Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) HELP....Clutch problems

[MHammer]

I think I may have justed ended my clutches life. I was driving in town, nicely I may add, and the clutch pedal got really tight. I stopped and checked it out and didn't see anything out of place. So I tried to go home and went to go up a hill, shifted into 4th and the clutch was slipping badly. I had no slipping before this.



What happened?? Did I rip the middle out of clutch or break a spring?



The truck has 100,000 miles on it and an edge comp for the last 10,000 miles.



thanks for the replies

 

[GCroyle]

MHammer,



First, if its slipping, (assuming no problems with the entire release system) I doubt there is anything that you will be able to cure it with short of replacement. As far as ripping something out of the disc, do you hear any noises, rattling, rolling parts sound, unable to shift? If something has escaped from the disc and jammed between the disc and pressure plate or diaphragm spring, then shifting problems and noise are going to be results.

 

[MHammer]

I dont hear any extra noises, other then a squeak when you move the clutch in and out, it sounds like it is coming from the area of the clutch. But it is not that loud. It shifts fine and seems to engage in about the same spot. The only symptoms I have are really stiff pedal which came on instantly, like something let go, and the clutch is slipping badly now. I am figuring on having to put a new clutch in but I have never heard of one doing what mine did. I'm just trying to get some idea of what happened before I get it all ripped apart.



Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it



Matt

 

[GCroyle]

Matt,



The release load at the clutch bearing is (consider normal wear and an intact system) fairly constant and the only factors that will increase the pedal load are 1. Normal disc wear, as the disc gets thinner and reachs the wornout point, the pedal effort increases. This is normal and inevitable like beer bellies and grey hair, (side note: the G56 clutch is a Self Adjusting Clutch (SAC) and the release load is constant by design until wornout) it can be tested in clutch laboratories and is displayed as a release load vs. bearing travel vs. plate lift graph, even at different gages dimensions (disc thickness). 2. "External" friction. The release system does not have a normal service requirement for lubrication in order to keep the pedal effort normal, its built and should last the life of the system. Think of the bearing sliding along the front bearing retainer, shift after shift etc. , this bearing has a groove which is packed with grease, as this grease degrades and becomes contaminated with clutch dust, it does not slide as good as it did when new, and can increase the pedal effort. 3. You stated that it slipped and the release load got higher, sounds like the disc friction material has gotten so thin it is slipping and had created the high pedal effort.