01 Dodge Ram with clutch acting up

drkelly

drkelly

Dipstick who put two vehicles on jack stands
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Oak Ridge/Stokesdale, NC
Specs and history of the truck first:
- 2001 Dodge Ram quad cab CTD with NV4500 transmission
- 211,000 miles (First 150,000 miles were mostly highway)
- Completely stock, with original clutch

Last Saturday I went down to the ECORS race in Vale, NC. It is about a 2hr drive from my house. Truck was fine when I left, but when I got off I-40, and started on the other roads, it felt like the clutch was not disengaging. The truck was very difficult/impossible to shift gears. I missed a couple of turns, and had to turn around, and when I was sitting still with the truck in neutral, and the clutch in, I could not shift the transmission into gear. I had to cut off the engine, put the truck in 1st gear, and start the engine with the clutch pushed in. I could feel the clutch dragging, trying to move the truck. Seems like the clutch just isn't fully disengaging. Shifting through the gears was difficult too. Had to float the engine at the right rpm, and then the shifter would go into the next gear. Downshifting was worse. I checked the clutch fluid, and it is full, and does not appear to be leaking. When I went to leave the race Saturday afternoon, it shifted fine between the race site and I-40. By the time I got to my house, it was acting up again, so seems to get bad after getting hot. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Danny
 
Is it possible for the slave or master to leak internally and cause this problem?
 
The dodge unit is unfortunatly a sealed unit for the master and slave. I have seen them go bad and do as you described. If you replace it, get the unit from the dealer that comes already full of fluid and ready to install as a complete master/hose/slave assembly.
 
Thanks guys. I've never touched the fluid level, and it is full, so I doubt it is leaking externally, but I'll take a look under the dash tonight.
 
Mine in my 03 did this, it was bypassing inside the master, look up eaton clutch supply, you can get the upgraded hydraulics cheaper than south bend of valair. I think mine was $200 to the door iirc
 
rockmafia said:
If you had a programer, you would not have to downshift so much:flipoff2:
Click to expand...
:lol::flipoff2::lol:...saw that coming. Hate it for ya Danny.
Sounds like you need a new clutch and HD slave from southbend and be sure to add in an Edge Comp box for good measure.
 
Here is what I found:

Valair - $284
O'Rielly's - $214
South Bend - $325
Dodge dealer - $207

I couldn't find Eaton Clutch Supply on the internet. Maybe they went out of business?

I ended up going with the dealer. Just picked it up.
 
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