My G56 Story

[Randomrunner12]

Hello all G56 owners and future owners,

I wanted to Share my recent story and alert other G56 owners of what i went through.

It all started back in Nov of 17. I had started to develop a clicking and popping coming from the clutch pedal inside the cab of my 12 2500. At first I thought maybe it was a sticking bushing under the clutch pedal so i replaced them all and greased them at replacement. Fix lasted about a week, then the noise came back. Checked clutch adjustment at the master rod, fixed but then came back.

Fast forward 6 months and the noise has only gotten worse so i replaced the hydraulics and this fixed the issue for about another 4 months.

Skip ahead to dealing with the noise and issue until 2 weeks ago.

I was coming home and at a light the clutch started to slip really bad and wouldn't engage, then all of a sudden the clutch went completely stiff. Got truck towed home and removed the slave and found the slave rod bent 45* and clutch fork just wiggling around.

Pulled Transmission and the pivot ball just fell out of the bell housing. Upon further checking the pivot ball has been vibrating its way out of the mounting spot due to lack of proper torquing and loctite from the shop that shall not be named who installed my new clutch.

When the pivot ball reached its max it stripped the remainder of its threads and the threads for where the pivot ball attaches. I ran a tap and chased the threads and mounted a new pivot ball.

In the end i had to replace the pivot ball, throw-out bearing, bearing retainer, fork, and new hydraulics. I am sure that soon i will have to replace the clutch as well since the adjustment has been so off and wrong for so long that it may have caused excess wear on the clutch.

Moral of the story is to make sure that you loctite the pivot ball and torque to the proper specs otherwise you could end up in my situation.

 

[Newsa]

Thanks for the heads up.

How many miles before you started experiencing the problem and before replacing the pressure plate?

Did you replace the OEM dual mass fly wheel with an aftermarket replacement or are you running a stock configuration?

 

[Randomrunner12]

I did not replace the pressure plate as it was not needed at this time.

I have 165k miles and am on my second aftermarket clutch. I experienced the issue just over 164k miles. Ive called both valair and southbend and neither of them have ever heard of this issue.

 

[nukegm]

thats a bad story. sorry to hear that. now i dont feel so bad with my g56 being at the dealer for 29 days to fix 3 failed hydraulic assemblies. the shop didnt stand by their work or try to make it right in any way? cheers!

 

[seafish]

Ive called both valair and southbend and neither of them have ever heard of this issue.

Probably because, as you pointed out, it was installer error, NOT a common problem.

Curious if they themselves recommended using loctite on that part??

 

[Randomrunner12]

thats a bad story. sorry to hear that. now i dont feel so bad with my g56 being at the dealer for 29 days to fix 3 failed hydraulic assemblies. the shop didnt stand by their work or try to make it right in any way? cheers!

Thank you for that and not yet they haven't. I am still trying to reach the owner to see what can be done to at least help me. I feel that now after having fixed this the clutch engages way at the top of the pedal no matter how low i adjust the pedal rod and im completely maxed as low as it will go without next cutting on the slave rod to get lower and a sooner engagement.

 

[Randomrunner12]

Probably because, as you pointed out, it was installer error, NOT a common problem.

Curious if they themselves recommended using loctite on that part??

South bend and Valair both recommended loctite and the proper torque but only time will tell if that is going to actually last. As i posted before I think my clutch might need replacing as it wont engage until the very top of the pedal no matter where its adjusted in the cab and the only next step is to start trimming the slave rod 1/4" at a time as recommended by South bend to shorten the stroke.

I have tried to force a slip of the clutch by going through my dads neighborhood starting in 2nd, shifting up to 3rd then 4th and then at 40mph i go straight to 6th and give it throttle to try and force a slip but it holds strong and doesn't give.

 

[Newsa]

Slave rod bent. Sounds like a bad install

 

[Randomrunner12]

Slave rod bent. Sounds like a bad install

Yes bent the rod once the picot ball reached the max number of threads that would hold it in place.

 

[Newsa]

South bend and Valair both recommended loctite and the proper torque but only time will tell if that is going to actually last. As i posted before I think my clutch might need replacing as it wont engage until the very top of the pedal no matter where its adjusted in the cab and the only next step is to start trimming the slave rod 1/4" at a time as recommended by South bend to shorten the stroke.

I have tried to force a slip of the clutch by going through my dads neighborhood starting in 2nd, shifting up to 3rd then 4th and then at 40mph i go straight to 6th and give it throttle to try and force a slip but it holds strong and doesn't give.

I doubt the stroke will be shortened by cutting the rod? Isn't the stroke determined by the hydraulic fluid between the cylinders?

 

[Randomrunner12]

That's what i would think to but coming from the people that build and install these systems and that's what they recommend. Im going to drive it as is for now.
Maybe it'll somehow improve itself over time.