Clutch not disengaging from flywheel?

[RAMviperIFFIC]

I have about 6,000 miles on my second Centerforce clutch and it has been shifting with difficulty the past month or so. It is very intermittent. I had a local transmission shop (friend of mine) drive it for a day and he said that the clutch disc does not seem to be disengaging from the flywheel when the clutch is depressed.

When letting the clutch pedal out, the clutch does not start to grab until about half way out, which is correct. I have the upgraded viper slave and the system is bled correctly. You may remember, last fall I started a thread similiar to this one when I had a few thousand miles on my first Centerforce clutch.

I dropped my truck off at my mechanic and he will be pulling the tranny out tomorrow.

I was told from the tranny shop that I should grease the splines on the input shaft where the clutch rides on. Have any of you done this? I am going to have my flywheel re-surfaced and we will definitely inspect the splines on the input shaft as well as the clutch disc.

I drive my truck daily and flog it regularly. So, my driving habbits are not the best for equipment longevity.:rock:

thoughts or ideas, anyone?:dontknow:

Jon

 

[JimTeTe]

Just had this exact upgrade to my truck. Got it back today, all is well, like ya said clutch grabs about half-way. Reason I did the upgrade was because the slave went .... how's your slave? ..... Just a thought ....

Jim

 

[RAMviperIFFIC]

I put the Viper slave in.

Just had this exact upgrade to my truck. Got it back today, all is well, like ya said clutch grabs about half-way. Reason I did the upgrade was because the slave went .... how's your slave? ..... Just a thought ....

Jim

I put the viper slave in last summer. The clutch disc is disengaging from the pressure plate, but for some reason, the clutch disc does not "free-up" from the flywheel.

thanks,

 

[BigRed460]

Check the pressure plate bolts...

 

[RAMviperIFFIC]

Follow up

My shop had the t-56 out in 42 minutes! This was timed from driving on the lift to putting the tranny on a stand.

There were no loose bolts found when dis-assembling.

My mechanic noticed burnt clutch smell during his 50 ft drive from being parked over night until it was on the lift. My neighbor (who owns a tranny shop) that drove my truck for a day for some valuable suggestions stated the same thing when he drove it from my driveway to his. (three houses down) This solidified that my clutch was "dragging" and not completely dis-engaging.

Parts inspection;
-the clutch disc looked fine and was not warped, so we cleaned it and set it aside to re-use. The splines in the hub where in good condition too, and there was no rust, grime or crud to be found.

-the pressure plate appeared to be flat. There were no visible signs of damage.

-The pilot bearing was well lubed and was left in-place for re-use.

-The flywheel was removed and sent to be resurfaced, the technician stated the flywheel looked "normal" and it should work fine.

-flywheel mounting bolts where not scored, so there was no apparent rubbing.

-viper slave cylinder looked good, we pulled off the release bearing, cleaned and re-lubed.

-input shaft of transmission was in perfect condition.

All parts were re-assembled and tranny was put back in. IT WORKS FINE!:rock: No more shifting troubles.

So, your thinking.....what did we do to fix it?

Answer: :nurse: Last summer, when my Viper salve cylinder kit was installed, it came with a 1/4" thick plate steel laser cut spacer which is put behind the slave cylinder to shim it out. We figured that the clutch was just not disengaging enough so we put a .060 inch shim behind the spacer and put the slave back on. Must be some tolerance build-up with all of my parts and the provided spacer was not thick enough to give the required .050 air gap when clutch is dis-engaged (specification stated by Centerforce technical service representative.)

I hope my findings help somebody else, it has been kind of stressfull.

 

[mauiSRT/10]

At least you have some competent people working on it. Hopefully you guys found the issue.

patrick