I had another great weekend taking the truck out camping this weekend with my 23' travel trailer! We did some fishing, and I even talked myself into taking the truck and trailer up a gravel logging road to a small lake that is known for good fishing. I talked to a Sheriff at the bottom to see if he thought I could make it up there with the trailer. He said I could, but the road was pretty narrow in spots. Well he was right! It was really narrow in a couple of areas, and there were some areas with dropoffs that scared the you-know-what out of my 3 passengers that were riding in the truck. I even had to use 4wd to get up the road it was so steep in places, but the truck didn't skip a beat and the trailer survived just fine!

Now to the real topic of the post: I have a couple of minor issues that have been bugging me with the truck lately, and I was hoping you guys could give me some pointers.

The first, and probably most annoying one is that the clutch pedal makes a loud clicking sound almost every time I go to engage it (start lifting the pedal off the floor) between shifts. It does it probably 80% of the time. I didn't notice this until the shop I take it to said the plastic retainer that holds the clutch pin in position on the back of the pedal was broke and they replaced it. They are going to take a look at it when I take it back to them on Monday, but said it my just need lubing. I'm thinking I may need to replace the pedal box bushings. What do you guys think?

The second thing I've noticed lately is that the truck has started leaving a small stain of diesel in the driveway right below what looks like the valve that switches between the front and rear tanks. The stain is right behind the driver's door, and it looks like it's leaking from one of the diesel lines connecting to the valve. This has only started happening very recently, and both times I have noticed it the truck has had both tanks completely topped off with almost no miles on either of them. Both of these times it has been pretty warm, and my driveway is on a slope, so I wonder if it's just pressure from the tanks expanding and forcing diesel out. Does this sound reasonable, or should I start doing some more troubleshooting?

On a positive note, the shop I take it to said diff fluid was leaking out the bolts on the front diff. They said they would try removing, cleaning, and resealing the bolts for free to see if that would do the trick, as resealing the whole diff would mean tearing the front end completely apart. Well it's been over a day, and there's no drips, and the bolts look dry! I'll cross my fingers this fixed it. I certainly can't complain about a free fix (or at least an attempt)!

Talk to you all later!

 

My clutch and brake pedal assembly used to move about 1/2" or more whenever you stepped on the clutch or brake. This caused the little clutch plastic bushing to get eaten up quick. There are some bushings under the dash for the brake/ cluch pedals that I replaced as well as a new plasic cluch bushing. Its been working great for a few years now.

Now for you fuel leak...... I have on more than one occation filled the tanks to the rim and had them leak out through the vent. It might not be an issue but you better check the lines to see if there are any holes in it.

Good to hear about the truck making it up to that lake. But you forgot to mention how the fishing was!

 

You are on the right track with the plastic clutch bushing, they may have bent one of the ends of the bushing when putting it in, put the clip in backwards, etc. have the shop look at it and the pedal box bushings.

For the fuel leak, if you see fuel on the lines by the tank selector valve, spray the area lightly with brake cleaner, let it dry, and then sprinkle the area with baby powder. This will help you locate the leak faster. If it's a fuel line that is leaking cut and replace it. If the valve itself is leaking (bad news) you'll have to replace it.

If you think the fuel leak is coming from your tank, check the rollover valve in the top of the tank. Some times they vibrate loose from the rubber gasket that holds them in and need to be reseated. You can also pull it out and make sure that the ball inside is not stuck (and not closing the valve) and that the breathing tube is not split/cracked.

On the free leak fix, sounds like you have found yourself a good shop.

 

The fishing was pretty good; we caught 4 trout in about 1.5 hours. All but 1 were keepers. I caught 3 in a row within a half hour of getting there, then my luck dried up. A buddy of mine, the only other one to catch anything, caught one while we were packing up. I figure it's not too bad, considering we were fishing during the hottest part of the day and none of us had fished in 10+ years!

Thanks Foreman and Plowhand for the help with the clutch pedal and fuel leak! If the truck wasn't parked at the Park & Ride ride right now waiting for me to find a ride to go pick it up, I'd be out there taking a look at the fuel leak and pedal box right now.

TGIF!!!

 

Glad you had a good time fishing & keep us posted on the truck.