anthony05gt

If you have an adjustable release brg in your bell housing I just want to share what I've found. When I installed it a few thousand miles ago I had the TB adjusted .150'' from the pressure plate diaphram. They get you to do that to allow for clutch wear as the diaphram will protrude out towards the bearing as the clutch wears over time. This keeps the bearing from riding too hard up against the diaphram. Of course, the bearing will always slightly touch the diaphram after it has been bled because there's no way for the slave to draw the bearing back to the .150'' adjustment that was achieved during set up. This is normal.

Recently I have noticed there's no free play in my clutch pedal. You know, the inch or so of soft pedal feel as you first step on it. My first thought was my master cylinder was getting ready to fail do to the piston and seals binding up in the bore. I inspected the TB this morning by prying the bearing back towards the slave in order to collapse the slave piston and it wouldn't move back away from the diaphram. This explains my loss of free play in the clutch pedal. I readjusted the bearing to allow for some clearance.

If you are going to install an adjustable release bearing on a vehicle that has a NEW clutch package I suggest you set the bearing up with a .200-.250 gap between the bearing and diaphram to allow for break in. I suspect that will be enough.

If you already have an adjustable release brg in your car keep in mind to make sure the free play in the clutch pedal is present...if not you should readjust it because you don't want the TB to prematurely wear do to too much load on it while driving the vehicle.

My first symptom was every time I stepped on the clutch pedal it felt tight and notchy at the very beginning of the stroke.

tom281

Great info!

I have a Ram TOB that has been working well for a few months but has had intermittent leaking problems since day one. I'm afraid it's eventually going to fail and leave me stranded somewhere. We're pulling it out and installing a new factory slave in a couple of weeks.

anthony05gt

I recently heard that they (Ram) have reworked the inside bore of the slave by machining the oring groove deeper among other changes. If I were you I'd call them and raise some hell. They may send out a reworked unit. Either way, McLeod or Ram get the brg/diaphram gap to about .250 on a fresh clutch install, but on an already broke in clutch I'd say .150 gap.

tom281

I may do that, I'm just kinda tired of worrying about it and unless they were to gaurantee a new one I think that a stock slave would probably be my best bet for worry-free driving.