Fair enough; I added that to the list of things to-do. The mechanic I use said he normally inspects the pilot bearing when replacing the clutch anyway, but it shouldn't be a problem to replace it while they're in there.

Fingers crossed!

 

I don't know if you have one yet, but you can get a Factory Service Manual for your truck from Weedahoe in his profile for free. Might not be a bad idea to download that and make a copy of the clutch install portion for your mechanic to refer to. There are some very specific things to pay attention to while re-assembling the clutch assembly-----like the depth of the pilot bearing, and lubrcation for the throwout on the input shaft etc, etc.

Good Luck------sounds like your on your way to another 120K miles

 

You know I just noticed that the 2008 service manual he has posted isn't complete... I'm confused as to why that is...?

 

shoot him a PM, I'm sure he'll appreciate it

 

Damn, that would have been handy when I was replacing the U-joints and carrier bearing last year (I just had the Haynes manual, which worked ok, but wasn't terribly detailed).

 

So the news I got back from my mechanic isn't spectacular.

When he was inspecting the truck before pulling the trans to replace the clutch components, he tried to isolate where the noise was coming from and is convinced it's not coming from the throw-out bearing, but rather from somewhere in the transmission itself. His best guess, without disassembling the transmission is that it's the counter shaft bearing, but says it could well be anything in there.

For now I took the truck back to sort out my options, as he was hesitant to replace the clutch components when he didn't think they were the problem.

Right now I see a few options:

1) Have the clutch, throw-out bearing, and pilot bearing replaced and hope that fixes it.

2) Get a rebuild transmission, which I had quoted at 2700 (1700 for trans, plus 1k for shipping, labor, and clutch component replacement).

3) Get a used trans from a junkyard and have that and the clutch components replaced.

4) Hold off and see if the problem gets worse.

Since this is a pretty bare-bones truck, I'm hard pressed to go with the rebuilt-trans, since that will basically cost what the truck is worth (I would still do this over getting rid of the truck entirely, but definitely not my first choice). Perhaps I should have them pull and inspect the trans, see if it's something easy to fix, and if not have a used transmission lined up just in case?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

Well you can't confirm that it is a counter shaft bearing without a complete disassembly of the entire transmission.

Personally I would do the maintenance that you are definitely in need of and see if it fixes the problem.

If it doesn't then I'd start looking into trading that truck in for something else.

I am always skeptical with used transmissions, as you never know exactly what you are getting, but there are some nice used transmissions out there, so it wouldn't hurt to have one lined up as a back-up plan.

Ultimately it is your choice.

 

Which transmission specifically is in your truck?????

What type of gear oil, or trans oil does it call for????

 

All of our transmissions call for the same Mopar ATF+4 Fluid... it's expensive, but for some reason nothing else works right in our transmissions...

I assume it is because it has a certain friction additive in it, but there is no evidence to support it that I have found other than transmissions having issues when a different ATF+4 is used...

 

It's the NV3500 trans (manual transmission)

and from the service manual: