[Clarke]

Update:

Okay, after pouting for the last several months, I finally got motivated over the weekend and start over on trouble shooting...

I came up with a couple of items: my master cylinder had fluid between the primary and secondary seal cups (this was working before, but I tried so many different things I'm sure I blew the seal). My master cylinder is under warranty, so I replaced it, bench bled, reverse bled the system, and seems to be working okay, but my clutch still isn't disengaging. I took all the slack out of the clutch fork, removed the lower clutch housing pan, asked my wife (nicely) to hold the clutch down while I was under the truck and verified I have good travel, but clutch disk is still tight. Just for kicks, I shimmed the pressure plate away from the flywheel using 0.050" thick washers, readjusted clutch fork, asked her to hold the clutch down (nicely again) and I noticed the disk did relax some. I also noticed one of the liners was not centered with the other, so I took a screw driver, pushed on the edge of the suspect liner and it moved about 0.25".

Okay, so now I'm really pissed and suggested to my helpful wife she'd better go back in the house. The reason I'm pissed, I had new liners put on the disk in the spring after changing out my starter ring gear. After picking up the disk from the shop I noticed the edge of one liner was cracked about 0.50" wide X 3.0" long, so I asked them to replace the damaged liner. A week later I went back, they told me the rivet pattern didn't match, so they bonded the new liner on. I questioned this attachment method and even stated I prefer the mechanical fasteners and I was willing to wait for the correct liner. They assured me this was fine, they do it all the time on the 2 and 3 ton trucks. Whatever!!! Now I have to pull the transmission again! Hopefully, the disk was not damaged by spinning on the liner...

I'm also wondering if my pressure plate is weak? I'm going to call around to see if someone can test the springs/etc on it for me. The prior owner replaced the pressure plate a couple of years before I bought the truck. It's always been sensitive and with the new liners (increased thickness compared to worn liners) I'm nervous if it's going to disengage.

I read a quote from Edwin on the old forum "I recommend the Center Force CF165552 11 inch pressure plate to replace the Borg and Beck unit." Anyone have experience with this part? Pros and cons? I put one on my JEEP years ago, but didn't notice any difference, except maybe a little stiffer. I don't care, I just want good travel.