Jeep t5 transmission won't disengage

[dubrooks]

I have a jeep with a t5 transmission and dana 300 (twinstick conversion). I bought the jeep in as-is condition. When I got the jeep the slave cylinder was disconnected. Upon reconnecting the slave, I bled it out to be sure there wasn't air in the system. Now when I press the clutch in the jeep will not disengage the transmission. I know the transmission will go into gear and the jeep will move because if I crank the starter in gear it will move.

I've attached a couple of pictures. The slave seems to extend as it should, but the thing it pushes on rubs against the tub of the jeep near the end of the clutch throw. the slave push rod itself seems to be moving quite a bit, i would say as it should. I've attached a couple of quick pictures I took while under there. Any help would be awesome. First picture shows the whole slave, second picture shows the lower half of the first picture where it's rubbing.

 

[greg92jeepxj]

Hey dubrooks , welcome to Jeepz.com . I see where the clutch fork is rubbing on the firewall tunnel . Since I do not know for certain , it looks to me that this trans and hydraulic clutch set up may have been swapped in . Would not know from what application , different body/tear jeep , Ford ranger , Chevy s-10 , ? Can't say . T-5 was used for many trucks and cars . As you can see , it was optional for cable operated or hydraulic since there is a key hole for the cable and a pocket for the hydraulic piston . Problem seems to be the fork is too long and hit the tunnel . Right now it is difficult for you to tell if the slave is even working right with the clutch fork not traveling right do to interference. It looks like you may be able to trim off part of the fork to clear the floor to try , but I cannot tell very well from the photo . One thing we need to be sure of , is the fork properly attached on the clutch release bearing ( throw out bearing ) and sitting properly on the opposite end on the ball pivot stud inside the bell housing. Probably is , but must be sure that the interference did not mangle any retaining clip(s). If a clip is broken , fork will twist out of place and slave piston will slip off. If all that is ok , hopefully you can trim the fork to get it to work for you . I don't think you'll want to remove the drive train to change a clutch fork if you can avoid it . Then at least you can see if you really have proper clutch slave travel to be sure the clutch is properly disengaging. Doubt the former owner will tell if this was a swap and someone bailed out before finishing it because of mismatch parts . At this point , see if you can make due . A lot of work to remove drive train just for a clutch fork , but would only do it if really need be .
Cannot tell from photo if fork is straight or at angle , meaning , is horizontal or slightly angled up or down . If angled , must find out if this is right part for this jeep . Possible the wrong bell housing was used and fork should be angled down for body clearance . Difficult to say with slave mounting . But fork should not hit floor , as you know. Trimming fork ( if possible) may be only option if fork will work right with clutch assembly ( release bearing and ball stud ) .

correction : ball stud inside bell housing will be on slave cylinder side of bell housing , not on opposite end . A cable would be mounted from behind and routed trans to firewall to pedal assembly. Slave cylinder pushes fork rearward to pivot fork on ball stud forward to push release bearing forward toward pressure plate . Sorry for confusion .

 

[dubrooks]

Thank you very much. That is immensely helpful right off the bat. Honestly, it's not REALLY a Jeep.... It's an Eagle! but with a 4.0 HO out of a 93 jeep. I do agree that it is probably not a jeep t5, but perhaps an amc eagle t5? I know the car was once an automatic, so who knows really. The previous owner seemed pretty straight-up about the car. The reason he stopped driving it was because the front differential (independent suspension on these) dropped out. Now, I'm starting to believe that the differential could have done damage to the clutch fork system itself. I will try trimming the fork as you mentioned, and see if that makes any difference. Is there any way you could further explain how to determine if everything else is working as it should in terms of the fork being attached to the throw-out bearing/ball pivot stud? Thanks again, that post was very informative.

