[muddybronco]

truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

We took the Bronco 2 out and made it almost out of a hole but dug in and stopped right as the front end started to leave the hole. After backing up and hauling arse forward a couple times, the tires weren't spinning when the clutch was let out even though the engine revved. There was a slight feeling like it wanted to go, but it wasn't getting enough power to the tires to spin them. I pulled him out and let it sit for a couple minutes, then it was able to drive off but every time he shifted it felt like he was riding the clutch for a second once he got back on the gas, even though he wasn't.

I thought maybe mud was stuck in the clutch so we took it to a creek crossing and got grill deep, but then the truck wouldn't move at all when the clutch was let out and I had to pull him out. Once it was out, he was able to drive it home and said when he hit the pavement in 2LO he said it felt normal again. Does this sound like mud in the clutch, worn clutch, or resistance coming from one of the axles/brakes?

 

[990]

Re: truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

I had to tow a buddies zuk home from a mud bog, he submerged is in the goopiest mud youve ever seen up to the hood, and filled the clutch to the top with mud!

Clutch wouldnt shift after that until he dismantled it and put it all back together. it ended up wiping out his clutch cable, too. But anyway....
Id go over the whole hydraulic system, maybe you got sand somewhere where it dont belong, and its causing the clutch to not grip properly.

 

[muddybronco]

Re: truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

what's sand?

hopefully it's just full of mud... i'll let my bro get under there and work on it

 

[muddybronco]

Re: truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

The problem seemed to clear up on its own after sitting for a couple days. He's even been taking it to work sometimes and says it's back to normal. BUT, he was testing out the winch today and called me saying that the engine just revs when in gear, which started in a mud hole like last time. He is also free to put it in gear with the engine running and foot off the clutch pedal. Neither time was he in ridiculously bad mud, just fairly deep water with a foot of gooey on the bottom. I was thinking mud might be preventing the slave cylinder from releasing, but it would be pretty tough to get mud to that area in enough quantity to cause that. I thought there might be a block in the clutch line holding pressure to the slave cylinder, so I told him to open the bleeder screw to possibly release the pressure, and the damn bleeder screw broke off

Too bad I'm 200 miles away and can't help him work on it in the middle of the woods at night

 

[muddybronco]

Re: truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

We finally got around to dropping the tranny and here is what we found:
<img src=http://home.off-road.com/~mud/jammedclutch.jpg>
Those fingers are supposed to stick out about 1/4" past the basket, not 3/4" below it

As you can see, mud got stuck all around the edges and the clutch was not able to engage, which explains why the clutch pedal was soft and the <nobr>truck</nobr> wouldn't go.

Here is how we cleaned that crap out, using my "new" bumper:
<img src=http://home.off-road.com/~mud/hiliftingclutch.JPG>

I will get a shot of the bumper tomorrow... it's only mounted well enough to get it from school back home, but it certainly looks nicer than the Frame Rails of Death I've been sporting for a couple years now

Is this clutch spent? Is it supposed to have those white lines in the material? It may not matter, I'm trying to convince my brother to drop a 302/c6 in there since mud will just keep eating this crap up. The throwout bearing is already wasted and the bleeder screw broke and extraction failed, which is a $100 part

No sir, we're going V8 baby

<img src=http://home.off-road.com/~mud/clutchdisc.JPG>

Where would all that mud come from? We built this thing to be a show truck and would never take it off the asphalt!

<img src=http://home.off-road.com/~mud/swamped/swampedinterior.jpg>

 

[WD40]

Re: truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

We built this thing to be a show truck and would never take it off the asphalt!

 

[974]

Re: truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

You took what I was going to say and thought of it all by yourself. Auto Baby! Automatic that is.

 

[633]

Re: truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

Hey Muddy,

The fingers look ok to me. They only stick up when it gets mounted. clean it all up and put it back and see if it works.

 

[muddybronco]

Re: truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

Havack, after we cleaned them out they stuck out about 3/4-1" further than before we started! I'm sure they will stick out even more once we tighten down the clutch basket bolts, but we definitely made an improvement. If I remember, I'll get an "after" pic tomorrow and show you how much further they stick out now. We found a slave cylinder and throwout bearing today at the upullit, so it looks like we're gonna hold out on the tranny swap.

 

[muddybronco]

Re: truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

For Havack and others, here is what the clutch basket looked like after we cleaned out the sticks and mud. Note how much further the fingers stick out. I took some pics of my bumper but they turned out crappy so I'll get some better ones tomorrow.
<img src=http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/1310240-cleanbasket.JPG>

Before:

<img src=http://home.off-road.com/~mud/jammedclutch.jpg>

 

[974]

Re: truck won\'t go... mud in clutch?

Jeesh. I'd recomend staying out of the water.

Getting all the crap out made a hell of a difference it looks like.