3600 dd wont release

injected79

injected79

New member
Hello, i was running the big single south bend 550 con-fe i beleive is what it was called, last month i was hooking it and i welded the clutch disk, flywheel, and pressure plate together. So i order a 3600 dual disk from you guys. We had a few issues at first getting the correct parts for my truck, but we got figured out.
Now that i have it all back together the clutch will not release completly. I have changed the slave and master cylinder to rule both of those out, and it was a pre bleed system also. It seems like the it will come and go, for instance when i first installed the new hyd. system, i jumped in the truck fired it up and it went right in gear, a little harded then normal but not bad. I drove about 3 tenths of a mile and stopped went to go back in gear and it would not. If i start the truck in gear and hold the clutch it will not drive away but i also cant take it out of gear with-out alot of force most of the time.
 
I am afraid you are gonns have to pull the tranny out to take a good look at it. Your symptoms sound like your friction disks are not sliding on the input shaft properly. Maybe the splines are a bit sticky, what did you use for lube? Also when you have it apart, take a good look at the release levers on the pressure plate. Ensure they are even, and use a mirror to look at the pivots. On my 3850, one of the levers broke. SBC replaced it for me no problems!

You can rest assured they will take care of you, just call 'em
 
Im not 100% sure, but I dont think the ZF5 has a pivot ball. The truck in his signature says it is a 12V in a Ford with a ZF5 transmission.

I ran into several issues with my various SBC clutches in my Ford Cummins swap. I finally got a setup that works well. A few things come to mind to check.

1. Do you have a diaphragm or lever style pressure plate?

2. I had to lengthen the rod on my master cylinder 1/2" or so to get a little extra travel out of it. 1/2" doesnt sound like much but it makes a huge difference in the driveability (at least on my truck, 12V with a ZF6) You may have to modify the clutch safety switch and pedal stop to work with the extra travel you will gain by lengthening the rod.

3. Does the clutch seem extremely grabby when it is in gear and you are engaging the clutch?

4. Who's adapter plate did you use?
 
texascadillac42 said:
Im not 100% sure, but I dont think the ZF5 has a pivot ball. The truck in his signature says it is a 12V in a Ford with a ZF5 transmission.

I ran into several issues with my various SBC clutches in my Ford Cummins swap. I finally got a setup that works well. A few things come to mind to check.

1. Do you have a diaphragm or lever style pressure plate?

2. I had to lengthen the rod on my master cylinder 1/2" or so to get a little extra travel out of it. 1/2" doesnt sound like much but it makes a huge difference in the driveability (at least on my truck, 12V with a ZF6) You may have to modify the clutch safety switch and pedal stop to work with the extra travel you will gain by lengthening the rod.

3. Does the clutch seem extremely grabby when it is in gear and you are engaging the clutch?

4. Who's adapter plate did you use?
Click to expand...

I just noticed that. I only saw 1997 Cummins:hehe:
 
Sorry guys i havent been watching this post as much, i wasnt expecting much info on here till tommorow. I also have this posted in the Dodge Competition and Performance section.

clutch not releasing - Competition Diesel.Com - Bringing The BEST Together

I have the adapter plate from destroked,

when i let off the clutch to fully engage it, it seems to hook up good. not to grabber but very comparable to the single disk i had in it.

It is a diaphragm style pressure plate

I had considered making the slave cylinder rod longer down on the clutch lever, but havent done that yet. I did take the pivot piont under the dash and move it about a half inch and it still would not disengage, but when i did get it in gear if i pushed the clutch all the way down it made a wierd growling noise i guess you could say. It was not so much of a grind like when you trying to get it in gear, but kinda between that and a growl type noise. sorry its kinda of hard to describe.
 
put a washer under the pivot ball on the trans, the zf5 ford trans you can do this with truck on ground... a 3/8 id washer works perfect. drop the clutch fork and reach in pull ball out put washer in reassemble.. easy and worked for me on a customers 97 zf5 speed
 
This might seem like a very basic (almost idiotic question) but have you heard any other SBC dual disc clutches in the ZF transmissions, (or G56 for that matter) The floater plate rattle seems much louder in the ZFs than in the NVs. That sound you are hearing might be the clutch getting much closer to fully disengaging.

Try lengthening the rod. With stock hydraulics, there is NO WAY that you could overstroke the pressure plate and start causing damage to anything. Peter at SBC told me this when I was getting my clutch sorted out a while back.

Lengthening the rod should do nothing but help. Also, do you still have the stock "cheesy as hell" plastic clip that holds the master cylinder rod to the clutch pedal? If so, get a heim joint conversion for that (they can be had on Ebay for cheap) and do it at the same time that you lengthen the rod.
 
I'm having the same issues with the same clutch. I have 1k miles on it and 4 hooks. I know it's not a travel issue. I only have 1/4" or so of clearence on the TO bearing and new hydro's. I need to take the time to call them.
 
The TO lever when checked through the slave hole only moves that much. I talked to Mansell during the install and he said it was enough. It's probably more like 3/8".
 
Gotcha. for some reason I seem to remember mine having more free travel, which is perhaps why the longer master cylinder rod did the trick on my 3600 DD.
 
My truck is a conversion 12v using the ZF6 Ford. It's tight to get enough of the input into the pilot bearing.
 
I already got rid of the plastic "clip" under the dash, Ill try to Lengthen that rod in the morning, the sound it was making didnt sound like the "rattle" of a dual disk, it sounded more like................ a really loud zipper i guess you could say.
 
My buddy bought a 3600 DD south bend a month or so ago. We noticed the floater plate was tight, but put it in anyways.

Well, the thing wouldnt completely disengage, and was bad enough that you couldnt change gears hardly at all. My buddies drove it down the road and back to find this out and by the time they got back, the clutch was ruined. Pulled it apart, and all the pads were ate off the front disc, and the back ones were in bad shape, along with the floater plate being cracked in 3 places, and melting the rear main seal out of his motor because it got so hot.

Called Peter and he said they must have machined the floater plate too tight and sent him a new one. Its fine now, but it sure was a lot of extra labor for no reason. Just something to think about. If the floater plate is real tight, then it could be a problem.

Eric
 
Well i have talked to peter a few times today, he has me checking things off 1 by 1 before i pull the transmission again. I did lengthen the length of the slave cylinder rod, i didnt pick up anything. Peter said by doing that the slave would just "reset" itself, and to make the adjustment under the dash with the rod going to the master cylinder. I done this the other day, and when in gear and clutch depressed is when i was getting the weird zipper like sound.
 
TRansmission is back out of the truck, you can see where the back of the pressure plate is hitting the bell housing on the transmission. I have talked to peter a few more times today, and he wanted to see a few pictures of everything as i tore it apart piece by piece. Hopefully we can figure it out here before to long. Thanks again
 
Both of my Duramax ZF6 clutches are the same way. Really hard to get in gear and hook up at the bottom of the pedal.
 
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