E4ODnut
Member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2016
- Posts
- 31
- Reaction score
- 3
- Location
- Gibsons BC Canada
- Ram Year
- 1995 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4
- Engine
- 8L V10
First a bit of history.
Several years ago I went looking for a truck, a particular truck. I wanted a Gen 2 Dodge, 4x4, extended cab, full size box, 488 V10 with the NV4500 5 speed. Turned out these things are in rather short supply. I finally found a '95 on a used car lot. I checked it out. It was rough. Lots of rust, but it seemed to run well so I bought it. Paid too much, but sometimes you have to do that to get what you want.
Anyway, it didn't take long to realize the engine burnt oil, a lite per about 750 Km. Compression was good and it ran fine, but smoked heavily on decel. OK, I said to myself, I'd better figure on overhauling the engine sooner or later, but I digress. Another interesting problem was that the clutch would chatter on engagement. Not really bad, but it was there. Also it didn't engage until the pedal was almost all the way out. At ~265,000 Km on the odometer I figured that the clutch was probably original and just about worn out so all I would have to do would be to replace it.
The truck itself however, was really beyond economical repair so I went looking for another one, except it was just the body and frame I needed, I didn't care about the drive train. Eventually I found an '01 with a 360 auto. The body and frame were quite good but the engine had a serious knock, and it had other issues. I bought it for a fair price and the conversion project was on. Almost. I had to wait a couple of years as we had just committed to build a new house, but I digress again.
When I finally got around to cannibalizing the '95 I found that the clutch didn't look all that bad, the flywheel was a bit glazed, but I've seen a lot worse. I had the fly wheel re-surfaced just to make sure and bought a new Sachs heavy duty clutch kit. Matched unit, disc, pressure plate, pilot and throw-out bearing. I have the factory service manual for both trucks and was very careful to follow the clutch installation instructions, except I didn't check the clutch disc for run out or the transmission for alignment. This was probably a mistake, but I've installed several clutches before and never had a problem.
The day finally came for the maiden voyage. What a shock! The clutch chattered just as bad, if not worse than before. But there was a difference. Now I had to have the pedal right to the floor before it would fully disengage and yet it didn't seem to fully engage until almost fully released. The clutch actuator is hydraulic. Sealed unit. No adjustment.
What the hell? Back into the book, back on google. Turns out clutch problems can be difficult to diagnose. Tell me about it!
So, as I see it, it could be one or more of several things. Could be the transmission is out of alignment with the clutch housing. Dowels are in and snug. Could be the flywheel wasn't re-surfaced true. Could be the clutch disc has too much run out. Could be there is something wrong with the pressure plate. Could be something else I didn't think about.
Anybody gone through this before and have any suggestions?
Several years ago I went looking for a truck, a particular truck. I wanted a Gen 2 Dodge, 4x4, extended cab, full size box, 488 V10 with the NV4500 5 speed. Turned out these things are in rather short supply. I finally found a '95 on a used car lot. I checked it out. It was rough. Lots of rust, but it seemed to run well so I bought it. Paid too much, but sometimes you have to do that to get what you want.
Anyway, it didn't take long to realize the engine burnt oil, a lite per about 750 Km. Compression was good and it ran fine, but smoked heavily on decel. OK, I said to myself, I'd better figure on overhauling the engine sooner or later, but I digress. Another interesting problem was that the clutch would chatter on engagement. Not really bad, but it was there. Also it didn't engage until the pedal was almost all the way out. At ~265,000 Km on the odometer I figured that the clutch was probably original and just about worn out so all I would have to do would be to replace it.
The truck itself however, was really beyond economical repair so I went looking for another one, except it was just the body and frame I needed, I didn't care about the drive train. Eventually I found an '01 with a 360 auto. The body and frame were quite good but the engine had a serious knock, and it had other issues. I bought it for a fair price and the conversion project was on. Almost. I had to wait a couple of years as we had just committed to build a new house, but I digress again.
When I finally got around to cannibalizing the '95 I found that the clutch didn't look all that bad, the flywheel was a bit glazed, but I've seen a lot worse. I had the fly wheel re-surfaced just to make sure and bought a new Sachs heavy duty clutch kit. Matched unit, disc, pressure plate, pilot and throw-out bearing. I have the factory service manual for both trucks and was very careful to follow the clutch installation instructions, except I didn't check the clutch disc for run out or the transmission for alignment. This was probably a mistake, but I've installed several clutches before and never had a problem.
The day finally came for the maiden voyage. What a shock! The clutch chattered just as bad, if not worse than before. But there was a difference. Now I had to have the pedal right to the floor before it would fully disengage and yet it didn't seem to fully engage until almost fully released. The clutch actuator is hydraulic. Sealed unit. No adjustment.
What the hell? Back into the book, back on google. Turns out clutch problems can be difficult to diagnose. Tell me about it!
So, as I see it, it could be one or more of several things. Could be the transmission is out of alignment with the clutch housing. Dowels are in and snug. Could be the flywheel wasn't re-surfaced true. Could be the clutch disc has too much run out. Could be there is something wrong with the pressure plate. Could be something else I didn't think about.
Anybody gone through this before and have any suggestions?