Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
So, I'm coming home from work, and I exit the Long Island Expressway near my house. All is well, till I go to downshift to the stoplight. I press the clutch and suddenly i hear a gently "pop!" and the pedal goes to the floor (and my heart jumped into my stomach. ) "Oh no... what did I break now," I thought. I bumped the truck into neutral and shut it down at the light so i could start it in gear and get it the 4 blocks to where I park for the night. All the way, racking my brains thinking the worst, hoping for the best.
I park my truck and take a look under it, and I see... the hydraulic line 45 degree elbow to the slave cylinder is popped off the slave cyl. Worse yet, the small metal paperclip looking device that locks the assembly together is broken (the original source of the problem)
#ad
Gee, that looks JUST like a bent paperclip... thank goodness I have a few onboard.
"Ok," I say. I can get the connection back together, but how the heck to bleed it when EVERY document in the world says... . "Once connected, never disconnect the hydraulic lines on the clutch system," or something dire to that effect.
So, I took a shot in the dark (literally at this point as the sun was going down fast. ) I removed the slave cyl from the trans (2 bolts easy. ) and extended it to its maximum length, filled the cylinder up all the way and set it aside vertically. Next, I temporarily plugged the hyd line from the MC with a bit of rag. After that, I depressed and held the clutch pedal all the way with a rock. Finally, i filled the MC reservoir to the top with brake fluid.
I crossed my fingers, toes and all other crossable appendages, pulled the rag off the line and let the brake fluid start to drip (onto my shirt !@#$!@@... ) After the fluid was consistently dripping, i mashed the connector together and threaded a paperclip into the two holes where the original clip had gone and twisted it tightly on both sides. Now for the moment of truth. Release the MC pedal, and manually depress the slave cyl. Didnt feel any air, felt a nice solid rush of fluid (now coming out of the reservoir !@#!#$@# again!) Reinstalled the slave cylinder and tried the pedal. Not fantastic. Pumped about 20-30 times and the pedal went back to its normal feel. Started the engine, and verified clutch operation. WOOHOO It works!
Overall, the whole thing took me about 1 hour including borrowing a neighbor's hose to rinse down all the spilled brake fluid afterwards. Tomorrow I'm ordering the upgraded hydraulics from SBC and maybe even the new DD clutch I've wanted for ages.
I really hope that this is an isolated incident, as it seems that the machine that crimps the little kinks in the legs of the spring retainer seems to have kinked the wire spring a bit too much, causing stress on it which led to one leg fracturing clean.
-Dan
I park my truck and take a look under it, and I see... the hydraulic line 45 degree elbow to the slave cylinder is popped off the slave cyl. Worse yet, the small metal paperclip looking device that locks the assembly together is broken (the original source of the problem)
#adGee, that looks JUST like a bent paperclip... thank goodness I have a few onboard.
"Ok," I say. I can get the connection back together, but how the heck to bleed it when EVERY document in the world says... . "Once connected, never disconnect the hydraulic lines on the clutch system," or something dire to that effect.
So, I took a shot in the dark (literally at this point as the sun was going down fast. ) I removed the slave cyl from the trans (2 bolts easy. ) and extended it to its maximum length, filled the cylinder up all the way and set it aside vertically. Next, I temporarily plugged the hyd line from the MC with a bit of rag. After that, I depressed and held the clutch pedal all the way with a rock. Finally, i filled the MC reservoir to the top with brake fluid.
I crossed my fingers, toes and all other crossable appendages, pulled the rag off the line and let the brake fluid start to drip (onto my shirt !@#$!@@... ) After the fluid was consistently dripping, i mashed the connector together and threaded a paperclip into the two holes where the original clip had gone and twisted it tightly on both sides. Now for the moment of truth. Release the MC pedal, and manually depress the slave cyl. Didnt feel any air, felt a nice solid rush of fluid (now coming out of the reservoir !@#!#$@# again!) Reinstalled the slave cylinder and tried the pedal. Not fantastic. Pumped about 20-30 times and the pedal went back to its normal feel. Started the engine, and verified clutch operation. WOOHOO It works!
Overall, the whole thing took me about 1 hour including borrowing a neighbor's hose to rinse down all the spilled brake fluid afterwards. Tomorrow I'm ordering the upgraded hydraulics from SBC and maybe even the new DD clutch I've wanted for ages.
I really hope that this is an isolated incident, as it seems that the machine that crimps the little kinks in the legs of the spring retainer seems to have kinked the wire spring a bit too much, causing stress on it which led to one leg fracturing clean.
-Dan
