Been having some trouble shifting gears lately. Leave out in the mornings and shifts fair to good. Get some heat in every thing and l have mash the pedal into the floor pretty good to shift. I replaced the oe master cylinder back 2008 but it was leaking by and creeping on me and then failed all together. That one was fun since l couldn't find any way to bleed it and didn't know any better. Did the best I could but still had some air in it. It took about 3 weeks of driving and a lot clutch pumping but finally settled out and has been working fine until a 3 or 4  months ago when this started.

 

I had a replacement here and today would be good to swap it in. So googled a little bit to see if any one had better way. Low and behold the first video l look at is @Mopar1973Man swapping his out long ago. He swapped both master and slave and removed the whole system and bled by using the slave. I did not want to go that far. So l was able to get the MC out far enough to keep the line to the slave about level and near as l can tell lost no fluid from it. I tried put fluid the new one on the resevoir side and it would not take any. I was succesful in getting into the output side but slowly. Kept adding a little at a time until bubbles quit coming out. I was able to keep the MC inverted and connect it to the line with hopefully no air in the line. It is working about the same as before.

 

On the funnier side when l removed the upper bolt and was pulling the socket and extensions l lost the nut. I spent 15 minutes sticking mt hands in any space they would fit looking for said nut. Nothing. While installing the new MC i had shine light in there and low and behold it was stuck between to pieces of sheet metal above the bolt. First time l ever lost a piece of hardware the defied gravity.

 

 Anyway figured l would go for a test spin. Looked at the cluster and the CEL is on. Check the code, p0237. Lost another MAP sensor. Damn. This is under warranty though. Thats 3 in the last 4 years.

 

I am not pulling tranny till it to goes to shop for new synchros and such. Hope tomsend it to Super Stick in Texas for a refresh. Dont know anyone around who knows the 5600. No odd noise from anywhere in the tranny just getting harder to shift after warms up. Could be the pilot bearing I guess. Any thoughts are welcome.

 

 

Edited September 6, 20204 yr by dripley

Not bled... not getting the full release of the clutch. I would pull the slave the quick and hard push the rod in, hold then slow ease the rod out not to draw the bubbles back in. Problem is the factory route of the tube has a hi spot that traps air. Hence why it best to fully remove and bleed hanging.

35 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Not bled... not getting the full release of the clutch. I would pull the slave the quick and hard push the rod in, hold then slow ease the rod out not to draw the bubbles back in. Problem is the factory route of the tube has a hi spot that traps air. Hence why it best to fully remove and bleed hanging.

I know about the high spot. Saw it the first time l did the replacement. Imwas able to get the connection to the MC above that high spot and connect the MC back to the line without loosing any fluid like I did the first time. While i agree there could still be some air in there the results were much better this time than last. There does not appear there is any difference in how the clutch is working now than before the change. I will mess with it some more tomorrow. My slave has a bleeder screw might just push a bunch of fluid thru it. 

The first time I did it the air had to work its way out the resevoir. Kind if thought the trap below the MC had something to do with it.  It had no where to go down low.

Edited September 7, 20204 yr by dripley

3 hours ago, dripley said:

No odd noise from anywhere in the tranny just getting harder to shift after warms up. Could be the pilot bearing I guess. Any thoughts are welcome.

 

Has the clutch engagement position of the clutch pedal changed when the problem started occurring?  If it has not I would suspect that there is not a problem with the master / slave cylinder operation.  Especially if the symptoms are the same after installing a new master / slave cylinder system.

 

You could be right about a pilot bearing problem.  When my pilot bearing began to fail, the symptoms were very similar to yours, hard shifting after driving for awhile.  The drag from the failing pilot bearing had a minor effect on the pedal position in which the clutch engaged, but basically it was still the same position.

 

I don't have near the miles on my truck as you, but I have been very fortunate so far; I am still operating with the original clutch master / slave cylinder at 344,000 miles.  

 

- John

31 minutes ago, Tractorman said:

 

Has the clutch engagement position of the clutch pedal changed when the problem started occurring?  If it has not I would suspect that there is not a problem with the master / slave cylinder operation.  Especially if the symptoms are the same after installing a new master / slave cylinder system.

 

You could be right about a pilot bearing problem.  When my pilot bearing began to fail, the symptoms were very similar to yours, hard shifting after driving for awhile.  The drag from the failing pilot bearing had a minor effect on the pedal position in which the clutch engaged, but basically it was still the same position.

 

I don't have near the miles on my truck as you, but I have been very fortunate so far; I am still operating with the original clutch master / slave cylinder at 344,000 miles.  

 

- John

My engagement has not changed just the disengagement. Having to push it hard to the floor sometimes to get it into gear wher I used to not have to. Hopefully there is a little air trapped that will work it self out like it did the first time. I lost the OE MC 2+ years before the OE clutch went. The slave outlasted the clutch. 

I did only replace the MC as the slave was done a year or so ago. Figured it was worth a try. Much easier than pulling the tranny. That might be next though. We will  give this a little time.

I have some improvement now. I know there had to be some air from the install so we will see what another week and a half wlll do.

Have checked your clutch peddle linkage for wear in the pins and bushings? Since it has a short throw a small amount of wear can make a difference.

2 months later and the tranny is shifting better. I was sure there was some air trapped in the master the way I installed it. Just like the first time it has gotten better with time. So there seems to be some life in this 320k mile tranny. Not perfect but a good bit better.

 

On 9/17/2020 at 5:40 AM, NIsaacs said:

Have checked your clutch peddle linkage for wear in the pins and bushings? Since it has a short throw a small amount of wear can make a difference.

I never checked the linkage. But they are original and I have some new bushing to install. Just need to find the time to take it apart.