2018 2500 Factory Clutch Fail

[SimpolMike]

All,

I have seen a few clutch / transmission discussions, but wanted to post this one as I am the lucky owner of a 2018 2500 I purchased new one year ago, that has had a clutch fail at under 3k miles. – That is not a typo.
I have barely been driving it, partly because I have been too busy and partly because I had the option of limiting the miles for the time being. At under 3k miles I had the clutch slipping on a minor uphill grade, essentially empty, just hauling people.

I have not towed with the truck yet, as I was waiting for about 3k to 3500 miles before I hook up the flat deck and throw another truck or small back-hoe on it and haul it over the pass and back to help give it a work out.

Just to stave off the host of questions, no the truck is stock, no modifications. I still have my 2000 with the NV 5600, and when the transmission was dropped at 150k to replace a pilot bearing some years ago, my clutch still had 47-50% remaining, just as a reference to past driving history.
I don’t have the truck back yet, so don’t have a root cause of failure, but I will update this post when I do. I will say the service manager of the dealer I took it to has been doing a decent job of advocating for me.

My primary purpose of the post was that if it can happen to me, it can happen to others. Maybe I was just unlucky and got the one in 100k that someone messed up on the line.

I have to say that it is more than a little painful to have something like this occur on an infant of a truck, especially one that costs what these do.

 

[Newsa]

All,

I have seen a few clutch / transmission discussions, but wanted to post this one as I am the lucky owner of a 2018 2500 I purchased new one year ago, that has had a clutch fail at under 3k miles. – That is not a typo.
I have barely been driving it, partly because I have been too busy and partly because I had the option of limiting the miles for the time being. At under 3k miles I had the clutch slipping on a minor uphill grade, essentially empty, just hauling people.

I have not towed with the truck yet, as I was waiting for about 3k to 3500 miles before I hook up the flat deck and throw another truck or small back-hoe on it and haul it over the pass and back to help give it a work out.

Just to stave off the host of questions, no the truck is stock, no modifications. I still have my 2000 with the NV 5600, and when the transmission was dropped at 150k to replace a pilot bearing some years ago, my clutch still had 47-50% remaining, just as a reference to past driving history.
I don’t have the truck back yet, so don’t have a root cause of failure, but I will update this post when I do. I will say the service manager of the dealer I took it to has been doing a decent job of advocating for me.

My primary purpose of the post was that if it can happen to me, it can happen to others. Maybe I was just unlucky and got the one in 100k that someone messed up on the line.

I have to say that it is more than a little painful to have something like this occur on an infant of a truck, especially one that costs what these do.

It has a self adjusting clutch.

I imagine that self adjusting mechanism was bad from the factory. It should be warrantied.

 

[jhenderson]

Diagnosing a failure at 3K, over the internet is an exercise in futility. At 3,000 miles the self adjuster shouldn’t have even come into play. Especially given the posters prev nv5600 experience.

 

[Newsa]

Diagnosing a failure at 3K, over the internet is an exercise in futility. At 3,000 miles the self adjuster shouldn’t have even come into play. Especially given the posters prev nv5600 experience.

Then, what could be the diagnosis when there is no reported noise from the OP, and there is no trouble shifting, and there is plenty of pedal resistance?

 

[nukegm]

comrades - my hydraulics for the clutch just failed at 6800 miles on my 18 tradesman. bone stock. best news is the part is on national back order. happy trucking!

 

[sag2]

The dual mass flywheels do not like being lugged from a start. It does ruin the self adjuster. Just another thought.

 

[Newsa]

The dual mass flywheels do not like being lugged from a start. It does ruin the self adjuster. Just another thought.

I'll keep this in mind. A torquey engine like a cummins lends itself to a bit of lug. I have abused mine plenty and it performs exquisitely

 

[sag2]

I can't recall exactly what RPM it was but it was a couple hundred under curb idle. The engine will do it and recover easily so I know there are a few out there that refuse to give it some throttle when launching, especially when you have a little weight behind you.

