Clutch help

While driving the other night I went to shift and couldn’t get into any other gears, it was stuck in neutral. Towed it home, replaced the master and slave cylinders. Checked for leaks, none present, bled the system and went a few reps further to confirm no bubbles. Pedal is still soft and won’t go into gear when running; it will go into gear when the truck is off. What am I missing? What else could be going on?

 

Did you bleed the master before you installed it or did you install it dry and hooked up the line?

 

I bench bled the master.

 

Does slave appear to exhibit a normal amount of travel when the pedal is depressed? I would pull the boot at the shift fork and try to take a peak inside too.

 

Is there any free-play in the pushrod off of the clutch pedal?

 

It’s within the 0.2-0.6 range per the manual

I’ll add, I’m not a mechanic I just enjoy fixing things myself. I’m not good at diagnosing vehicle issues yet.

 

WITH NOTHING IN FRONT OF YOUR TRUCK, can you put it in first, push the clutch in, start the vehicle and let the clutch out and move normally, then shift gears as it should?

 

Then you said

Did you bleed the slave too while it's in the truck? Seems like it took longer than needed last time I bled mine and was not functional right up to the last bleed. If it's "soft" meaning it will go down and come up but doesn't feel like it's disengaging the clutch, I'd go for still having air in the line.

Did you have someone depress the clutch while you're under the truck, engine off, looking at the end of the clutch release fork? Is it moving when they press the pedal? If it's not moving, I say again still air in the line. If it's moving, adjust the clutch pushrod?

 

I didn’t bench bleed the slave, I did bleed the master. Yes, I had help with working the clutch as I lay under the truck with the bleed valve on the slave. In total I bled it for about an hour, saw no bubbles then went for another dozen or so reps on the clutch and confirmed no more bubbles coming out.

the fork is moving I can watch the slave push on it when the bleed valve was closed, is it getting full travel though, idk. The pushrod for the master I have set to be within the 0.2-0.6 range specified in the manual and it seems to be engaging enough since fluid is definitely getting pushed through the system. Im leaning towards something with the clutch itself being bad, but I’m not great at diagnosing.

 

I haven’t tried that yet, I’m at work right now but I can check it later.

 

Failed release bearing?

 

Update: solved!

finally ended up taking it to the shop. They were just as stumped as me, master and slave were fine, line was bled fine. But still sometimes pedal, sometimes not. They continued to bleed it thinking maybe there’s a stubborn air pocket somewhere in the line. While bleeding it the clutch fork broke. Said it was either bent or cracked (probably bent) and it wasn’t getting enough travel to engage the clutch, which makes sense because it looked fine from the outside but I couldn’t see inside the bell housing where the problem was. Mechanic said he’s never seen one break. I just feel vindicated at least that it’s not something I could’ve diagnosed on my own because I’m not qualified to drop my transmission or take it apart. Sucks that the labor will be expensive because the transmission has to come out to replace the fork but all in all just happy I didn’t mess something up. Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.

 

How old is the clutch? Might consider replacing that while it's out, since most of the labor will be the same

 

Asked them to check it and replace if needed, but it’s only got 50k on it so should be good for a while.

 

Agreed

 

I have seen the pivot point of the fork break right through the fork.

 

If I am understanding the issue… it sure sounds like the pilot bearing in the end of the crankshaft is stuck on the end of the input shaft of the transmission.

 

And that would cause the shift fork to bend or break?

 

If the flywheel and pressure plate are flat I would consider tossing a new disc in it.

 

I have seen that on other makes. It happens.