1998 Dakota 4wd, 5 sp. Parked about 50' from the alley. Back out first thing & start out in 2nd gear and there's a noticeably loud bang at about half clutch pedal, but no feeling of the truck lurching forward. Almost never happens any other time, either driving around town (including reversing out of parking spaces) or backing out of the driveway other than that first time.
More concerning, twice in the last 2 weeks (both just driving aound residential streets) on the clutch but again well before it would normally disengage, it just breaks loose and the engine races while I finish getting off any throttle that was still there.
Supposedly had a new clutch right before I got it 4-5 years ago, can't prove it but if anything always been more clutch than there needs to be, has to go nearly to the floor before I can shift, let alone slipping. Any ideas?

 

Since nobody else has answered... I'm no expert on the arcane arts of the internals of the manual transmission, but it sounds like it's out of adjustment at the very least. You should be able to slip it at about a third of a pedal and be fully disengaged by about 2/3 pedal, give or take. If it's not starting to disengage until it's almost to the floor, it needs adjusting. The bang tells me that something inside is broken but still working, like a spring somewhere. A cracked spring could act like this, where when the pieces line up correctly it acts like a complete spring, but if it slips then it suddenly acts like half a spring. But once again, I'm no trans expert.

Unless someone else can tell you exactly what the problem is, a visit to a transmission shop would be in order. I wouldn't bother with the dealer who will recommend a new transmission, and I certainly wouldn't go to AAMCO who in my experience will just make a bad situation worse. If you post up your general location someone might be able to recommend a shop in your area.

 

Get it in the air and checkout the throw-out arm/fork. These trucks are a hydraulic slave cylinder, and if the case hasn't worsened, it's not a hydraulic issue - it's an issue between the piston and the fork/throwout bearing. I'm willing to bet the piston has broken loose from the bell, and/or the pivot bar has become damaged. I would highly doubt the fork itself is bent.