Clutch problems?

Ryan Cowper

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Hey everybody, I assume it's time to replace my clutch but I thought I'd ask yall if there's any possibility of my issue being related to something else.

I'm moving to a new home and I just used the bed of my truck to haul a fairly decent load through the mountains. This was the first time I've driven this truck with a load. Everything was smooth until... partway through the trip I stopped at a little remote diner to get lunch...

When I hopped back in the truck to leave, I was parked on a very slight incline and needed to reverse out of my parking spot. As I slowly released the clutch, I could feel it struggling... it moved in reverse but it felt like either the e-brake was stuck or the clutch was alternately grabbing and slipping. The clutch petal resistance felt normal and I could smell a burnt brake odor with light wisps of smoke wafting in the air from under the cab. The truck rolled freely back into the parking spot in neutral, so I knew it wasn't a stuck e-brake. Not wanting to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, I slowly limped it in reverse and I was able to get back on the road.

It seemed to drive fine in all forward gears for the next 60 miles, however this part of the drive was freeway, not stop and go. When I drove into the first town and hit traffic lights... I could feel the slight hesitation and slight grabbing/slipping for a split second in first gear. I could also lightly smell the burnt odor again.

I took a different route to bypass stop and go traffic and made it another 50 miles without any problems at freeway speeds. Once I arrived in the town where my new home is located, there were a few more stops and I could certainly feel the grab/slip gradually increase into 2nd and 3rd gears. Finally, I arrived home and there was one last reverse with a very slight incline for 30 feet or so up the driveway... it barely made it with lots of smoke and grab/slip.

There it sits. I just finished unloading everything and I am thinking about taking it around the block to feel how it drives without all that weight.

I don't want to cause any more damage but I figure if the clutch is going out I'm gonna hafta replace it anyhow. My only hesitation is that if it isn't the clutch and say, maybe it's the master/slave or something else. I wouldn't want to damage my clutch anymore than I already have.

Thoughts?
 

Ryan Cowper

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Quick update. I drove it around through all the gears including reverse and everything seemed fine without additional weight in the bed.

Should I take this as a warning that my clutch is on the way out?
 

frankenwrench

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I'm no expert but I believe so. The grab and slip, was that with your foot off the clutch pedal completely and spin worse if you were to accelerate? I have had burnt clutches and I have had an oil leak make my truck behave like the clutch was bad due to rear main seal gushing, which once saturated in oil, it was trashed in my opinion.
 

IDIBRONCO

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To me, it sounds pretty normal. It's clutch chatter. While you were backing up with the heavy load, you probably didn't have your foot completely off of the clutch pedal. You felt this for just a short period of time while starting off from a red light because you let off of the clutch pedal faster. My 85 F250, ZF5, 3.55 gears does this same thing. I've noticed that it does it a little bit worse when I've driven it 30+ miles loaded and I assume that the clutch is hotter. My 86 Bronco, ZF5, 6.9, 4.10 gears would do it too, while I had it. Just not as bad. Since mine is a 4X4, I almost always use 4 lo while backing up a trailer, and I don't lock in the hubs unless needed. I'll even do this to back into my driveway completely empty. When pulling away from a dead stop while loaded, I've found out that if I give the engine a few more RPMs than normal and slip the clutch a little bit more, it doesn't seem to chatter quite as much either.
 

Shadetreemechanic

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Where in the pedal travel does it engage? My 94 is doing the same thing after my wife smoked the clutch pulling a dump truck out of one of our fields. The pedal now engages clutch noticeably higher than before, but I have put a couple hundred miles on it since then and the burned smell has gone away.
Still chatters and releases late. I think you and I may both be on borrowed time.
You can pull the inspection cover and measure clutch disc thickness. I haven't done it yet, because I am afraid of what I will find.
 

Ryan Cowper

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@IDIBRONCO clutch chatter... huh, interesting. I'll try engaging the 4x4 next time I put a load in. When driving in forward gears, to get moving, would you disengage 4x4 on the fly once you've built up some momentum?

You can pull the inspection cover and measure clutch disc thickness.
That sounds like a great idea thanks.
 

Hydro-idi

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Got the same thing happening with a tractor of mine. Been doing it for years, and only has clutch chatter when I work it hard pulling a disc.
The clutch is toasted in my case, just haven’t gotten around to replace it.
Yours is probably going south as well.
 

IDIBRONCO

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I'll try engaging the 4x4 next time I put a load in. When driving in forward gears, to get moving, would you disengage 4x4 on the fly once you've built up some momentum?
I only use 4 LO to back up. Otherwise, I just live with it. In an emergency you could start off in 4 Lo and then shift into high after you're moving, but it's really ******* the transfer case.
 

Macrobb

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What it is is the DMF flywheel's "torque limiter" clutch is dying. The main clutch is fine, more than likely.
Mine did exactly that - when it got hot, after a couple hours with a trailer, it started to slip. After cooling down it worked just fine for a few months until I replaced it with a SMF.


You need to replace the clutch and flywheel. You will want to go with a LUK 07-225 SMF assuming a non-turbo block(serial number is "7.3D" not "7.3TU2...")
 

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