JeepNoob
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Pueblo, Colorado
Hey guys, haven't been around for a while as I've been able to solve most of my issues on this "raggedy ol' Jeep," but a new one has come up...
I have a '96 XJ with the 4.0, AX-15, NP-231, and an external slave cylinder set up. Last week when I was driving, I pressed the clutch pedal to brake for a red light and the clutch pedal just kinda went to the floor and wouldn't come back up. After some pumping on the clutch pedal, I was able to get it halfway up, but it still really didn't want to move. Wouldn't shift into gear and would grind if I tried to put it into reverse. After some inspection, I found the master cylinder rod was pretty much jammed in place, so I replaced the whole system with a new one that was pre-filled and supposedly bench-bled. When I tried it with the new system, there was a grinding noise with the clutch pedal pushed in. Pulled the transmission and confirmed my throwout bearing was grenaded.
At this point, I just decided to replace the whole clutch. Replaced the pilot bearing, seal facing the transmission and a light coating of grease on the inside and outside, cleaned the transmission bellhousing, had the flywheel resurfaced, torqued the bolts to 105 ft/lbs in a staggered pattern, clutch disc facing the flywheel the right way, pressure plate bolts torqued to 37 ft/lbs in a staggered pattern, greased the transmission splines, was careful not to get anything on the flywheel surface or clutch disc, yada, yada, yada. Only thing I did a bit differently was to loosen the pressure plate bolts up a little after I had torqued them to pull the alignment tool out, then I re-torqued them. After I got everything put together, I was still having the same problem. I heard some grinding, rattling noise without the clutch pushed in and I still couldn't get it into gear, grinding noise when I tried reverse. Found out I was able to start and drive the thing a bit with the transmission in 1st, but I gave up on that quick when I smelled clutch burning. It shifts fine through all the gears without the engine running. I should also note that even with all this stuff, the clutch pedal is still pretty low in terms of height.
Any ideas on what could be causing this? It seems to me like the throwout bearing isn't pressing on the pressure plate fingers like it should. I talked to my buddy who works at O'reilly's and sold me all this stuff, and he said even though the description on the hydraulic stuff says it's pre-filled and bench bled, it still needs to be manually bled a bit. I also noticed that the new master cylinder rod was straight, whereas the old one had a slight bend in it. Could this possibly be the issue? I was able to get this new one attached to the clutch pedal pin and held in place (not fun, had to pull the clutch pedal and monkey it back into place) but the eye on the rod seems to flex a bit when I push in on the clutch pedal. I've also read elsewhere of cracks and bent clutch pedals causing problems with clutch engagement. Anybody have any experience with this? Opinions? Other ideas? Thanks guys.
I have a '96 XJ with the 4.0, AX-15, NP-231, and an external slave cylinder set up. Last week when I was driving, I pressed the clutch pedal to brake for a red light and the clutch pedal just kinda went to the floor and wouldn't come back up. After some pumping on the clutch pedal, I was able to get it halfway up, but it still really didn't want to move. Wouldn't shift into gear and would grind if I tried to put it into reverse. After some inspection, I found the master cylinder rod was pretty much jammed in place, so I replaced the whole system with a new one that was pre-filled and supposedly bench-bled. When I tried it with the new system, there was a grinding noise with the clutch pedal pushed in. Pulled the transmission and confirmed my throwout bearing was grenaded.
At this point, I just decided to replace the whole clutch. Replaced the pilot bearing, seal facing the transmission and a light coating of grease on the inside and outside, cleaned the transmission bellhousing, had the flywheel resurfaced, torqued the bolts to 105 ft/lbs in a staggered pattern, clutch disc facing the flywheel the right way, pressure plate bolts torqued to 37 ft/lbs in a staggered pattern, greased the transmission splines, was careful not to get anything on the flywheel surface or clutch disc, yada, yada, yada. Only thing I did a bit differently was to loosen the pressure plate bolts up a little after I had torqued them to pull the alignment tool out, then I re-torqued them. After I got everything put together, I was still having the same problem. I heard some grinding, rattling noise without the clutch pushed in and I still couldn't get it into gear, grinding noise when I tried reverse. Found out I was able to start and drive the thing a bit with the transmission in 1st, but I gave up on that quick when I smelled clutch burning. It shifts fine through all the gears without the engine running. I should also note that even with all this stuff, the clutch pedal is still pretty low in terms of height.
Any ideas on what could be causing this? It seems to me like the throwout bearing isn't pressing on the pressure plate fingers like it should. I talked to my buddy who works at O'reilly's and sold me all this stuff, and he said even though the description on the hydraulic stuff says it's pre-filled and bench bled, it still needs to be manually bled a bit. I also noticed that the new master cylinder rod was straight, whereas the old one had a slight bend in it. Could this possibly be the issue? I was able to get this new one attached to the clutch pedal pin and held in place (not fun, had to pull the clutch pedal and monkey it back into place) but the eye on the rod seems to flex a bit when I push in on the clutch pedal. I've also read elsewhere of cracks and bent clutch pedals causing problems with clutch engagement. Anybody have any experience with this? Opinions? Other ideas? Thanks guys.