the other sugestions.

Bill

If pumping the pedal gets some clutch back then you still have air in the line more than likely. The hyd. clutch setup on these trucks is a pain to bleed. I bled mine every which way, gravity, pumping and even removed the slave while still connected to the hyd line and pushed the rod back into the slave (with the allen bleeder screw open) very slowly and then closed the bleeder. Was surprised how much more air I got out after all the other bleeding. The bleeder is not at the very end of the stroke...so, I was thinking air might be trapped there....apparently I was correct.

In theory, you should be able to get all the air out by use...in other words, just keep pumping and the more you drive the more 'pedal' you should get until all the air is out and the clutch is working properly.

Smitty
 
I did the same thing with using the slave cylinder rod to bleed the system. I drove the truck tonight and pumped the heck outta it to get it into gear then was able to shift up and down until I stopped for a few minutes at the store then I had to do the pumping thing all over again. I'm gonna try to drive it for the next while and see what happens. I don't have a partner to help me bleed them the normal way... :(

Wish me luck. LOL

Bill
 
From my knowldge this is normal for these clutches.
I guess I assumed you had already pumped the heck out of it.
My 89 was geared such that it wasn't to hard to drive without a clutch. You didn't want to stop pointed uphill though. I had it go out at the beginning of a week road trip. I didn't have time to work on it or look for a place so I just drove it that way all week.
 
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