New clutch, hard to get into gear, pedal vibrations help?
 

60,xxx miles on my LUK replacement clutch and it started slipping due to the plug on the HPOP leaking and soaked the disc. Replaced that with a Valair Stock with brass woven disc(one above stock) and had the flywheel resurfaced, new kelvar bearing, new throwout bearing and the upgraded clutch fork I installed with the Luk is straight.

Clutch was literally shaking the truck apart when starting from a stop, growling/vibrations in the clutch pedal when disengaging the clutch, and very difficult to get into gear(R,L,1,2) from a stop. Thinking I might had damaged my clutch hydraulics I replaced with the ford pre-bleed system. No change in anything. Bleed the new system by hand twice(50 pumps each time on the slave) still no change. Changed the fluid, 6qts of Mobile 1 syn(same stuff) still nothing.

Put 75 miles on it before I called valair, Gary and I thought maybe the flywheel was jacked up so I took the trans back out and had the flywheel resurfaced again at a different shop. Sure as ***** they had to take 15 thousands of an inch off to make it right. Double tapped everything before putting it all back together, everything else looked good and it literally fell back together. Clutch engages almost perfectly smooth now but it still hard to get into gear like it used to prior to removing the trans the first time, and the pedal still has growling/vibrations in it(now sometimes?!). Total of 376 miles on the new clutch all city driving.

:confused: Engine on, truck rolls about 1-3 inches when I disengage the clutch and put it in gear while on flat pavement, once it's in gear it does not move any further. Kinda like it needs to line the gear up or somthing??? never ever noticed this prior to replacing the clutch it ALWAYS would just fall right into gear nice and easy.
:confused: Engine on, hard to get into gear, if I push the pedal all the way down and wait 10+sec it will fall right in.
:confused: Engine on, growling/vibration when disengaging/engaging clutch in gear and in Neutral.(this is intermittent, might be going crazy but evertime I hear a click/tink from under the truck after hitting a pot hole or somthing like a pothole the vibration in the pedal will almost disapear until I shut it down and start it back up)
:) Engine off, trans shifts fine.
:) Engine off, no vibration/noise when pushing and releasing the clutch pedal.

I checked the little plastic thing on the pedal->master cylinder rod and its nice and tight/brand new.

I'm completly at a loss, 2 weeks of trying to figure this out but I got nothing.
Nothing is loose, everything is torqued to spec.

I even went as far as taking the old slave->clutch fork rod and lengthing it to see if it ichanged anything. Added about half an inch and SEEMS to be easier to put into gear, but it's prolly my imagination

Thanks for reading and any help would be appreciated.

Sincerely, a drained and defeated KC.

I've been dealing with the same issue for about 2 years. I've been too busy to have it checked out. It hasn't gotten any worse or any better.

I wanted to baby the truck until I figured what is wrong but i couldnt help myself today, threw the tunes on 140hp and the clutch held fine. After romping around for a few minutes turned it back to stock and it almost didnt want to come out of 2nd gear, had to push quite a bit to get it out. Only did it once and now it's back to the now "normal" shifting from a stop and vibrations didnt change.

EDIT: Also after it was stuck in 2nd I attempted to put it in ANY gear and it would not go, felt like it was hitting a brick wall and would not go in, heard "thunks" from the trans as I attempted to try any gear. After releasing the clutch and tried it again with it was back to the crappy "normal" shifting.

Anybody got anything?

i'll throw a bone. Been in same situation. Bought a pre-bled system only to learn that i "turned" the slave a little to far, and ended up, it being sloppy attached to trans. lasted 2 weeks and slave broke in half. So, i installed the original one..(replaced oem since i installed a VALAIR as well). With original one in, it too seemed hard to engage any gears once, i thought, the trans was warm. With XXX amount of miles in any given day, it wud then, seem to hit a wall, while shifting. Got ahold of ROCKAUTO, and had the one i bought, replaced for free. So, in meantime, still was using oem one. Waiting for replacement, i bought a slave, pumped the crap outta it for a whole day to bleed it. Once i thought it was good, i installed it. Seemed to do the same as stock.

Hears the good part. With now, new replacement pre-bled in hand, i installed it. EVERYTHING IS BUTTER SMOOTH.

My conclusion is this....The original one, i think the fluid is just done with. 140k on her and fluid is broke down. The 2nd one..(original from rockauto which then i installed a slave to it) is, i never got ALL the air outta it.

My thinking is this, REPLACE WITH NEW. whether the master or slave brakes, for me anyway, i could not get all the air out. Ya, its a 130 dollar hit, but you got a new system...good luck. O, and when installing the slave, for me anyway, it was about a 1/4 turn, and not for it, to sit in its "grooved" location :confused:

Is there any chance you put the clutch disk in backwards?

Thanks for the reply guys!

@Fat Diesel-I had thought that too, when I took the trans out the 2nd time I double checked. Unless they put the sticker on the wrong side from the factory lol. The hub collar "splined part that slips over the input shaft" on one side is longer than the other. The longer side faces the trans/rear of the truck and the short side is facing the flywheel.

@timmy-the new ford pre-bled unit was replaced late last night with an different pre-bled from advanced auto....all they had was one and it master/slave are CAST ALUM. At first I thought it was the wrong part but everything is the same as the plastic bodied ones so I bought it and it fit. Currently in TN heading to IN for christmas leave and it shifts a little better but the vibration is still there.

Vibration speed/tone changes with RPM's so im thinking it has something to do with the valair supplied throwout. Thats the only frigging thing that is touching any rotating mass in the hydraulic system.