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mud in clutch

shaun89

shaun89

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so i went to a mud bog yesterday,normally i dont like "mudding" and i further proved the point to myself. i have a 350/465/205 with no inspection cover. some guys say not to run one,cause it keeps the mud in,anyways its packed with mud i believe, i stopped to be unhooked and couldnt get it in gear after that. i shut it off,an i can get it in gear but the clutch isnt engaging at all. my buddy says my pressure plate is being held or stuck open. any tips on how to clean it well or anything else i should no?:doah:
 
Water.

Seriously. Take a water hose to it.
Its mud, it will wash right out.
If it doesn't, then you have something jammed in there, like a stick.

You may have to work the clutch some to get it all out if its the hard sticky type of mud.

After you get it out, the clutch may slip a little because its wet. Just drive it easy until it dries, and make sure you run it long enough for the engine heat to dry the disk.
Otherwise, the disk might rust to the flywheel.
This is not usually fatal, it would happen on my old Jeep a couple of times every hunting season after I had crossed a river.

You just crank it in gear, hold the clutch in, and either hit a tree, or stop the forward progress somehow and it will usually break free.
 
ya, i took a hose to it,once with the starter out (had to replace it anyways) and then i took off the clutch fork boot, and hosed it out,with the engine on and off. i can JAM it into reverse and low but other than that, i cant get into 2,4,or 4. i think i might try taking off the clutch fork and see what i can see/hose out in there. hopefully a stick or rock or something bad isnt in there like u mentioned. thanks for the tips though, i like ur way of unsticking a rusted clutch!:bow::haha:
 
Sounds like there is some mud between the clutch disk and the flywheel, and the pressure plate cannot move back far enough to let it completly disengage.

There is one other possibility though. You could have a lot of mud in the splines of the transmission shaft, and it will not let the clutch disk slide back.

If you can get to it, have someone hold the clutch in, and gently work a screwdriver between the disk and the flywheel to slide it back.
Then, wash, let the clutch out, and wash again.
The idea is to move the disk on the splines, and wash the grit out, then move it back and wash out the grit that moved.

Also make sure there is no mud between the disk and the pressure plate.
 
One other possibility. Its rare, but I have seen it.
You could have grit in the pilot bushing causing it to bind to the transmission shaft.

About the only way to get it out would be to drop the tranny or pull the engine.

But, do not try to force it into gear in 2,3,4. You will damage the synchronizers.

One last thing to try. After you have washed everything you can, and no mud is coming out, crank it in gear, hold the clutch down and blip the motor a few times.
Don't wind it up too much, this is wearing the throwout bearing.
Then, hold the brake, and ease the clutch in and out slightly with the motor running above fast idle. Not all the way, just enough to lightly let it burn a little.

This should sling out any mud, and dry the disk if it has absorbed any water.
 
awesome info fordum. thanks a lot, i just tried again hosing it out. i can jam it into reverve and low,and move the truck, but i can tell its definitely not fully engaged. ill try what u said. thanks!
 
My 465 didnt have a cover either, mud destroyed my clutch...etc:doah:. Pick one up at the dealer....it was 15.00.....ive never had any probs after that. Once in a while tho pop it off and hose it out, i usually do it after the mud bog here.


Maybe not the best but it worked for me...:D
 
ya, im thinking im going to have to drop the tranny :doah: if what fordum says doesnt work. its coming out for a good cleaning but hopefully not a clutch or flywheel. and ill def. go get one of those covers,ive totally forgot about it after i put the 465 in.
 
haha thanks chief! but i tried everything ive been told,still nothing,so i just sprayed the whole bottom off the truck,ill wait for it to dry and tomorrow ill start to pull it,thanks for the help though guys,ill post up what it was when i find out.
 
so i dropped the tranny,and the clutch was perfectly clean,even the bellhousing,the throw out bearing was fine,everything to do with the clutch looked perfectly fine. my next guess is the slave cylinder,it looked like it was cycling fine and pushing the fork the normal amount. i feel dumb now but i didnt measure to make sure it was pushing the full amount. but i took the boot off and noticed it was wet.not dripping,just wet. so im guessing somehow it blew the slave while it was covered/jammed with mud or just probably the worst timing in the world when it decided to go. i hope it is that and all is good. ill know tomorrow if the rain holds off.
 
The one thing to check on the clutch, that most people don't check because it normally never gives a problem, is does the disk slide smoothly on the splines of the transmission.
Even a slight binding will cause it to not release cleanly.
And, of course, make sure that the pilot bushing is smooth and does not have any sand embedded, or it turns smoothly if its a bearing.
 
ya,i was sure to check that and clean both the tranny and clutch disc splines,even before the cleaning it was smooth all the way on and off
 
Sure sounds like the slave then.
But, check one other thing. If the mud had blocked things so that the throwout bearing could not move, it may have bent the fork or done something to the pivot.
Look close, it might not be obvious.
Otherwise, you were either just unlucky, or the extra pressure caused the cylinder to blow out when the mud blocked things.
 
ya, i was looking at the fork for a while making sure it wasnt bent slightly,and the pivot works like normal.thanks for all the help btw
 
take a sprinkler or water hose end and put it under the truck spraying the water up into the clutch/open belhousing area....let it run for 5 minutes to soften up all the mud...

Crank the truck up,, run it at a fast idle as you work the clutch in and out for a few minutes....should wash out all the mud....

I used to run mud all the time, I had a waterhose fitting drilled and tapped thru my bellhousing.... when I was done wheeling for the day, I would hook up the water hose to the fitting,,, crank the engine and it would wash all the mud out all by itself...:waytogo:
 
not to be a jerk,but ur a little late on that part:D but thats an awesome idea! tapping ur bell housing haha awesome! im suprised its not more popular but i think if i went in mud a lot, i would have a build auto so its all sealed. even though a stick is just too fun
 
When people bit the mud and are at full throttle, when they push In the clutch it usually packs it with mud. Preventing it from engaging. The only way I've found around this was a 3 finger pressure plate. Instead of the typical diaphragm. The 3 fingers are way easier to clean out. Hopefully it's just your slave. Good luck.
 
but i think if i went in mud a lot, i would have a build auto so its all sealed.
Click to expand...


Mine was an auto........mud hardened up all around the torque converter and front pump seal after a mud bog event I entered...

a couple of days later when I went to pull the truck off of the trailer,,,I started it and the seal was torn out of the front of the transmission....

The heat of the converter and the liquid mud from the pit hardened like concrete all around the pump seal...

when I had the trans out....the idea struck me about drilling and tapping the case at the top for a water hose....I figured the worst it could do is cause the case to fail right ?? :D

but it never gave me a second of trouble......I had a short piece of hose attached to the fitting....hook the garden hose to it.....crank the truck and wash out all the mud...I could do this at the events before I loaded up to go home.

there are two schools of thought about using a cover on a trans....

leave it uncovered to let the mud get out...
or cover it and hope to keep the mud out...
neither is best from what I have found,,,,

having a cover with some drain holes in it along with the water fitting to flush it out worked best for me...
 
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