Clutch problems

Posted By: RoadRunnerJD

Clutch problems - 08/25/12 04:35 AM

Half way between Virginia and Englishtown today and my clutch went South! Stopped at a rest stop and everything was fine up until then. Got back in the truck, started it up, put it in gear and all of a sudden the truck lurches forward and I had the clutch still pushed in! It would not disengage. I had to forcefully pull the shifter out of gear with the engine turned off. I disconnected the trailer and had the truck towed to the local Dodge dealer. My friend picked me and the trailer up so I will be in the show. In the mean time, the dealer calls and says the whole clutch is shot. I'm thinking it was working fine and it's just not engaging or disengaging. It must be the hydraulic slave cylinder or something else? How can the clutch be shot all of a sudden? It never slipped or showed any signs? Now, 150 miles from home and I'm looking at $800 parts and $600 labor...if not more! If I push the pedal in and it doesn't engage the clutch even a little, isn't it some part (like a slave cylinder) in between the clutch pedal and the throw out bearing that's just not working...or has the pressure plate just collapsed all of a sudden and not springing back? I would appreciate any thoughts or experiences on this.

Posted By: RapidRobert

Re: Clutch problems - 08/25/12 03:12 PM

Quote:

Now, 150 miles from home and I'm looking at $800 parts and $600 labor...if not more!

I do not have an answer to your Q but would it be practical for you to have it towed back to your place or go get it so you could dig into it yourself?

Posted By: buildanother

Re: Clutch problems - 08/25/12 03:27 PM

The clutch may not actually be shot, but the hydraulics have an issue, leak, slave cyl issue or other. I would probably had tried to drive it home shifting w/out clutch, which I have done and does not hurt anything and is a matter of matching the rpms and trans-vehicle speed.

Posted By: John_Kunkel

Re: Clutch problems - 08/25/12 06:06 PM

Quote:

How can the clutch be shot all of a sudden?

If it's a 3-finger pressure plate, a lever pivot can break suddenly...had two do it to me. If it's a diaphram pressure plate, the diaphram can break with the same suddeness.

Also, the clutch disc lining can break off at the rivets and jam in between the plate and flywheel.

Posted By: RoadRunnerJD

Re: Clutch problems - 08/31/12 03:50 AM

I was on my way to E-Town and they kind of had me by the short hairs. Saturday morning I called them at 8:00 AM and told them just replace the slave cylinder only and if they didn't want to do that, I would come and pick it up. They called me back within the hour and said the technician agreed and wanted to apologize for the misdiagnosis! It still cost me over $500 parts and labor but ir's back to normal now.

Posted By: EWJ

Re: Clutch problems - 08/31/12 04:34 AM

I will presume the truck in question is a 94-02 Ram.

I have seen the hyd clutch slave go bad in 2 separate trucks: one time with ZERO warning (an original owner 02 Ram, while in traffic) and the other with slight forewarning (my 2 owner 01 Ram). In both cases, no amount of pumping would get any light pedal back in order to limp along to safety.

Posted By: RoadRunnerJD

Re: Clutch problems - 08/31/12 04:47 AM

01 Cummins with 78K miles...I had the clutch pushed in and put it in 1st and it lurched forward suddenly even though I had the clutch in! luckily, I was not in traffic but in the back of a shopping center parking lot because I was towing and parked to get a burger at 3PM in Friday traffic off of I-95! Other than the expense, everything worked out fine and I completely enjoyed the show and races at E-Town all weekend.

Posted By: JohnRR

Re: Clutch problems - 08/31/12 02:20 PM

Quote:

I was on my way to E-Town and they kind of had me by the short hairs. Saturday morning I called them at 8:00 AM and told them just replace the slave cylinder only and if they didn't want to do that, I would come and pick it up. They called me back within the hour and said the technician agreed and wanted to apologize for the misdiagnosis! It still cost me over $500 parts and labor but ir's back to normal now.

Misdiagnois my backside, they knew what the problem was and were looking at the miles and the fact you were stranded out of state, I've seen more than one slave cylinder let go.

Posted By: Bill MeLater

Re: Clutch problems - 09/01/12 03:31 PM

Quote:

I was on my way to E-Town and they kind of had me by the short hairs. Saturday morning I called them at 8:00 AM and told them just replace the slave cylinder only and if they didn't want to do that, I would come and pick it up. They called me back within the hour and said the technician agreed and wanted to apologize for the misdiagnosis! It still cost me over $500 parts and labor but ir's back to normal now.

That's an awful lotta labor considering a slave cylinder is less than 50 bucks....All the more reason to just fix everything yourself.

Posted By: RoadRunnerJD

Re: Clutch problems - 09/02/12 04:31 AM

Quote:

Quote:

I was on my way to E-Town and they kind of had me by the short hairs. Saturday morning I called them at 8:00 AM and told them just replace the slave cylinder only and if they didn't want to do that, I would come and pick it up. They called me back within the hour and said the technician agreed and wanted to apologize for the misdiagnosis! It still cost me over $500 parts and labor but ir's back to normal now.

That's an awful lotta labor considering a slave cylinder is less than 50 bucks....All the more reason to just fix everything yourself.

I don't know if the slave cylinder is in the bell housing or not but the total charges were: $242 parts, $284 labor, $28 misc supplies.... Plus tax=$569