My '06 F350 has had a growling/scraping noise from the clutch since I've owned it. It only happens when I engage the clutch from a dead stop. There is never any chatter or other negative characteristics until recently. Now when I drive it down the highway to town for about and hour+ I notice when I get to town it doesn't act like it disengages all the way. It drags with my foot all the way down and in gear at a stop and makes a bad screeching/scraping noise. It's hard to get in and out of gear when it's hot like this. When it cools off it's ok again. It happened yesterday in town and a couple of times I had to shut the engine off to get into gear. It runs down the road ok and doesn't slip. The problems are all shifting and what feels to be a problem disengaging. The hydraulics are ok, and the pedal feels normal. I work as a diesel mechanic and have had a lot of experience with the 6-speed and clutch in the 7.3L and 6.0L diesel pickups, but have never seen these kind of issues with the diesel models. The V10 gas engine obviously uses a different clutch than the diesels. I'm afraid that I probably need a new clutch. Could be a through out bearing issue, but I don't think so. On 7.3L pickups I have put in a lot of LUK clutch/flywheel kits and had good luck with them. On my V10 I don't want to replace the flywheel if I don't have to, and don't want to put the same problematic clutch back in. Are there TSB's on this issue? What are some good clutch options?

 

It sounds like you have a bad throwout bearing. Since you need to tear down the clutch to replace it, you might as well replace the pressure plate and clutch plate. You may or may not have to replace the flywheel, but you should at least get it surfaced.

No, have not seen a TSB for this issue.

 

T/O bearing is bad.

 

I would feel confident about the T/O bearing, but it doesn't normally make any noise when the pedal is all the way down. The noise is only when engage/slipping the clutch from a stop. So, in the middle of the pedal travel. Maybe I wasn't clear about that part, but the other day when it gave me trouble in town it was making a screeching/scraping noise with the pedal all the way depressed. Again the pedal was normal. Free pedal was normal, but the clutch was still grabbing a little and trying to pull the pickup a little. It's not the typical T/O bearing failure characteristics I've seen before on the diesels with the ZF-6. Thanks for the input I know it's hard to understand without actually hearing it.

 

It doesn't make noise when the pedal is depressed.

It does make noise when the pedal is depressed.


Look, you need to replace the clutch plate, pressure plate and throwout bearing, surface the flywheel and inspect the pilot bearing. In other words, you need to perform a basic clutch overhaul. We can debate this until the cows come home, but it doesn't change the fact that you have to service your clutch. You claim to be a mechanic, so get to it!

 

Just looking for some experience from a tech who may have seen this exact concern. It grabs with the pedal all the way depressed when fully warmed up after a trip down the highway, but not cold after sitting. The reason I'm asking is because I don't have a good place to work on it right now and when I take it apart I want to be in and out in the same day. This forum is for sharing helpful advise not for criticism. I appreciate helpful advise if anyone has some, but if you don't have any there's no reason to post further. If I had a shop, lift, and so on to take it apart, assess the situation, and order parts while its down a day I would do that, but I don't right now. I appreciate your advise on a basic clutch overhaul, but I'm wanting to know if there is something more that one might not normally know about or expect on these specific models.

 

We gave you our opinion. Bad T/O bearing. You discounted it.

 

I would have to agree with Redford and critter here, it sounds like a bad throwout bearing.

I'm not a tech, but I had a very similar failure happen to a Kenworth T-600 that I was assigned a few years ago. Totally different application, 15.2L Caterpillar diesel with a 13-speed eaton-fuller transmission. But very similar failure symptom, which was the intermittent failure to completely disengage. Over the course of a day's driving it went from not completely disengaging once in awhile to doing it much more consistently. This was with a hazmat chemical load I was taking to Houston, and even though I made it to a truck stop a few miles from the destination they repowered the load because of the safety issue. Now I'm rambling, need some more coffee!

Either way, the transmission came out and a new clutch kit was installed, the throwout bearing was the point of failure. Of course much heavier duty application, but the fundamentals of how a clutch work are the same. Sounds like you need to tear yours apart.