jloftin77

2001 ram 2500 6speed H.O. 4x4

I have a slight screeching noise at idle and a scream when I push the clutch pedal in. I'm assuming it's the throwout bearing. The truck has 180k miles on it now and I had the clutch replaced when I bought it at 60k. I'm not sure if the dealership replaced the throwout bearing when they replaced the clutch so it either has 120k on it or 180k on it.

About 2k miles ago my clutch master cylinder went out so I drove the truck through town about 20 miles without a clutch. I'm sure that put a lot of un needed wear on the throwout bearing.

I live in the Austin area and after a call to the local dealership they're saying it's gonna be around 1300 to replace both parts and labor. I'm fairly mechanically inclined and have most of the basic tools I'd need to pull the tranny, how hard is it really to replace both for an average shade tree mechanic.

So my question to you all is... do you think it's the throwout bearing, can I replace it myself, and should I replace both bearing and clutch. Or should I just sell/trade it in?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

Johnny

Purplezr2

If it is the throwout, I would do the clutch at the same time. If you have a second set of hands and a floor jack its not bad, took me around 4 hours, I install a new exhaust at the same time.

jloftin77

For some reason the manual I have for my pickup doesn't include anything about the NV5600.... Does anybody have a descent set of instructions on pulling it out? Torque specs, unbolt this before you unbolt that, etc.

swordfish

Do you have the FSM? If not, it can be obtained for free from PDFtown.com. Check it out and it should point you in the right direction.

swordfish

homewrecker

Drop the front and rear drive shaft. Seperate the transfercase and linkage from the tranny( its not worth the hassle trying to balance the trans with it hanging off the back) Remove shift lever(in the cab) Disconnect all wiring to the trans. Unbolt the trans from the engine. Support the trans with jack and unbolt the crossmember. Remove cross member, a porta power helps alot to spread the frame. It can be done without it but you will need a big hammer. Slide the trans back. Remove the clutch pressure plate and disk. I would also recommend having the flywheel resurfaced and changing the pilot bearing.

Most places around here get from $300-$500 to r and r the clutch and resurface the flywheel. Maybe check around for a better price than the dealer if you dont feel up to the task. Its not that difficult with a decent selection of tools and can be done in under 4 hours.

JHardwick

I hear it both ways, but I never resurface a flywheel, or rotors for that matter, unless they have been damaged.

I've never destroyed a clutch in my dually, but I've had several release bearings go out. I've put 4 clutches in it in 600,000 miles. The factory installed release bearing lasted the longest at 180,000 miles. Since then I've used MoPar and NAPA's Brute Force or whatever it is, and the release bearing is always the weak link. We need a grease fitting like big trucks!

jloftin77

Okay... so here's the dumb driver question... I'm gonna need a few weeks to put the money together to get this done. How bad is it to drive with the throwout bearing going out like that? So far there is no problems with shifting... it's just making a horrible noise.

Also, if I do this myself, I'm looking at this set from Napa:

http://www.napaonline.com/Search/Det...+50022+2022010

It has the clutch, release bearing (throwout), pilot bearing, and flywheel all for under $800

Thanks again for all the help with this!

Purplezr2

why get a new flywheel you can have yours machined for less then 40 bucks. I bought my southbend off ebay for less then 300 and can with throw out, clutch, pressure plate and alignment tools.

jloftin77

So all I would really need is something like this?

Southbend MU 1947 Con O

I've got the bosch 275 injectors, edge EZ, BHAF, and straight pipe, so I don't think I'd really need the OFE

Purplezr2

Ya that would work, that is the company I bought mind from, fast shipping easy to work with, also I would make sure your main seal is no leaking as this would be a good time to replace it if its leaking if not, I would leave it alone.

FYI no ebay links on DTR may want to remove it.

ted_pulliam

I ended up going with the NAPA clutch. It's been good so far.

My clutch went out at around 215,000 and I've got around 220,000 on the truck now. After break in the NAPA unit seems to engage really smooth. The truck has always and still has a grabby 2nd gear and easily spins the rear tires on take off if there is so much as a drop of rain on the ground. :-).

Just a word of caution, if you decide to do it yourself and end up replacing the rear main seal for good measure, beware of drilling holes in the old one to get it out. I messed up my rear main seal housing really bad with the drill bit and had to replace it which added that much more downtime.It is best to unbolt the rear main seal housing and pop the seal out that way I found.

I'm glad I did my own clutch, but it took me a month of Sundays due to my work schedule. Fortunately my other half let me use her Corolla quite a bit while I had things apart.

My .02, good luck - Ted

gorms

My advice if you do it yourself...

-Bottle jack and a block of wood works great for spreading the frame
-That 6 speed is heavy! Around 350 lbs. Get a good jack, at least an atv jack with some straps/shims to level it
-T-case is not nearly as heavy, but it'll still hurt if it falls on you. 9/16" ratchet wrench is key, not much room in there. Don't forget to drain it before you pull the driveshaft.
-A few long extensions and a u-joint are the easiest way to get to the bellhousing bolts once the trans is out
-If you do the rear main (with Cummins part of course) don't drill anything! Just get a few fine thread sheet rock screws, zip them into the steel of the seal and pop it out. Mine came out with a claw of a hammer pretty easy.
-Helps to block up the front of the motor before you take out the tranny, no sudden movements that way as the mounts are pretty close to the middle of the block.

Good luck!

jloftin77

finally got around to starting this project. I have everything on the ground right now and it was no easy task.

The problem was for sure the release bearing, as soon as I pulled the tranny pieces of it fell out! Oh, and the clutch was getting pretty close to needed a replacement, so I'm glad I ordered the southbend kit.

The flywheel has a couple of hot spots and one area has 3 or 4 small heat cracks, so I'm gonna swing by the machine shop and see if it can be resurfaced.

I've done some research for fluid to fill the NV5600 with and I'm going with the Amsoil Syncromesh 5w-30. 6 quarts filled from the top.

Any suggestions for transfercase fluid?

Thanks again for all the help!!

Johnny

turbo2

I have had my truck now for a couple of years and I have come full circle with my tranny fluid. I bought amsoil and overfilled. Now after replacing the seals in my tranny and dealing with that and thinking about it I have come to this conclusion. What happens if you over fill anything in your truck? Like the crankcase or the power steering system or transfer case or , well you get the idea. Things happen that the designers did not want to happen. Sometimes bad things. The engineers also designed the fluid just for this application. Do the folks on this forum really know more than the engineers who design these trannys? The engineers that designed your tranny are pretty smart with a lot of experience and they are taking on a lot of responsibility when they put a tranny plug at a certain height and pick out or spec out a certain type of fluid. Just something to think about.

jloftin77

I appreciate your reply, but arent' these the same designers that designed the 5th gear nut on the NV4500?

All joking aside, I've done a lot of research on this and so far the positive has far outweighed the negative.