 

[greg92jeepxj]

Wow , my neighbors friend has two , both auto trans w/ 258 engines . Always thought the Eagle was sort of cool ! Always commanded a lot of cash for one . I don't know if you'll be able to peek into the window that the clutch fork sticks out of , even with the hydraulic slave out of the way it may be tough with body so close to bell housing . But all you can do is unbolt the slave to give you a little access to see if the fork is secure on the ball stud pivot and hoping that the clip that is riveted to the fork that clips on to the ball stud is secure . If the fork slides forward and backward and has no other movement , say up and down , it should be alright , would be nice to see that the end of the fork where it clips on to the clutch release bearing is secure but I don't know if you'll be able to see that through the window where the fork pops through. If the movement feels smooth and no resistance is felt , ought to be ok . Even the inspection cover near the oil pan at the bell housing will not help as the pressure plate and release bearing cannot be seen since the cove will only let you see the back of the flywheel and the bell housing won't have an access on its bottom to see up to the front of the pressure plate near the release fingers where the release bearing and fork live . Guess all you can do is feel for movement . Could not say if the trans is jeep or not and I don't have reference to the AMC eagle without research what manual trans came with them , really don't know if they had that option or not . Most I heard of had auto but still want to research . Well , bottom line , we got to get this one working right and I hope that there was no significant damage in terms of front diff. causing a problem there . Got me going on that and I hope that my neighbor's friend comes by with one again soon , would like to ask him to put it up on my ramps an take a peak under to get an idea how for the front diff. is from the bell housing of his trans , even though it's auto. It's got an in - line 6 so the configuration won't be that much different . Would give me an idea at least where a clutch fork would meet the firewall tunnel . If at all possible when you climb back under , hoping you can get other pics at the more angles to see just how the fork hits the tunnel and firewall , if at all possible of course.
real nice eagle and I hope all will be ok , must be fun to run around in a stick eagle with a 4.0 H.O. !!!!!

P.S.- I don't know if the tunnel is very narrow on the Eagle , dont know if only the t-5 fits and no other manual will so maybe that was all that could be installed . An AX-5 or 15 may not work In that body , but not real sure . Haven't been under one.
only other way to see inside the bell housing where the clutch fork and release bearing are fastened would be a lighted bore scope like Harbor Freight has . Pricey though $$

 

[greg92jeepxj]

This would be helpful and the price on it isn't bad . There is a couple of others they carry , but significantly higher price . This would be just fine . Make life a lot easier if you detect a problem and need to closer inspect before a tear down .

 

[BaconYJ]

Depending on how long the vehicle sat, it is possible that the continuous pressure from the pressure plate onto the clutch disc may have fused the disc to the fly wheel. This can happen in high performance vehicles with heavy/strong clutches to hold the power the vehicle is producing. IF this is the case, I understand you can drive it around until the radiant heat from the engine, exhaust and transmission allows it to become free (miles and miles around the block) or you pull the set up and replace as needed.

Be sure to check the simpilar solutions and possible problems first.

Bacon

 

[dubrooks]

I put that bad sally on the lift today at the shop where I work for some tinkering. I've basically determined that what you just said, Bacon, is probably correct. Seems that no matter what I do I can't get her to disengage. Clutch fork has no play. After messing around myself, a mechanic instructed me to thread the bolts down the slave push rod, decreasing the throw of the clutch, although this didn't really make sense to me (since the fork is already moving to it's max) I did as he requested, and he said I was missing a return spring on the system, so I ghetto-rigged one up for a second. After not disengaging he told me I needed a clutch, and that breaking it free might work, but it wouldn't last long at that point anyway. I'm currently trying to bribe my buddy who works at a transmission shop into helping me do it, and I will keep this thread updated with my finds in-case someone would come upon a similar situation in the future.

 

[dubrooks]

The clutch was in fact rusted. I've since torn it down twice to fix the problem correctly. All is well. Thanks guys.

 

[greg92jeepxj]

Happy that you got your eagle up and running and can now enjoy driving it since you've no doubt spent quite the time wrenching on it . Hey , can we get some pictures of the work done and if possible , some of the history involved to get to where it is today ? Not a lot of jeep Eagles posted in this forum lately and just thinking it would be cool to marvel over and even cooler to anyone who owns one. Thanks for your update and especially thanks for your membership here at jeepz.com ! Greg