Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) New clutch, shift hard?

[wildmanben]

I put a new OFE in and now the transmission shifts hard into any gear from neutral, its fine shifting in between gears, just hard from a stop. I put new Amsoil MTG fluid in. 4qts to be exact. Do I need to bleed the slave cylinder of is there an adjustment to get the pressure plate to release more? I would assume thats whats going on is that the pressure plate isnt releasing all the way? Or I am missing something, It didnt do this before. Help? :{

 

[MGarland]

Wildmanben, when i put in my fe it was hard to get into gear, after about 10k miles it seems to be getting easier. I would not worry about it as I think that it will break in. Peter from Southbend clutch is a great guy and if you have any question's he will be happy to answer them, Good luck with your new purchase.

Mark

 

[wildmanben]

Well the goofy thing is, I had an OFE put in it in March and it didnt shift hard at all when I got it back from the shop. I did this one myself and now it shifts hard.

 

[TShively]

My OFE did the exact same thing I replaced the master/slave cylinders still shifted hard. South Bend sent me whole new clutch kit, it seemed to shift a little bit better. To me it feels like the pressure plate doesn't quite release enough? I now have about 3k on it and it seems to be getting better, so maybe they just take some breaking in? Let us know what you find out.

 

[wildmanben]

it seems to be getting better the more miles that I put on it. Did some racing last night at the track, so that ought to help out a bit.

 

[JGK]

I don't understand why this seems to be a reoccurring issue, but the same thing happened to me. In my case, it was my first dual disc clutch from SouthBend. After install, it was a bit... booger - getting it into 2nd or reverse. I've since replaced it and the new one is much easier, but I also had the transmission rebuilt (new syncros and bearings) at the same time, so I'm not sure which one made the difference.



One thing you might check. Remove the slave cylinder from the bell housing and reach in and grab the release fork end and check for fore/aft play. You should have at least, say, 1/4" play front to back (in the direction of the cylinder's plunger motion). If it's tight, you will have a problem down the road. No play indicates there's already preload on the clutch fingers. This will cause the clutch to "wear out" early.



The solution, unfortunately, is to grind the back of the release bearing. This is not something you want to hear now, since the transmission is already in place, but it's straight from Peter's mouth. I'm not sure if this plays into the problem if shifting into gear, but I have to wonder. I ground a substantial amount of material off the back of the bearing on mine and shifting into gear is much easier - though reverse is still a challenge occasionally. But as I said, I had the transmission rebuilt, too.



Some said the shift issue due to pilot bearing drag. Yet, when I removed my first clutch where I had the shift problem, the bearing was free and rotated smoothly. So, I don't really know.



More conversations with Peter, maybe.



-Jay

 

[WDaniels]

I too had problems with my OFE. It worked great for a week then bam! Sometimes had to shut the engine off to get into gear and then when the clutch was all the way in it would creep forward. Replaced the entire hyd portion of the clutch, nothing doing. Peter suspected it was the pilot bearing. After a month the problem went away.

WD

 

[CHolman]

Mine too was really hard at first, but after a month and 1,000 miles later, she's like butter...

 

[wildmanben]

yeah I hope this clears up, I dont want to take the transmission out again...