Hard to get in gear intermittently

[Rawze]

(06-05-2021 )DT_Duh_Trucker Wrote:  My 14 prostar randomly is hard to put in gear from a dead stop sometimes not all the time. Mechanic said on my truck there is a self adjusting clutch so he can't adjust it.He said he checked it and it's the clutch. Is this a for sure it's the clutch or is there something else I can consider before dumping money into the clutch replacement? Just want to make sure that's the problem and we're not just throwing guesses at the truck. How would you go about verifying it is the clutch?

Thanks

First of all, if the clutch does not have a lot of wear miles on it then make sure its not the clutch-brake wearing out. As they wear out, it gets harder and harder to get it in gear... shaft does not want to stop turning. Also, always replace the clutch brake with a 2-piece style brake of some decent quality. The original (single piece) clutch brake can be typically chiseled in half and removed, and then replaced with a 2-piece without removing the tranny .. but someone has to be careful in doing so.

If your truck has a hydraulic style pedal, those can wear out a clutch brake, as the stroke on them is not always reliable, and the you end up riding the clutch brake half the time. Just something to keep in mind.

Self adjusting clutch inspection ...

If you have a self-adjusting clutch... then pull the inspection plate off it and check the wear indicator (long curved groove similar to smiley-face with a tab sticking out). You might have to bump the starter to rotate the clutch, get the wear indicator to the bottom to see it.

If the tab sticking out is all the way to the left... that is a brand new clutch. If it is all the way to the right.. then there is no more material in the clutch.

HOWEVER....

- You'de be really hard pressed to get that wear indicator past about the half-way mark on those model clutches before it fails completely. Those type clutches are known for failing when the wear indicator gets to about the half-way mark or so... seen it many times. That being said tough,.. this is usually about 500K - 700k+ miles into it unless they are abused ... they tend to last a decent amount of time as they are.

So ... if you look at it and its about the half-way mark, and your having issues ... REPLACE THE CLUTCH and everything else that the tranny needs + everything around it like motor mounts, any seals for engine tranny, other components, etc.. while you have the tranny out.



The symptoms you are describing are typically what they do once the wear indicator gets much past the half-way mark .. so it could be either (clutch brake or tranny). If the issue is in the clutch, it is not uncommon for a tip of one of the springs to break off and roll around in the clutch, making it randomly hard to get into gear, yet at other times, works perfectly. It acts like the clutch-brake is not working at all sometimes, and works fine other times.

Clutch itself may or may not be your issue .. but if that wear indicator is half way or more... its time to replace it any ways, so nothing is lost by pulling the whole thing down and doing the major work.

Here is a list of what to do if the tranny/clutch has to come out ...
http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?t...5#pid27785

Tags:

eaton clutch, auto-adjust clutch, smiley face, clutch worn out, hanging clutch, clutch hangs up, self adjusting clutch