Hey there all,

I just wanted to pass along something that I ran across with my new-to-me 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 w/ the 5.2L and manual transmission:

Ever since I bought 'er, my truck has had a pretty high friction point (I mean like an inch from fully back), so I replaced the clutch seeing that it had ~80K on it, and because I couldn't afford to have unexpected downtime from work. The new clutch's friction point was nice and low, but within about two weeks, the new one had a friction point close to where the old one's was. In addition, I became more keenly aware of something I'd pretty much ignored before: my clutch was very squeaky. Going in or out, it sounded like a really old box spring from a bad bed set or something.

Well, I did what I suppose any curious guy would do, and snaked my head underneath/over/around the truck while pumping the clutch with my hand/foot/whatever. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere, until I finally somewhat traced it to the slave cylinder. Darn, I thought to myself, and promptly Google'd my issue, and found someone with a similar issue who'd posted a vid on Youtube. His solution? He replaced the clutch master and slave cylinders.

Alright. I moseyed on over to my mechanic again, and asked him to replace the hydraulics. He somewhat protested saying that he'd checked them, and that they were fine, but being a good backseat mechanic I got him to cave in and do it for me.

The squeaking went away, and something else happened: My friction point was back to where it was when the clutch was brand new! Now, I'm squeakless, and much more proud owner of a new clutch.

Take care.