Procrastination strikes again.

[thegoat4]

A while back I was asking about the best clutch to get as a replacement because I knew mine was failing. Well, I was a little short on cash, christmas was coming, and I wanted to see if I could make it to new year's.

Obviously this plan had to go south at the worst possible time. I'm in the middle of moving, I need to be out of the old place by the 31st, and I have to be down in Victoria for the week starting monday. The plan was to hammer out the move this weekend, work in victoria all week, then come back, clean up the old place and turn in the keys, go do the christmas thing, go back to victoria for another week, then come home and change the clutch in celebration of the new year.

Last night when parking it refused to go into reverse without a lot of pressure on the stick, and while holding the clutch pedal in I can hear some pretty nice sounds coming out from under the truck. Like pieces of my dampener springs are jingling around inside the clutch.

Of course, today is sunday and all of my tools are locked up at work. And all of my friends are either out of town or deadbeats.

I had three plans I was working on at once:
-leave a message with the boss saying I needed the shop truck.
-get a clutch from advance (zoom clutch) and scrounge favors and tools so I could get it changed today
-find a rental

Lucky for me my boss called back and I now have the joy of driving a crew cab chevy pig for the next week. Oh boy am I excited! I've got that zoom clutch sitting behind the seat in my ranger, but I think I'll take it back and get a centerforce. It feels flimsy.

 

[metalmacguyver]

well it did give you a heads up. cant say it didnt warn you.

you'll be wanting your ranger back ina hurry when you have to start filling the tank on that chevy.

 

[surffishin07]

well it did give you a heads up. cant say it didnt warn you.

you'll be wanting your ranger back ina hurry when you have to start filling the tank on that chevy.

dunno my boss has a 98 Chevy 1500 with 350,000 miles no tranny problems and we drive the shit out of it. ps we pull over 5 tons at least twice a week. it aint too bad on gas for what we do to it

but as far as the clutch take it back i had the choice to put one in mine and my mechanic wouldnt even touch it he said they suck to begin with slip like hell then blow in no time. not a good money saver in the short long run

 

[thegoat4]

Well, got back in town and threw the clutch in. Had to use the shitty "zoom" one because the holidays mean the clutch I prefer is around two weeks away, maybe less if I'm lucky and I need the truck now. Oh well, I'll just stuff a good one in there when it blows again. No procrastination, and this time I mean it!

The failure was of the pilot bearing, but I caught it before it ate up the input shaft. One dampener spring had gone weak and was rattling, and the wavy springs between the friction pads were nearly flat, making for a pretty grabby clutch. Oh, and a couple of rivets got a little blue. Not too shabby for ten years, 100,000 miles, two owners, and teaching the kids at discout tire how to drive.

I hate chinese stuff and feel bad having a chinese clutch in there. Especially since part of the clutch is PLASTIC! Yeah, a platic clutch. Genius.

The new throwout bearing was a winner too. Probably should not have messed with it. On the inside circumference of the bearing sleeve is a lip seal that snagged itself on the snap-ring groove firmly enough that I seriously could not install the transmission. Had to take it apart, slather o-ring lube all over that seal, and modify the groove to be less snaggy. Then it popped right on in there. BTW it's just a dust seal, not a fluid seal.

Oh, and I hate that chevy truck. First, automatic everything. Damn dome lights go on and off when they feel like it, not when I feel like it. Same thing goes for the headlights, radio, heat, ac, you name it. Chevy took "keyless entry" to heart--the passenger door doesn't have a goddamned keyhole. The remote's long-gone, so I have to climb in, crawl across, unlock it, climb back out and go around just to load stuff in the passenger seat. Morons.

That and the heat's broken. I drove down to Victoria that night it got to 20. Some electrical malfunction that will most likely involve a multi-hundred-dollar module to fix, so it ain't getting fixed. Makes me miss levers and cables.

My ranger, OTOH, works flawlessly if I just listen to it. Plus it's easier to park.

As far as gas went, did just fine on the highway, but the needle went into freefall inside the city. I got back before having to fill it, had a gas card from the shop anyway.