Last weekend I was driving about 230 miles from home to work. When I left home the truck was behaving one hundred percent normally, no issues at all. IN my little story I refer to gears as R,L,1,2,3,4,6

After about 180 miles I exited the interstate, and on the way to the stop sign I clutched and dropped her into N. After stopping I tried to put it back into first and drive away, but no luck, with the clutch fully depressed, the transmission and engine were still connected, at least a little. To get going I had to shut the truck off, put it in first, and with the clutch pushed absolutely as far as it would go, I turned the key and the starter yanked the whole pickup down the road to life, thankfully. Following this, I could upshift and downshift with no problems for about 30 miles, and then I was having trouble downshifting. Once I got to the town I stay in, I had a terrible time getting it to slip into 2nd. Then once I got to the parking lot, I could shift with a little difficulty, but it slipped right into and out of any gear I wanted. Last night, I had no issues on my warmup drive with shifting either. Before this experience last weekend the only other issues I have had is sometimes it would feel like it didnt fully drop into first, but a simple out and back in would take care of that. I have also never had any experiences with anything like a slipping clutch.

I am completely baffled what would cause it to behave like this......so I ask the experts.

Thanks,

Baatzy

 

I've had a few clutch problems with my ZF-6. I'd recommend checking to make sure your master/slave cylinders are functioning properly before doing a clutch. How many miles on this clutch? You just had your engine out too, didn't you? That's gonna suck if it is your clutch. Woulda, coulda, shoulda is a terrible game to play. It's always tough to balance your wallet against what parts 'might' be going. When my pilot bearing went it gave me some funky shifting problems. Someone more experienced can give you more technical details than me, but I'd venture to say that if the master and slave cylinders are functioning properly, it may be time for a clutch replacement.

 

Yes, I did just have my engine out, but at the time, as far as I could determine, and a few on here mentioned, the clutch looked like it had seen some use, but looked like it was experiencing normal wear for a stock clutch. I really have no idea how many miles are on this clutch, all I know is it has at least the 15k that I have put on it. If I do have to replace the clutch, so be it, its just my luck. Haha.

Any thoughts on if this could be something internal? Something that may be related to the tranny temp? I know the circumstances don't entirely support that theory, but they give it a pretty good boost.

How can I check for functionality of the cylinders? I haven't spent much time getting to know this part of my truck, because frankly, its never had an issue up til now.

Thanks,

Baatzy

 

IIRC, pull the inspection cover off, shine a flash light up in there so you can see the slave cylinder mechanism. Have someone press the clutch pedal to the floor (truck not running) and see if the throw out fork moves. As a side note, how's your fluid level in your clutch MC? I've never added any to mine, but maybe yours is low... It's a tiny little reservoir, looks like it holds about 4 tablespoons, but maybe...

 

Also, if you're unsure of miles on the clutch, how many miles on the truck? My first one went to 90k, and I replace with a heavy duty from NAPA that cost over $400. Not like my old gassers as far as price goes, that's for sure! I'm curious to see how this holds up since I do a lot of plowing in it. Lots of little parking lots with curbs and islands.

 

Ahh, one of them not gonna get done here tests, haha. I will be going home next weekend so I can probably get some garage time then. Is the little reservoir you're talking about small and black with a sort of rubber cup thing in it? If so, I will have to do a little more reading on the thing.

The truck will be at about 214800 by the end of the day give or take say 20 miles. Also how have you liked your clutch? I have an issue with mine that it grabs when starting out. It is almost impossible to get the truck to start smoothly, it always shakes, kind of like when you have the rear end spinning in mud or the like. But like I said, other than that, no issues. I guess that makes for these two issues then.

I have driven other 7.3 6 speeds with stock clutches and have never experienced that jumping that mine does.

 

I'm no expert on clutch longevity, but with my work trucks, including gassers, clutches seem to last 80-120k miles depending in the abyss, etc. it may just be time for clutch #3 to be installed. I believe a lot of guys on here talk about South Bend (???) clutches. I don't know what the cost is in comparison. I buy a lot of parts from the chain stores, but would not buy a clutch from the box stores. Did that once and had to replace it very early in its life. I like the NAPA one so far, but again, it's on a dump truck, so it only gives driven for work, not pleasure. I never really noticed anything amiss with it, but if the bail head ain't sticking up, I don't notice and it doesn't get pounded down, lol.

 

Yes, that sounds like the Res. Cap is usually on ridiculously tight so be gentle but firm with it. See if there's fluid in it. There probably is if it's working but it's a cheap one man check.

 

I will check that this afternoon. I really don't know much about this stuff. I have no idea what direction I would go for a clutch if I needed one, haha.

Do you think this could be anything else? It just seems like if it were the clutch the issue would hang around once it started.

 

Again, there is the possibility that it is the master or slave cylinder going. Intermittent problems are always the worst. I'd start by troubleshooting them because they're a fairly easy fix and not as expensive. A lot of times the 2 are installed as one unit because it's difficult to bleed the slave cylinder after it's installed. There are tricks to that too, but we can get into that once you determine your course of action.

 

There was a thread just a while back about a fte member having problems shifting and it turned out to be the roll pin at the shifter. Just throwing it out their.

 

Well I put about 120 miles on today, and not an issue at all. I am leaning towards the master/slave now but only because it seems like it could be capable of intermittent issues. Hopefully I can check out the operation of the cylinders next weekend.

Richard, thanks for the suggestion of the roll pin, I don't think that is the issue but I will consider it if the other leads turn up nothing. The reason I don't think it is the issue because I have no issue shifting with the truck off or when I'm lucky, but when I am having issues shifting you can hear the gears grinding down there. I can also make it shift with no problem by shutting the truck off.

Thanks for the ideas guys, now I have something to look at, when I can be somewhere where the temp doesn't have a - in front of it.