My clutch does not engage to the very end of the pedal stroke. My dad was using my truck yesterday to haul a very very large trailer of solid oak stumps. He loaded the truck and trailer to the top in some guys yard on a hill. He put it in low range and went for it but he said something was slipping drivetrain wise. He backed up and gained some momentum to make it up the hill. So do you think my disk is toast or maybe the linkage needs to be adjusted. I thought when a disk go's out it makes noise or something. I did replace the master and slave clutch cylinders a while back.

Your dad owes you a new clutch. It's sounds like toast.

When a clutch goes it smells like it's
"clutch toast"- similar to "when the brakes get overheated only more distictive.

It's possible that you have a little pedal adjustment left, but I'm not really familliar w/ that year NIssan... If you lok underneath at the lever the slave cylinder presses on the engage /disengage the clutch, you'll be able to tell. If there's free play there, you'll know there's no more left.

I guess he won't be asking you to split wood for awhile.

There is a little bit of adjustment in the pedal itself. The free play should be 1-1.5mm(0.39-0.059 in.) Pull the cotter key and the pen then loosen the nut then rotate the clevis on the rod one way or the other. Unless the adjustment is too tight and there is no free play it shouldn't make your clutch slip. Most have alot of free play becuase the hole where the pin goes through the pedal gets wollered out.

Ok well I replaced the clutch this weekend and it didn't fix the problem. The old components still looked good. I have replaced the slave and master cylinders in the past. So the only thing left is the clutch dampner.

Called abc nissan they want $97 for the dampner.

What is a 'clutch dampner'? Never heard of it.

Did you replace the pressure plate, and have the flywheel resurfaced? If you did, there should be no way the clutch is slipping unless the master/slave cylinder is not allowing the clutch to engage, something I've never heard of happening. Normally when the hydraulic system fails, you can't get the clutch to disengage.

-Spike

the flywheel could be glazed over if it wasnt resurfaced when you did the clutch.. That would cause slippage for sure.

I got the flywheel resurfaced and I used a clutch kit from abc nissan. The clutch kit had a new pressure plate, throw out bearing, pilot bushing,and disk all OEM. I used brake clean to clean all the parts of oil. I replaced the master cylinder and the the slave cylinder not to long ago. Maybe the clutch has to break in still? The shift fork linkage is kind of sticky. I think the throw out bearing is in contact with the pressure plate. I adjusted the petal height and free play to the specs in the manual. Is the slave cylinder supposed to retract all the way after pushing the fork? If push the slave cylinders cylinder all the way in. I then have to give the petal a few pumps before the cylinder disengages the clutch. If I don't push the cylinder in the petal disengages the clutch the first inch of travel. The only cylinder left in the hydralic system left to replace is the clutch damper. I'm going to bleed the system today to see if that makes a diffence.

The springs in the clutch pressure plate are what hold the clutch disc to the flywheel. The hydraulics will never hold the clutch away from the flywheel unless you have the pedal adjusted too tight. I usually set mine up so that the pedal has just a little freeplay before it starts engaging the master cylinder to make sure there is no pressure on the fork.

quote:

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My dad was using my truck yesterday to haul a very very large trailer of solid oak stumps. He loaded the truck and trailer to the top in some guys yard on a hill.

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FWIW, how much of a load did you have in the bed when it did this? From what you said there, it sounds like you may have had several tons on the truck.. It may have just been too much for the tranny & clutch. There is a limit to the amount of torque that the clutch will hold. Same goes with a torque converter. If it was more than the load capacity of the truck, I would not be surprised if it did that. ITs the same principle that an LSD differential works in.. when you surpass the friction limit of the internal discs, it slips.

I experienced the same thing pulling a heavy trailer up a hill with my powerstroke diesel. The torque converter just couldnt transfer the power (700ftlb of torque from the engine) to make the truck go forwards. I had to drop it down to 2 low and the extra torque helped me get up the hill.

Does it do this all the time or just when the truck was really loaded down?

The slave cylinder is supposed to move out some before it contacts the fork. Its "self adjusting" persay.

Ok bled the system the fluid was black. From what I can tell the hydralics are engaging the clutch. The way I can tell it's sliping is the smell when I get out. The petal is properly adjusted for freeplay. The throw out bearing is resting on the pressure plate. The slave cylinder never looses contact with the fork. The pressure against the fork is not great I can push it back with my fingers. However if the bearing is touching the pressure plate that would equal more bearing wear. But is it normal? Like you said it self adjusts. Like I said this may be just the clutch breaking in. I've had less than 5 miles on the truck since the new clutch. I'd drive it more but I don't want to destroy my new clutch and the CL is gone it's like driving a boat.

Here are some pictures of the clutch. I was thinking maybe because the flywheel was resurfaced. That is what is making the petal not activate till the very end. Because the fork has to reach farther.

Hmm.. I wonder if the flywheel was machined down too much.. That would reduce the clamping force of the pressure plate on the clutch disc to the flywheel. Thats about the only thing I can think of that would cause the problem.

The symptoms you are describing indicate a badly worn slave cylinder. If they get really worn, the piston will stick halfway out, causing the clutch to not fully engage. It can also hold the throwout bearing against the flywheel. You are correct, the throwout bearing should not contact the flywheel when the pedal is not depressed.

If I understand you correctly, you replaced the slave and master cylinders recently. Perhaps the 'black' hydraulic fluid is the culprit, maybe it has so much dirt in it that it is causing the slave cylinder or master cylinder piston to stick.

-Spike

Hmmm.. good point, Ben

It is possible that the fluid has absorbed water which has then corroded the slave cylinder. Try replacing the slave cylinder first and see if that helps. If it does, consider replacing the master soon, as it will be on its way out as well.

Yeah I guess its under one of the lifetime warrenty things so I might as well. The fluid was black and maybe even a little clearish white like water got in maybe. But I flushed the system the system today.