Manual trans question

[drowssap]

Hi All....I have lots to say about my love for these vehicles and have driven many but this is the first one that I now actually own! I will eventually write up a thread telling my long story but for this I would like to say hi and get to the point! I recently purchased a 03' Renegade with the 5spd manual trans. Truck is in beautiful shape actually and corrosion free being that it is a Colorado native. I purchased the truck knowing full well that it had this problem but now I would like to figure it out! Problem is no gear engagement whatsoever. Truck starts and runs beautifully without any foreign noises. If I push the clutch the trans will row through all of the gears with a beautiful click. Release the clutch in gear and you get absolutely nothing! Not even a noise of any kind. I can't even hear the throw out bearing. I went through every single gear and even went through the transfer case in 4 hi and lo but still got nothing. I will tell you that when depressing the pedal, it did feel a little hard. Kind of like the fork was jammed and I was stretching the cable to allow me to get the pedal to the floor. Does anyone here happen to have any ideas? Also....adding pics to contribute to the ****!

 

[turblediesel]

I had a friend with the same problem with his Alfa Romeo many years ago. His problem began after a 3-4 power shift. Turned out all six flywheel to crank bolts sheared. We guessed wrong grade bolts or not meant to be reused.

Also had a friend with a Fiat 127, same symptom. Sheared crankshaft.

I guess a perfectly destroyed clutch disc could do the same thing too.

 

[drowssap]

I had a friend with the same problem with his Alfa Romeo many years ago. His problem began after a 3-4 power shift. Turned out all six flywheel to crank bolts sheared. We guessed wrong grade bolts or not meant to be reused.

Also had a friend with a Fiat 127, same symptom. Sheared crankshaft.

I guess a perfectly destroyed clutch disc could do the same thing too.

OOH! I want to hope that the crank is still good. I did check underneath and didn't really see any oil seepage.

 

[CactusJacked]

Ours works on a hydraulic master/slave system (like the brakes), no cable. But it sounds like your clutch may be permanently disengaged, as in the clutch disc could have snapped, for one example. Remove the slave cylinder from the bellhousing, and peek inside while the engine is running. If you can see the flywheel/pressure plate assembly rotating, you can rule out it being a flywheel attachment problem. Either way, you're going to be removing the transmission to get inside the bellhousing to see what's up....or down. Some possible broken things that come to mind would be the clutch disc, pressure plate, broken crankshaft, snapped flywheel bolts, snapped input shaft. Oh, you did look to make sure both the front and rear driveshafts are there? lol

 

[Dave]

I don't quite see where the battery has anything to do with a manual ******? I am not disputing what Drowssap said , just need it explained to me.......


Dave

 

[CactusJacked]

Where did he mention the battery?

 

[sota]

there was another thread about that.

personally I'd start with a visual inspection of the clutch hydraulic system. make sure it's not damaged in some way.

can you row gears with the engine running and the clutch pedal up/released? with no grinding noises?
if so I'd suspect either the throwout bearing or fork is jammed such that the pressure plate isn't being released, or the input shaft is broken. unfortunately there's no inspection cover you can pull to examine these items without pulling the trans. ironically a broken input shaft isn't as horrifying as it sounds, as the NV3550 has an idler input shaft; all the gears aren't on the shaft itself.

 

[turblediesel]

Battery is in KJ604's thread. His shifting problems went away with the old battery. Very mysterious stuff.

Another thing that might be worth checking is the transfer case linkage, maybe stuck in neutral?

I'll bet your crankshaft isn't broken. The Fiat is the only crank I've ever heard of that broke like that. Probably a defective crank since the Fiat 127 wasn't a torque beast.

 

[Dave]

Where did he mention the battery?

He didn't. I must have misread the thing.....sorry


Dave

 

[sota]

Battery is in kj604's thread. His shifting problems went away with the old battery. Very mysterious stuff.

Another thing that might be worth checking is the transfer case linkage, maybe stuck in neutral?

I'll bet your crankshaft isn't broken. The Fiat is the only crank I've ever heard of that broke like that. Probably a defective crank since the Fiat 127 wasn't a torque beast.

:nod: easy way to tell too... 4 wheels in the air, put it in 4WD (LO or HI, doesn't matter), spin a rear wheel and see if the fronts turn. I forget exactly but I think it's left rear and right front are "tied" together?

 

[CactusJacked]

He didn't. I must have misread the thing.....sorry


Dave

Oh yeah sure. I bet you did that purposely to make me go back and read it again...and again! :happy175:

 

[drowssap]

there was another thread about that.

personally I'd start with a visual inspection of the clutch hydraulic system. make sure it's not damaged in some way.

can you row gears with the engine running and the clutch pedal up/released? with no grinding noises?
if so I'd suspect either the throwout bearing or fork is jammed such that the pressure plate isn't being released, or the input shaft is broken. unfortunately there's no inspection cover you can pull to examine these items without pulling the trans. ironically a broken input shaft isn't as horrifying as it sounds, as the NV3550 has an idler input shaft; all the gears aren't on the shaft itself.

I appreciate the great input. This is the one test that I did not perform and honestly did not even think of it. Great idea! I should have my hands on the truck by Wednesday so i will take pics and update this thread once figured out. I have not seen any other thread covering this so this thread has an opportunity to possibly help someone in the future!

 

[JeepinJarhead03]

i remember my uncle had a old toyota late 60s somethin 40 that once the slave got hot youd lose the clutch and the pedal would get hard as a rock and youd have to stop get out and let it cool down / spray water on it or whatever, smoke a doob.

its an atypical slave failure that causes it, fault between the slave and master that keeps pressure from flowing back to the master, kind of like what happens with brake lines if you put something besides brake fluid in them and they swell the brake lines from the inside.

if that's the case, disconnecting the slave from the transmission should allow the clutch to engage allowing further troubleshooting , in which case youll probably find sota nailed it with the input shaft, which isn't a huge deal

you've put together ikea furniture right? yeah, it's like that lol

 

[GunnerSchenck]

you've put together ikea furniture right? yeah, it's like that lol

:happy175::happy175::happy175:

 

[Dave]

^^^ikea furniture stuck unassembled in the ******.....whooda thought!


how'd dat happen......LOL


Dave

 

[turblediesel]

Working too many projects with too many distractions and not enough coffee.

It'll work fine once you get the shelves out of there.

 

[drowssap]

Well....This thing ended up arriving to my house MUCH quicker than anticipated!I spent about an hour going over everything from top to bottom and found a couple of surprises that I will start a new thread for. BUT.....I think I found out why my go pedal is ineffective!

 

[drowssap]

I also happen to be an Ikea kitchen and furniture pro!

 

[turblediesel]

Yup, get that nice kitchen outta there and maybe the clutch'll quit barfing.

 

[drowssap]

Haha!...Should I do the whole kit with the bearing and slave? I also wonder what the flywheel looks like. I read a bunch of threads where members advised going with the OEM set up from LUC but does anyone have an opinion on the Sachs kit? Waste of money or is there an improvement?