I was on my way to vist my brother today and while accelerating the clutch slipped in 5th. I realized my toe was on the clutch pedal and removed it right away and let off the throttle. Got back in the throttle(about 75%) and it slipped again. Did this 3 times in a row. Got done with my visit and took off to my daughter house. I had to drive across the mountains from Hickory nc to Johnson city Tn and never slipped the clutch once and I was trying to. The valair clutch is about 2.5 years old with about 65k on it. Anybody ever had this happen to them? It was strange,

I had a valair clutch slip on me with about 90k on it. When I went to replace it i found the disk was rubbing metal on metal on the flywheel and the pressure plate. I went with south bend for my new one, but I don't know how bad the previous owner abused the valair he bought. My guess would be you need a new clutch if it has slipped.

Edited December 25, 201311 yr by TFaoro

Frankenstein shoes??!!

I had a valair clutch slip on me with about 90k on it. When I went to replace it i found the disk was rubbing metal on metal on the flywheel and the pressure plate. I went with south bend for my new one, but I don't know how bad the previous owner abused the valair he bought. My guess would be you need a new clutch if it has slipped.

I have never come anywhere close to 90K on mine. Routinely around 23k when towing and the clutch has never slipped. This was  a weird experience. I would also think new clutch if this was not a one time experience and I could not make it slip as hard as I tried going up and over the mountains. The only other times it and the oe ever slipped was when my big foot was resting on the clutch. Going to move the  5th wheel pretty soon and will just have to see what happens.

 

Frankenstein shoes??!!

 Thats what cause it to slip the first time. I have a bad habit of leaving my toe on the clutch pedal and heal on the floor. It is a bad habit I have always had going up thru the gears of this and all others I have had. My #14 work boots do classify as Franken boots.

crawl under there and visually see if you have oil dripping/or soaked coming from around the bellhouse.you might have a soaked disk, and it took a little time for it to fling/burn off. This would be trans fluid, not engine oil. Were you parked downhill for awhile before you noticed it slipping?......either way, oil leak or worn clutch....... trans comes out.I've wondered too with various hydraulic actuated clutches if sometimes I get a 'hanging' clutch where the master cylinder won't allow the slave to fully retract..

I slipped the OEM clutch on my '04.5 with a heavy foot and the Edge turned up.  My SouthBend OFE now has 130,000+ miles on it, with the stock hydraulics.

Heck stock clutch and Edge Comp tends to rip the hubs out of the friction plate. But now with Southbend Con OFE solid as a rock. Since I'm a manual guy mostly I tend to be very watchful of my left foot and keep it away from the pedal when not needed.

 

Frankenstein shoes??!!

 

I've a got a pair here I wear daily. Hawthorn's fire rated boots. No problems with work boots.

crawl under there and visually see if you have oil dripping/or soaked coming from around the bellhouse. you might have a soaked disk, and it took a little time for it to fling/burn off. This would be trans fluid, not engine oil. Were you parked downhill for awhile before you noticed it slipping? ......either way, oil leak or worn clutch....... trans comes out. I've wondered too with various hydraulic actuated clutches if sometimes I get a 'hanging' clutch where the master cylinder won't allow the slave to fully retract..

A little hard to check mine for fluid since the tappet cover is leaking oil and it runs over and around the bell housing. Always wet there. Nothing different in where or how its parked. I changed my oe clutch at near 235k and it still had some life in it, so even with my occasional foot rest I am not hard on the clutch so I dont think it is worn with 65k on it. That was my first thought until I drove it a gain a could not make it slip. Ihope it was a fluke and maybe something just bound up the the hydros momentarily. Keeping my pinkys crossed.

 

I slipped the OEM clutch on my '04.5 with a heavy foot and the Edge turned up.  My SouthBend OFE now has 130,000+ miles on it, with the stock hydraulics.

Mine are not exactly stock, master from Advance(100k) and the slave from Rock auto(50k).

 

Heck stock clutch and Edge Comp tends to rip the hubs out of the friction plate. But now with Southbend Con OFE solid as a rock. Since I'm a manual guy mostly I tend to be very watchful of my left foot and keep it away from the pedal when not needed.

 

 

I've a got a pair here I wear daily. Hawthorn's fire rated boots. No problems with work boots.

I watch my left foot for the most part. Just get lazy every now and then. Been driving manuals most of my life.

Ok  gotcha.   most  clutches  I've had  slip.... got  worse  as  they heated up.  (definitely worn)   That's  why  I wondered about  a  possible leaky  input  shaft seal. Yours seemed to  'cure itself'...

It  doesn't  take much  oil or  grease  to  make em  slip!!...   they'll chatter a bit too  during  release  or  engage  with  oil  on  them.

 

how much clutch   pedal  travel do you have  in  high gear   do you have before clutch  starts  to slip> with moderate  throttle? If  you just make  a little pressure with your  left foot  maybe  an inch max,  and the  engine bolts away,   Id  say its  worn.

Edited December 26, 201311 yr by rancherman

Now that you making me think a bit I've got a friend that has a 1992 Dodge that had a really bad slipping clutch but come to find out it was mostly caused by a leaking tappet cover gasket or valve cover gasket. Once the oil leak was stop the clutch slippage problem seem to go away as well.

