My truck's broke...

[tntway]

had it 5 months today. about 7300 miles on it. was out driving around and started up from a stop sign. went to shift(2-3 or 3-4)

had the clutch part way in and felt a SNAP. pedal drops like a rock to the floor. got it into neutral and coasted off the road. there's no resistance in the clutch at all, just free play. while waiting for AAA, i noticed a puddle under the truck. hydraulic fluid of some type. my baby's goin to the dealer as we speak. anybody had this happen or heard of this??

 

[mikel]

Not sure if the 5-speed is the same, but on my 6-speed there is a little roll pin that can back out of the fitting on the slave cylinder and allow the hydraulic line to seperate. This could cause a situation very similar to what you describe. I fixed mine with a loop of safety wire that will prevent the pin from going anywhere.



Hopefully it's something minor.



Mike

 

[MikeR]

Your clutch slave cylinder blew up. I had the same thing happen.



-Mike

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

It's also possible that your master cylinder could have blown instead of the slave. My pedal started feeling wierd beginning of this week - sometimes engaging right off the floor with an air in the lines feeling and sometimes working ok. I figured it was the slave cylinder because that's all I've read about - I couldn't see fluid anywhere. I bought the NAPA slave cylinder that you recommended MikeR. Put it on and the clutch was still engaging right off the floor, it was hard to shift into gear (1st and reverse especially) and there was 2-3 inches of play at the top of the pedal. I figured I hadn't bled it enough, bled it more and more and finally figured that with my particular clutch that maybe the master cylinder was too small to drive the larger older slave (the slave is from 94-97 trucks, I have a 98), so I ordered the older master cylinder from NAPA. Guess what - it won't work! They changed the master cylinder completely in 98 - the line now exits out the bottom instead of out the end. When checking things out I pulled the switch on the actuating rod (inside the truck) back some and lo and behold there was some fluid on the master cylinder there. Now for the bad news - noone makes an aftermarket master cylinder for the 98's yet! I had to order the entire assembly from a Dodge dealer at ~$170 (retail is ~$220, but the GLTDR has a discount worked out with a dealer). I'm going to put the larger slave cylinder on that assembly and try it out, if it doesn't work I'll put the new factory slave back on and call it good. BTW, I had to ream out the larger slave cylinder just like you did Mike and I've got a 5 speed. I'll put a post up on here when I get it fixed (I get the parts on monday).

 

[tntway]

so...

am i covered under warranty? i mean only 5 months and 7300, i think i should be. not bombed enuff to void anything. BTW, would this have anything to do with the fact that i missed ashift earlier in the day and for the life of me i couldn't find 4th?? or was that just bad luck??

 

[tntway]

you're right on!!!

mikeR-- you win the prize--my blown up slave cylinder!! dealer's

ordering me a new one today. hopefully i'll have the beast back on tues. maybe wed. making the wife DRIVE me around 'cuz i won't drive her caravan.