I recently had my clutch replaced on my 2001 Dakota 3.9L. I used a duralast clutch kit (I know poor choice) and had my friend, who is a mechanic, replace it.

After a week of driving I began to hear a noise that sounds like a chirping that increases as my RPMs increase. On cold days it is far louder than it is on warm days, and it is not audible after the engine has warmed up. (On cold days the sound remains regardless if truck is at running temp) He replaced the throw out bearing again to see if that did the trick, though it did not.

I have been told it could be a just a noisy gearbox, (though this sound is new after the clutch was replaced) bad pilot bearing (though that was just replaced) or possibly a input shaft wobble...just trying to see if anyone else may have had a similar problem. Thanks for the help.

 

Does the noise get better, get worse, or stay the same when you step on the clutch pedal?

 

When I put any weight on the pedal it gets louder until I push it in about 3 inches and it then goes away completely. When the clutch pedal is pushed to the floor there is no noise at all.

 

It may be another bad throwout bearing.

As you put pressure on the pedal, the throwout bearing presses on the pressure plate fingers. Once you press hard enough you're loading the bearing which will likely quiet it down.

 

That was my initial thought...but I was also told by someone that the throwout bearing had to do with pushing the pedal back towards me and not pushing it towards the floor. Is that an inaccurate statement?

 

The throwout bearing presses on the pressure plate fingers, which are hinged as a fulcrum, to release the clutch disc.

It's not so much the throwout bearing pressing back at you, it's the pressure plate springs that you have to overcome to release the clutch - so those springs are pushing the pedal back.

There is only a little bit of force on the throwout bearing with the clutch engaged. As the engine speed increases, those fingers also try to move out due to centripetal force and increase how hard the pressure plate is clamping the clutch disc.

When you step on the clutch pedal you are increasingly putting a lot of force on the throwout bearing.

I've had a bad throwout bearing. I could play a tune on mine depending upon how hard I depressed the pedal - until it grenaded.

Other possibilities are that the bearing isn't seated correctly or the pressure plate is bad (fingers damaged).

 

Thank you for the explanation, that makes a lot more sense now. I took it somewhere else last week and they said that the input shaft sleeve needed to be replaced, but there isnt even a sleeve on my input shaft so im not sure where he got that idea. I had the guy i know look at it again today and he said everything looks fine but he is going to replace the throw out bearing with a factory one this time. He is also going to replace the fork too as that was not originally done.

He and I both hope this is the last time that he will have to take it all apart...fingers crossed.

 

A damaged fork could do it too, as the bearing won't be aligned properly. I think your mechanic is right to change both though.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.