I've got some serious problems...

[Chevy305]

So my clutch has offically shat on my face...

My throw out bearing is toast. Just idling the thing squeals and makes all sorts of bad noises. The when depressed its 10x worse and the clutch is now jerky when engaging or disengaging and I think it might be slipping a little.

I am now getting the feeling that if I touch the pedal it could go boom and I'd be stranded...

Is there anyway to put a band aid on this so I can make it back to school?

 

[badmix]

Learn to speedshift aka RPM matched shifts. Itll be trial and error til your find the right points where it wont grind. It wont be pretty but itll keep you off the clutch. Youll still need to take off from a dead start which is where most pressure on clutch is. Unless you know how to start a vehicle in gear? Basically you bumpstart it using the key (the vehicle will be turned off and in gear,) itll lunge forward til it gets up rolling good. This isnt pretty either, but once again itll keep you off the clutch.

 

[shaun89]

nothing i can think of besides being real easy on it. maybe get a ride from a friend? or borrow a car from someone you know?

 

[BoondocK5]

SM465's are really hard to RPM shift, it can be done, but, its lotsa grindy,grindy! Just use the clutch as little as possible, you can even start the truck in low gear, then RPM shift up, but, if you have to stop, which you inevitably will, e prepared to stall it.

 

[Chevy305]

Well, I just did a little investigating under the hood. I examined the clutch fork and I felt it. It has a considerable amount of play in it up and down and every which way there isn't supposed to be play.

The majority of my drive is highway back to school, so once i'm in 4th I'm good to go pretty much until I get there.

I'm also thinking that I may need a new clutch fork and input bearing retainer for the trans. Likely both will have some damage.

 

[Mike D]

If the bearing in the throwout bearing is frozen (seized), the spring steel clips (rivoted to the fork) that hold the throwout bearing assembly to the clutch fork will be warped also. Suggest that when you replace the clutch and clutch fork, you also spring for a new pivot ball ( the pivot ball is connected to the bell housing and the clutch fork pivots on it). It is cheap to replace and it helps the clutch fork make the throwout bearing squarely contact the fingers on the diaphram (pressure plate). The SM 465 is hard to shift ( big heavy syncros ) with a good clutch!!!

 

[justwhatido]

To stop if you intend to stay off of the clutch, when you take your foot off of the accelerator, you will have a momentary slack in the drivetrain that will let you bump it into neutral, you can coast to a stop and then when stopped, cut it off and shift into first gear. Then use starter with truck in gear and run through the gears without the clutch matching the rpms. If you get REAL good at it, you will be able to downshift by going to neutral, reving the accelerator to match the spinning gears to the next lower gear and downshifting.

That is how most truck drivers shift big trucks. Rarely do we use the clutch except to start and stop, and most can get a truck (with empty trailer or bobtail) home with no clutch.

 

[Chevy305]

well I am now getting a ride back from my friend. So I don't have to worry about the truck. It will probably sit for a few weeks before I have time to trear into it.