Trans shop in SE Pennsylvania??

[steved]

Looking to have the clutch replaced in my 04. 5... anyone have a recommendation for a shop in my area??

 

[Rams-n-Hogs]

Where are you at in Pa?

 

[steved]

Reading, PA... .

 

[Rams-n-Hogs]

The closest one I know of is about 100 miles away, Reiff diesel. Mid-Atlantic diesel is about 130 miles. I'm sure there are others that I don't know about, that might be closer. Are you planning on going with an aftermarket clutch?

 

[AClayton]

Reading, PA... .

I thought you had a Southbend installed not to long ago!



Alan

 

[steved]

I already had an aftermarket clutch (Con OFe)... it started dragging when disengaged about 4 months ago, and I want to get it replaced before it damages the transmission (synchronizers). Plus it makes driving in traffic miserable.

I know there is a local shop (Chester Transmission in Downingtown) that does good work, but I doubt they will install another performance clutch.

 

[steved]

I thought you had a Southbend installed not to long ago!



Alan

Yeah, not quite a year ago...

 

[AClayton]

Yeah, not quite a year ago...

That didn't sound promising and I will leave it at that.

 

[steved]

I will reserve judgment until I figure out what happened... might not even be the clutch?

All I know is something is dragging when the clutch is pushed in... and it makes it impossible to grab a gear.

 

[blacksheepdiesel]

Pilot bearing? Was the flywheel replaced or reused?

Godspeed,
Trent

 

[steved]

Pilot bearing? Was the flywheel replaced or reused?



Godspeed,

Trent

Pilot bearing was replaced... flywheel was resurfaced. The hydraulics were upgraded at that time, and I have removed the 1/4" spacer from under the slave cylinder to gain more throw.



I doubt it has anything to do with the flywheel because it happened over 10k into the replacement. The pilot bearing was replaced with a OE dodge part (new). One thing I have noticed is that one day it will be grabby and the next it engages smoothly... not sure what that means, if anything? I was standing there (most likely in the way) when it was replaced... there was nothing questionable about the install.



Again, this sort of came on suddenly. There is no abnormal noise, no abnormal feel, nothing unusual except its next to impossible to get into gear from a standing stop.



And its not like I can't drive a manual... the only reason I had to replace the OE clutch was because that clutch turned out to have been defective from day one and the (recently added) Smarty Jr added enough to make it apparent (and that was with 180k miles of use). I have owned this truck since new.



Short this dragging issue, I like the clutch.

 

[steved]

Anyone have any other shop suggestions???

Thanks!

 

[steved]

Well, I found a local 4x4 shop that can do the work... I guess the next question is, what clutch should I go with??

 

[Rams-n-Hogs]

Have you talked to Peter at South Bend about it? He might have seen the issue before, and might know what the problem is.

 

[steved]

At this point, between miles accumulated and time passed, the warranty is long since gone... even thought its been occurring for about six months. .



The thought, a few weeks ago, was that the disc had warped. To be quite honest, I slipped it (what I consider bad) once (that I remember) since the install... pulled out into traffic in 3rd. Not sure if that would have done it or not, but if so; I could not see it not happening to others.



If you come to a stop (in gear), you can actually feel the load against the gears when you try to pull it into neutral, and sometimes feel tooth to tooth when trying to get into gear.