Well i thought the disc was shot and that was the cause of my intermittent clutch issues. And since the seal between the tranny and tcase went, I decided to pull it all out and replace the clutch at the same time.

The clutch disc looks fine though. There is a little wear and it's dated "BWD Reman /95" but the disc other than that looks fine. I compared it to a new one and there's not much wear on it. Maybe 1/16" or less of wear, and that's both sides added together.

There are what the parts guy called "heat marks" on the pressure plate.

So what do I do now? Replace the hydraulic system? I've already replaced the bushing on the master cylinder pushrod eye, and i've also reinforced the firewall. So now i'm at a loss. I think my hydraulic system is a "pre-bled" system, but do not know for sure. Both cylinders are plastic and there is a rubber tube between them, which is mounted by a small alan head set screw.

 

How's the pressure plate looking? And the clutch surface of the flywheel?

 

pressure plate has heat marks but no gouging, and the surface of the flywheel looks plenty fine.

 

How many miles are on the transmission? Maybe something is wrong in there?

 

Unknown miles on the truck/tranny. Don't think the transmission is the issue.

I'm going to replace the throwout and release bearings and put it all back together. If i'm still having issues i'll flush the hydraulic system and then see.

Thanks
-Matt

 

When you replaced the plastic bushing on the clutch pedal how much wear was on the pin that the eye goes on? Was the eye egg shaped? It takes very little play in that thing to really cause problems shifting.

 

No, the eye is perfectly round and the pin is also perfectly round. I checked both very carefully after you suggested this last time.

After some research I remembered that the clutch made a whirring or grinding noise that went away when i pushed the pedal in. I remember that it would make this noise even with the tranny in neutral. But honestly i don't remember if it went away when i pushed the pedal in, or if it was there with the pedal in and went away when i released the pedal. Either way I'm now somewhat convinced that my problem is either the throwout bearing or the input shaft bearing.

Thanks
-Matt

 

Mine does that. I don't know how to describe the noise, but it definitely sounds like something's chaffing when moving under there when the clutch isn't pushed in. Then when the clutch is pushed in, it's quiet.

Supposedly my truck has a "new clutch", but I don't believe a damn thing the previous owner said was done. I've read there's a mechanical pedal adjustment to correct free play and pedal height. Have you tried said adjustment(s)?

 

If it makes noise out of gear and clutch out, then goes quite on clutch in, it's transmission Input shaft bearings ...

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

Right-o. I think my input shaft bearing is missing some *****. I'm going to take a close look at the input shaft bearing, output shaft bearing, and throwout bearing today.

The input and output shaft bearings should have ***** all the way around, correct? I think I remember seeing gaps.

-Matt

 

Nevermind. Not missing any ***** in the main shaft bearing.

The input shaft bearing appears to be shot, i can wiggle the input shaft back and forth. Looking at the throwout bearing, it appears healthy to me. No excessive play in the bearing and it spins relatively freely.

So i'm pretty sure my input shaft bearing is responsible for the noise, but would it also be responsible for intermittent hard shifting?

Thanks
-Matt

 

It could, however unlikely ... It would have to be really gone.

The input shaft is supported only by the pilot bearing and the input shaft bearing, it is normal to have a _little_ movement when not installed. (There is only one bearing supporting it)

To properly check it you have to test it's side play at the bearing.

With that said, It's making noise so it's bad!
Does that mean it needs replacing, yes and no, I've seen noisy transmission bearings last a long long time trouble free.

Did you replace the Pilot bearing???
Many don't and they are important, if they are worn out, the input shaft has no proper front support, this causes miss alignment and results in all sorts of problems, input shaft bearing failure, clutches that don't disengage properly, premature disk failure, chattering clutches, etc...

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

I'll second that, the pilot bearing was trashed on my truck when I swapped the tranny this fall. The clutch would disengage properly, but the input shaft was still dragging on the bearing so it would grind or take a high effort to shift into gear.
Also check to see if the throwout bearing slides easily on the quill. Mine was all gunked up or worn out or something, and it didn't want to slide. That made the pedal effort absolutely ridiculous.

 

Hmmmm. This sounds like what I'm going through. That could be where my whine is coming from when driving too.

How do you replace the input shaft bearing?

 

Pull the transmission. There's a 4-bolt input shaft bearing cover on the front of the tranny. Remove that, then remove the small snap ring holding the input shaft bearing in place.