Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Grabbing Clutch

[Gene Arnold]

My 4X2 '96 has a grabby clutch problem. It is especially noticable when I'm backing my TT. U joints seem tight, center carrier has only slight movement. I had a new Luk clutch, release bearing, and pilot bearing installed about 20,000 miles back. Since then I've had an occasional rattle when in neutral at an idle--always goes away when I quickly disengage and engage with the pedal (it is worse when hot). I surmise the rattle may be the springs in the disk. Any possible correlation between the rattle and the grabbing? Any help will be appreciated because it seems to be getting worse.



Gene

 

[JFaughn]

by graby do you mean that it starts pulling with the peddle close to the floor, if thats it, then you either need more through for disengaugement , adjustment or warn parts, the noise could be laws of lube in through out bearing and that could explain your clutch grabing. did you install your self or have it done , maybe warrentee,

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

You will get shudder if the flywheel is worn (or was resurfaced) "crooked" meaning deeper on one side.

 

[NIsaacs]

Did the old clutch do it, or the new one at first? My "91" D-250 has done this from day one, only in reverse. I have always blamed it on the somewhat weak motor mounts of the 1st Gen. and the two drive lines of the long bed. Any time I want to feather the clutch in reverse for speed control, it will buck, drives me nuts! My "01" does not do this, the heavy duty motor mounts of the 2nd Gen. and the one drive shaft of the short bed helps, I think??





"NICK"

 

[Gene Arnold]

Thanks for the response. I wasn't as clear as I should have been when I described the symptom. Nick nailed it dead on when he said about his dad's first generation,

"Any time I want to feather the clutch in reverse for speed control, it will buck, drives me nuts!"

As I recall, the old clutch didn't do it. This clutch was installed three years ago so there is no warranty. By the way, Joe, since the manual said "no" the flywheel wasn't resurfaced. I had it installed at a shop in Nebraska while on a road trip. The truck now has 121000 miles on it.

 

[Gene Arnold]

Here’s an update on my grabby clutch problem. After returning from a short trip on July 4th I had a bad time backing the Airstream onto my RV pad (very slight incline). It was so bad I was fearful of breaking something. Well, I decided I’d better bite the bullet and have a pro diagnose the problem. He said no matter it was only 20,000 miles back, he recommended a new clutch. I had it done last week. When they got it torn down they discovered three serious problems.



(1) The pilot bushing (I had opted for the graphite impregnated bushing rather than the stock bearing) had been forced all the way through the flywheel so that only about ¼ of the bushing was in the flywheel and in addition the pilot bushing was cocked a bit.



(2) The wear on the inside surface of the pilot bushing was on only about ¼ inch of the bushing, so it seemed obvious that the input shaft was barely making contact. This apparently allowed a lot of play in the shaft, hence the rattle that I’d noticed soon after the 2002 clutch job. I’d also noticed excess noise immediately upon driving the truck after the 2002 job. I thought the mechanic might have failed to install some insulation around the shift lever; then I found there is no insulation there to begin with.



(3) Uneven flywheel with signs of hotspots.



My mechanic will not resurface a flywheel (he says he’s had too many bad experiences with them). He does install used ones when good ones can be found. My luck wasn’t with me and he couldn’t find a suitable used one so had to buy a new one from Mopar ($805. 00 – yes, that is no mistake and is for the flywheel alone). So: one new flywheel, stock pilot bearing, factory clutch (made by Luk), and a release bearing, $1,783. 00 poorer :{ , and I’m back on the road. Just took a short trip to the mountains over the weekend, came back home, backed the trailer on to the pad—NO GRABBING!! Also, no more rattle, and no more excessive noise! Oo.



So, my Nebraska mechanic in 2002 apparently made some serious errors when he installed my transmission.



By the way, I had the mechanic remove the extension cover and check the fifth gear nut for tightness. Snug as new. I opted to leave it alone and not touch it.



Gene