Off Topic: Dakota Clutch Prob

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SpeedThrills

SpeedThrills

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This ain't vintage Mopar, but I need help. My '94 4WD Dakota w/ V6 and AX-15 5spd is very hard to put in any syncronized gear after it's been running for a while (1/2 hour). Only when sitting still. I can tickle reverse to slow the shaft down, then it'll go in to a sycned gear. It has hydraulic linkage. I assumed that the slave or master was bad, therefore not releasing the clutch enough. There's no bleeder on the slave and there's no inspection window or any way to watch it work. I checked the factory manual. It says they must be replaced as a unit. Sure enough, Dodge sells them as a unit, pre-bled. $183 later, it still did the same thing. (I've checked and even changed the trans oil.) I tried easing the pushrod out of the slave cyl and letting it drip to bleed some. It improved verrry slightly.
Maybe I should try to drip-bleed it some more? Maybe the new one's no good? It's been too long to return it.
Any idea's? I can drive around it, But I may want to sell it soon and I don't want to let it go cheap because of this problem.
 
Your clutch disc is worn out of range. Caracteristic symptom of hydrolic operation . With mechanical we could adjust our way right through the pressure plates travel .
 
RedFish said:
Your clutch disc is worn out of range. Caracteristic symptom of hydrolic operation . With mechanical we could adjust our way right through the pressure plates travel .
Click to expand...

The clutch has 5000 easy miles on it. I can't picture its operation really good, but wouldn't a disc that's too thick do this? Meaning, it won't release enough when it gets hot and expands? Its not a Mopar clutch. The clutch I replaced had 137,000 miles on it and never gave me this problem. Possible that the aftermaket clutch disc is too thick? I should mention that this problem started about 1000 miles ago, it also started chattering when cold about the same time this started. I had the flywheel resurfaced. I had a friend who would never use anything but factory clutches. He said the aftermarket clutches always chatter. I hope I don't have to do that job again!
 
maybe its just that pivot stud on the opposite side of the slave. it may have been worked and wore in and needs to be adjusted back out a hair. my nv3500 does the same thing.
 
I've been trying to avoid tearing it apart to inspect. Especially since I don't know if I'll find anything. It was a PITA the first time.
I appreciate the input guys.
 
Just a shot in the dark, My 93 ranger would get hard to shift like your dakota when hot but only if the fluid was low with atf in it. Changed to gear oil and the problems went away. I'd think if it was a hyd in need of a bleed then you could double clutch (pump the pedal) and it would work like normal..just thinking out loud..
 
It had the synthetic version of the recommended oil in it w/ the old clutch and for a while w/ the new one. I switched to the dino version to see if it would help. It only made it harder to shift when cold, as I would expect. It does have a very slow leak, maybe I should check it again.
I see what you mean aboout the pedal pump. When I do that, it doesn't help.
I'll look into the oil ideas.
Thanks for the help.
 
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