Quote:
Originally Posted by Jengah
Hi Flathead -
No disprespect to every body else's suggestions, but I think your logic makes the most sense. Due to the gradual worsening of the situation, you make me think this could be the case. Is there any way to loosen things up without taking out the transmission?
On annother note... This may be a dumb question, but how do I crank the engine if I disable the ingnition? Do you mean by rolling it and popping it into gear?
|
I meant disable the coil so it won't start but you would still be able to crank the engine.
I've never tried to loosen up a sticking pilot bearing or clutch disc. My experience is working on my own cars and working on a fleet telephone trucks for 30-year's. If there was a problem with a clutch we just pulled the trans. Swapped out a resurfaced flywheel, replaced the pressure plate and disc, throw-out bearing and pilot bearing and the problem was solved. You already have the vehicle up on the hoist for inspection. In a couple hours you can have the trans out, new clutch installed and have it bolted back together. Then you know its done right and there is not going to be anymore problems. Do it once and do it right.
We worked nights until 12:30 am. One Christmas Eve we could go home for Christmas dinner if we got all the repairs for the day cleared out by 6 pm. At 5 pm the last vehicle out rolled back into the yard. A Chevy Luv came with a clutch slipping so bad it wouldn't hardly move to get it in the stall. That didn't just start slipping to where it would not hardly move at all on Christmas Eve, jerk! One mechanic jumped up in the cab and started taking out the floor mat and shifter while we hoisted him up in the air. One mechanic jumped on the driveshaft. One on the trans bolts. We had it back in its stall in 40-minutes. Amazing what can be done when your motivated.
If it is the pilot bearing seized to the input shaft. Applying the parking brake. Jacking up the rear end. Sticking the trans in gear. Pushing in on the clutch and starting the engine would spin the pilot bearing while holding the input shaft from moving. It might free it up? It might free up a stuck clutch disc too. I don't disagree with the stuck clutch disc causing the problem just giving you another option. Pilot bearings come in three versions, a brass bushing and a ball bearing and needle bearings. If its a brass bushing type it could have grease in there that got cooked and crusty and glued the bushing to the shaft. That you can break loose. If its steel roller bearing and its all rusted up and starting to grenade, that's not going to loosen up or at least not for very long.
If you ever take an ASE manual transmission certification test. One of the questions you would likely see is a pilot bearing grabbing the input shaft causing gear grinding. I sure wish everything that went wrong on an automobile could be like those tests and only A,B, C or D could be the problem.
I'm in Southern California so we don't have things rusting together too often. At least not from sitting for only six-months. Other parts of the country have automotive problems that we never see here.
Before you do anything check that clutch free-play. Using your fingers there should be about an inch of free play at the top of the pedal before you feel the throw-out bearing contact the clutch. You can grab the clutch fork and pull it back to check for play down at the bellhousing. You want just a little bit of play down there. We usually adjusted them that way before we let the vehicle down off the hoist. Instead of lowering it backdown, checking the pedal play and having to lift vehicle back up and readjust again. We did so many of the same types of vehicles you knew how much free play at the clutch fork would give you the correct pedal play.
If it has a little play and the clutch slips the disc worn too thin. No amount of adjusting is going to fix it. If it has a little play and the gear grinds going into first gear with the vehicle stopped, something is causing the input shaft to spin. If it goes into first okay at a stop but grinds shifting into higher gears then its usually a synchronizer problem.
I thought of something else. If the splines on the disc and input shaft rusted up or were full of dried up grease the disc may not be able to slide back away the flywheel. It is important if you do lube "lightly" lube clutch splines to use a synthetic disc brake caliper grease that is heat resistant and won't dry out. You want just a paper super thin coating so it does not get slung all over the place when its spinning. Some guys say not to tube the splines and some do? Its possible that the grease could eventually attract stuff and keep the disc from sliding too. I don't think I ever removed a factory clutch with grease on the clutch disc spline. I don't know what the real answer is? Where I worked they burned out clutches before they ever had a chance for the splines to stick. 10K miles was nearly a record. One guy could only get 2K miles out of a Chevy C50 truck clutch. Anywhere else and he would have been fired!