Manual Transmission Questions

[fourwheelerjeff]

I am not a manual transmission guy. I can drive them no problem but have never worked on one. Here's where we are at:

I have a 2000 model Dodge 2500 2WD with the 5.9 Cummins and a 5 speed. my wife drives this truck a lot more than I. she says it is easier to handle than the dually and she doesn't want to drive the 4X4 because it is what it is. back in April of 2018 the clutch quit working and I ordered a LUK clutch master and slave assembly from Rock Auto and put them in and everything was good. about 18 months later it started acting up again. I didn't think the assembly had went bad but a good friend that works on these all the time said it was more than likely the hydraulics again. so I ordered another and just put it on today. no change, does the same thing.
here are the symptoms: you can start in neutral but push the clutch in and it will not go into gear unless you force it. you can put it in gear and start it and sometimes it will take off even with the clutch pushed in and sometimes it won't. before I put the new one on I took the assembly off the clutch. (edit: bellhousing) I had my wife push down on the clutch slowly and I could hold the rod in place with my hand which led me to believe the hydraulics went bad. I haven't tried with the new one yet.

any suggestions?

 

[tRustyK5]

First step is check the fluid level in the clutch master, and if it's low you need to find the leak. It's a closed system like brakes, and needs to be bled like brakes too if there is air in the system. bleeding the slave can be a metric pain in the ass depending on a few things. Dunno about the Dodge specifically but the clutch slave situation on our squares is not easy to get bled.

It sounds like you have/had a leak and now you have air in the line or the slave itself. Just think of this whole system like brakes and you will understand it better.

 

[tRustyK5]

Just thinking the Dodge might have a hydraulic release bearing instead of a slave cylinder. All the same applies, although bleeding a release bearing might be easier?

 

[fourwheelerjeff]

the master cylinder and slave cylinder were installed as a prefilled unit, no bleeding necessary. I don't even think there is a bleeder valve on the assembly.

 

[tRustyK5]

Well regardless, you have air in that system somewhere. Even if came "pre-filled" someone had to have filled it and bled it before it shipped to you. I'd have a look see...

 

[Alan2smiley]

I've had pilot- input shaft bushings in the flywheel fail and create some weird behavior. When starting in gear with clutch pushed the truck wanted to move.

 

[LeoneSM]

That's an NV4500. The hydraulics are sealed and you can't bleed them. The only way you could really screw up the install is if the master isn't locked into the firewall or if you released the rod prior to install. Master twist locks into the firewall. I've had one pop out because they changed gasket sizes and it wasn't fit snug.

Even with a stock clutch, South bend is the way to go - https://www.southbendclutch.com/clutches/Hydx1.50-10166/.

You description sure sounds like failed hydraulics...