Alright the deed is done. Replaced the slave, pressure plate and clutch. Flywheel looked very good so I didn't worry about that.

Everything seems to be running fine except the clutch pedal is about half the weight as it was before. I think if I bleed the slave a few more times I should be alright.

There is a bit of chatter in first gear from time to time, but that may be because I am not used to the weight of the clutch pedal right now. I hope this will be solved with some bleeding and getting used to it. (I HOPE)

Thanks for everyone's help, I would have been SOL without you guys.

Louie

 

Is the clutch pedal spongy or just light?

 

well It is hard to tell.. that little plastic bushing on the end of the master cylinder piston is messed up, so I jerry rigged it to function. That has always caused the clutch to feel a bit strange, but usually it just makes me have to push it a bit further than normal.

Overall it feels light, not spongy, does this tell you anything?

 

My limit of knowledge is that if the clutch was spongy, you have air in the system. It might be lighter because it's working easier with less interruptions, and every clutch is different!

 

Well, if it needed bleeding the clutch pedal would probably be coming in closer to the floor that it was before and shifting might hear some scraping especially in reverse. If the pedal feels lighter, you may have had a heavier pressure plate in there than you do now. IF the PO of the truck did a clutch job on the truck and put a heavier plate in there, usually for towing purposes, and IF he left the stock Slave setup, it could have caused what you just went through, with slave failure. A lot of companies will sell a heavier clutch assembly and tell you it works with your existing slave cylinder, which it does, but it's usually at the upper end of what the slave cylinder can handle. IF I'm right in my thoughts the slave should have been made heavier to begin with. OR, depending on what and where you bought your clutch assembly at, you may have bought a lighter weight assembly than what's actually suppose to be in your truck. You may also want to thin about fixing the plastic piece you said you rigged to work, or buy a new master res, at least you'll know everything is brand new at that point.

 

Alright I see. So it is unlikely that it is air because it feels lighter, not spongy, but it is possible. A bleed or two won't hurt.

What could be the case is what you're saying, the previous set up could have just been a heavy duty plate and clutch, and what I am feeling now is the standard, regular duty pressure plate and clutch, but this is completely normal. I have the original parts I replaced, but I must say they look pretty much like the ones I put in, not sure if they're heavy duty or not. The slave looks to be the same type. The previous clutch looked pretty good, may have been ceramic heavy duty, so that may point towards other heavy duty parts used before. Very good information.

I am going to try a bleed or two and if I can't feel any difference in clutch pedal pressure I will assume it is good to go (until the next thing happens).

Thanks

 

How many inches off the floor is it when the clutch starts to engage and how many inches off the floor when it's fully engaged?, You should be about 1.5 - 2 inches when you feel it start to pull, then about another inch or two when fully engaged and you should have about 1/2 inch of free play at the top of the pedal.

 

Light is fine. As long as the clutch pedal grabs a few inches off the floor (and not right off the floor), it's fine.

 

Hey Guys,

Sorry for the delay, been on vacation the last week.

Mike1 and Lead Head, I would say around 2" when it starts to pull, which is better than before. I think this could be remedied with the linkages under the dash in the clutch pedal system/bushings/etc.. Takes another couple inches to fully engage, which is a good change from before as well. I do have a lot of room from the fully engaged position to the floor, which I am assuming isn't a bad thing. Everything seems to be in working order.

The only negative change I have noticed, is that when starting off the truck in 1st gear from stopped, it is tough for me to not get any chatter or what feels like a bit of slippage while letting out on the clutch. Sometimes it works, but most times I get a small bit of chatter. This may be normal, and may just be me getting used to a new, different clutch, that isn't as forgiving as my last one. (Or I messed something up in assembly). I assume it is just me getting used to it. Thoughts?

 

It may take a while for the new clutch to bed in