Wouldn't a leaky rear main seal on the engine run the risk of contaminating the clutch??

Our sled pulling truck had the gasket leaking on the drain plug. Well my buddy did a burn out and actually welded the clutch to the flex plate. So ya oil does weird things to clutch disks

rear main seal leaks  mostly will drain out the bottom before getting back  "up around, and  then  onto clutch face" unless of course  the  weep hole(s) are plugged... and  there is a  quart of  oil in bottom  of  bell.   but  then again, I'd bet there is  quite a hurricane of crap  inside  a  closed housing,  and anything is possible!  

Right now,  I couldn't tell you where the  inspection cover is, bottom or front of  bell, but  if  you take it off, and  see wetness  even on  the front of the flywheel  and not  dry  dust...   or  if the flywheel  is  WASHED clean.... ahem...  there ya go!

 

Input  seal leaks  her  right  in the worst possible  spot!

S

 

Ok  gotcha.   most  clutches  I've had  slip.... got  worse  as  they heated up.  (definitely worn)   That's  why  I wondered about  a  possible leaky  input  shaft seal. Yours seemed to  'cure itself'...

It  doesn't  take much  oil or  grease  to  make em  slip!!...   they'll chatter a bit too  during  release  or  engage  with  oil  on  them.

 

how much clutch   pedal  travel do you have  in  high gear   do you have before clutch  starts  to slip> with moderate  throttle? If  you just make  a little pressure with your  left foot  maybe  an inch max,  and the  engine bolts away,   Id  say its  worn.

 

So many replies, how does one answer. Lets try.

 

I put seal has less near 35k on it and I hope it is not leaking, but you never know. 

My oe and the Valair would both slip with a dead left foot on it. Maybe 3/4" of travel, kind of hard to say. I think the oe was like that when I bought the truck in 01. but that was a long time ago and I could be wrong. I know the oe was like that for the past few years and the Valair has been that way also. The clutch never slipped all the way back from Indiana back in August.

 

Now that you making me think a bit I've got a friend that has a 1992 Dodge that had a really bad slipping clutch but come to find out it was mostly caused by a leaking tappet cover gasket or valve cover gasket. Once the oil leak was stop the clutch slippage problem seem to go away as well.

The tappet cover has been leaking for a while. I guess it is possible that this is the cause, but why just now and only for the one short trip? I came back over the mountains today and still could not make it slip in 5th or 6th.

 

Wouldn't a leaky rear main seal on the engine run the risk of contaminating the clutch??

If the oil sprayed out i could believe it. My old seal was leaking before I replaced the clutch but never got on it.The new seal has about 65k on it.

 

Our sled pulling truck had the gasket leaking on the drain plug. Well my buddy did a burn out and actually welded the clutch to the flex plate. So ya oil does weird things to clutch disks

I have to assume you mean the fly wheel since my truck has no flex plate on it. I dont believe I have any drain plug near the clutch disc that I can think of.

 

rear main seal leaks  mostly will drain out the bottom before getting back  "up around, and  then  onto clutch face" unless of course  the  weep hole(s) are plugged... and  there is a  quart of  oil in bottom  of  bell.   but  then again, I'd bet there is  quite a hurricane of crap  inside  a  closed housing,  and anything is possible!  

Right now,  I couldn't tell you where the  inspection cover is, bottom or front of  bell, but  if  you take it off, and  see wetness  even on  the front of the flywheel  and not  dry  dust...   or  if the flywheel  is  WASHED clean.... ahem...  there ya go!

 

Input  seal leaks  her  right  in the worst possible  spot!

There is no inspection plate to look at the clutch. There is however a slot on the bottom of the bell housing that would allow any fluid to drain. The only way to visually inspect the clutch assembly would be to pull the tranny. Not an option at the moment. I would thin if I could see the fly wheel that it should be shiny metal just like a brake rotor where the clutch disc contacts it and the rest should be dry and dusty.

 

 

 

I dont know what happened to make it slip. Maybe the clutch pedal got in a bind or some thing else. All I know was it slipped on that one trip and now I cant make it slip.    A new trip is going to come up pretty soon with the 5th wheel an I guess I will know for sure then.

Ya flywheel. And it was the engine oil drain plug leaking that got up onto the clutch disk

With the tranny pulled obviously, is it hard to replace that input shaft seal? I am looking at doing my clutch in the next couple months and think I had better do that while I am in there. Should probably look at doing the rear main too.

Pull hard with it and see if it slips! 

With the tranny pulled obviously, is it hard to replace that input shaft seal? I am looking at doing my clutch in the next couple months and think I had better do that while I am in there. Should probably look at doing the rear main too.

 

That would be the time to do both. 

 

Pull hard with it and see if it slips! 

 

That should be coming in the very near future.

OK 2500 miles later and no slipping, cant make it slip. Just did 480 mile trip with the 5th wheel on board. Could not make it slip in 6th with my foot to the floor climbing a hill. If it was oil from the leaky tappet cover, that problem is solved. I guess it was just a freak incident.

Good to hear Dave!