 

[6V92TA]

last time I looked at a clutch, the pressure plate is the device applies the mechanical force that keeps the clutch from slipping.

so what do you think it could be.. something slippery on the flywheel or something wrong with the pressure plate springs?

 

[petersonj]

Especially given the posters prev nv5600 experience.

I believe his previous NV5600 experience was in a 2000 year truck - single mass flywheel and no self adjusting clutch. I have the same setup in my 2002 truck with 293,000 miles and still driving on the original clutch. I do plenty of towing between using my travel trailer, dump trailer, and equipment trailer.

It seems that since the dual mass flywheel and self-adjusting clutch was introduced in late 2005, many early clutch failures and dual mass flywheel failure have become common. Failing at 3,000 miles is the earliest that I have heard, but I helped a neighbor change out a slipping clutch on his three year old 2007.5 truck at the time. We converted to a single mass flywheel.

I just don't think the benefits from having a self-adjusting clutch and a dual mass flywheel are worth the trade-offs for the reliable clutches and flywheels of the earlier trucks.

- John

 

[jhenderson]

Then, what could be the diagnosis when there is no reported noise from the OP, and there is no trouble shifting, and there is plenty of pedal resistance?

All he said was slipping. You added all the other stuff without any input from the poster. That’s why I said what I did about diagnosing over the Internet. Guess that slipped by you.

 

[SimpolMike]

Update: Truck back
Replaced: Flywheel, Clutch, pressure plate, release bearing, pilot bearing and all the hydraulics including the master cylinder, i.e. everything.
The bottom line is that this was either damaged or installed wrong at the factory. They found damage to pressure plate fingers, heat checking, and a worn flywheel.
On their first test drive when i dropped it off, they could not replicate the problem. So i told the service manager to drive it himself and told him exactly how to reproduce the issue. When he did the following day, he said the clutch was slipping so much he was worried that he would make it back to the shop, after climbing a large hill. My guess is that he finished it off.
I prefer manual transmissions, so my other truck is far from the only standard i have owned or own and have always had fantastic longevity in clutches for the vehicles i drive. The extremely strange part of all of this is that there was no burnt clutch smell, no missed shifts, no slipping from a dead start, only at speed.
Again, just posting the painful details to help others should they see something similar in their rig.

 

[6V92TA]

like I said, the pressure plate. all the other stuff was just along for the ride and failed because of it.

 

[Newsa]

like I said, the pressure plate. all the other stuff was just along for the ride and failed because of it.

Agreed. The heat caused by the pressure plate slipping took out the rest

 

[kthaxton]

Internet diagnosis complete. $2300.

 

[Newsa]

Internet diagnosis complete. $2300.

I think much more than that, but covered by warranty

 

[RVTRKN]

This was a common tale when the G56 was introduced, although the averages went down as D/C learned from the early failures, it can still happen. Mine failed at 30K and now has a SMF with a DD clutch.

 

[Newsa]

This was a common tale when the G56 was introduced, although the averages went down as D/C learned from the early failures, it can still happen. Mine failed at 30K and now has a SMF with a DD clutch.

So, I guess Mercedes separated from Chrysler after their merger decades ago.
So, It appears FCA buys the engines from Cummins and the Manual trannies from Mercedes, and some of the automatic trannies from Aisin.

When I first learned the g56 was a Mercedes transmission, I thought that Chrysler and Mercedes were still one.

 

[6V92TA]

you don't re invent the wheel, just to make it yourself on a small volume product like a manual transmission on a pickup truck.
figure Benz is a major player in the truck market overseas, and when they were in business with Chrysler that manual gearbox was the transmission, and Chrysler just carried on with it.. after the split.

I believe Mercedes, Detroit Diesel and Freightliner are still affiliated under one corporate umbrella.

 

[RVTRKN]

The origin of the G56 is for a Brazilian Mercedes medium duty truck, sorta like an Isuzu box truck, manufactured in Brazil by Mercedes. Of coarse the gearing was a higher ratio, and they had a higher ratio differential, then what our CTD's are. Mercedes learned in the early G56 for Dodge Ram that it was geared to low and changed it in early late 06 from an AD-G56 to the current AE-G56.