Clay

The pedal pressure is solid all the way through. There is a lot of resistance. More than with my old clutch, I'd say. When I started this project I made a steel clutch line to replace the plastic ones that tend to rot away. I don't think that it's a problem, since fluid travels from the master (which isn't leaking), through the slave (which also isn't leaking) and out of the bleeder valve just fine. So it looks like the new line is working fine and the fluid is going where it needs to. Also, I lifted the rear end off the ground and started the truck. I could shift, with a little bit of effort into all gears, including reverse. Reverse was the worst. Anyways, with the drive wheels under no load, it seems to work better. This is crazy!

That said . . . If I'm going to have to replace the slave, (the transmission is a 93) can I simply get a newer model year clutch kit with the external slave and potentially avoid this headache in the future? If so is one year better than another?

Alright, so I bled the thing until I was sure there was no air in the lines, then I bled it a few more times. That didn't do it. So, I put the rear end up on jackstands and spun both the tires and the drive shaft with the transmission in neutral. In doing so I found that my driver's side rear bearings are more shards of broken metal now than an actual bearing. Lots of grinding sounds, but none from the differential, so that's good. Anyways, I put the transmission into fifth, let the clutch out and tried the drive shaft. It didn't spin. The wheels would spin independently. So, I wedged the clutch to the floor and tried the drive shaft. It didn't spin, but the wheels would spin independently. So, the clutch isn't disengaging. Bad slave, right out of the box?

I put a whole new hydraulic setup in it from a 93. New master, new slave. The pilot bushing is a new one for a 73 CJ5 with the 304. It took a little machining to get the OD correct, but the ID is right for the transmission. I was out of town this weekend, but in a about two hours I'm going to bleed the thing again and again and again, see if that helps. I've been bleeding it from the valve, but I'm thinking that maybe I should also crack the line at the master? Oh, and the clutch is definitely mounted with the "flywheel side" to the flywheel. I was pulling my hair out thinking that I could have installed that backwards. Fortunately, (kind of) I didn't.

All very good suggestions. To address the issues that I can right now, I am in Minneapolis, and I am sure that I installed the clutch correctly. Upon taking it all back apart that was the first thing that I checked. I'll re-bleed the system and see if that works. If not I'll move onto lifting it, turning it and starting it. Then, I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks

Hello all. This is a saga, so I'll try to keep it quick but detailed. I have an 88 MJ, 4.0, manual 4x4. It had the BA10 in it, which froze up in first gear, which was awesome. So, I went to the yard and got a transmission and transfer case out of a 93 XJ. I figured that this would be the easiest way. Both my old transmission and transfer case had over 300k on them, so it was time for an upgrade anyways. Plus, that way I would avoid the 21 to 23 spline modification. So, the old setup comes out. In comes an 88 flywheel, a 93 clutch kit (internal slave) and the newish gearbox. I put it all back together . . . and it doesn't work. It felt as though there were a wall blocking me shifting into any drive gears, and awful grinding trying to shift into reverse. At this point I figured that I had done something wrong, but life got really busy all of a sudden, so I put this project on hold and readdressed it this past weekend. I tore the whole thing apart to see if there were any very obvious mistakes. There was nothing glaring. At this point I should say that I took my old crossmember from the BA10 and refabricated it to match the one for the AX15. It all fits straight and true, but maybe that could cause a problem? I don't know. With the old transfer having a vacuum switch and the new one not, I plug the vacuum lines (as I had read to do) and put everything back together, hoping for different results, but get none. Same not shifting / grinding terribly. With the clutch depressed I can change between two wheel and four, no problem. I still couldn't shift, though. This is where I might get some fingers shaken at me, but I had to try . . . I removed the rear drive shaft and started the truck. With no rear drive shaft I could shift into drive gears, but still not into reverse. Into gear, though, it shifted smoothly, with no grinding or ticking, so I assume that that means the new clutch is working. Also, in two wheel the front drive shaft would spin slowly, but with no torque behind it. No power was being transferred to the front wheels. In four wheel, I could still shift, but the front drive shaft would spin faster and faster, depending on the gear and the throttle. I know that it should do this, but I would prefer that it was doing it and moving the vehicle down the road at the same time. I messed with the vacuum lines, seeing if unplugging and plugging them in a totally random order would have any effect, and it didn't seem too. So, that's all I know. The rear drive shaft went back on, and the truck still doesn't move. I had no problems with the any of the installations. It all went together easy as pie, but something didn't come out right. Vacuum? Faulty something? I don't know. Sorry for the essay here, but I figured that too much information would be better than too little. This truck has to be running in about a week and a half, as I've got this big job waaaaay cross town. Either that or I need to get a new truck, which I don't want to do. That said, thanks a million already.