Ax15 Will Not Disengage

[RynoMJ]

Started the MJ and drove it for the first time today since the ax15 swap. I went into gear great to get it out of the driveway, smooth shifting it felt very nice. Took it around the block a few times and started to notice it didn't want to go into 1st or 2nd anymore. Stopped in a parking lot and could not get it to go into anything lower than 3rd.

 

The clutch is definitely not disengaging. I switch the transfer case to neutral and can shift it fine.

 

Of course it has the crappy plastic master and slave with no bleeder. Which I'm hoping is the problem. I'm just curious what you guys may think it could be. How could it shift perfect and then slowly get worse to the point where it will not go into any gear. We didn't put the bell housing shield back on but I can't see that causing this issue.

 

New clutch, TOB, shift fork. Everything is new.

[AeroNautical]

I just did this swap also. External slave, right? If so, I don't think you can get any other hydraulic system, the only ones I ever found were plastic. 

 

You say it worked initially, so the clutch wasn't put in backward. Gotta ask the obvious, is it leaking? Was it pre bled when you bought it? If it is external, did you put the little clip on the passenger side of the fork inside the bell housing? Are the fingers on the pressure plate bent?

 

The first thing I'd do is remove and inspect the hydraulics, easy to do and replace. 

[Eagle]

Marginal clutch operation gets worse as the fluid gets hot.

 

You don't have a transmission problem, you have a clutch problem. You posted that everything was new, but I didn't see any mention of "flywheel." New, used, or original? If used or original, did you by any chance have it resurfaced?

 

Wait -- "We didn't put the bell housing shield back on ..."? What shield? The steel spacer plate that's supposed to go forward of the flywheel, between the bell housing and the block? Why didn't you put that back on? Why would you suspect that omitting a part the factory obviously thought was necessary, and which affects the physical relationship between the clutch and the slave cylinder might not cause a problem?

[RynoMJ]

I just did this swap also. External slave, right? If so, I don't think you can get any other hydraulic system, the only ones I ever found were plastic. 

 

You say it worked initially, so the clutch wasn't put in backward. Gotta ask the obvious, is it leaking? Was it pre bled when you bought it? If it is external, did you put the little clip on the passenger side of the fork inside the bell housing? Are the fingers on the pressure plate bent?

 

The first thing I'd do is remove and inspect the hydraulics, easy to do and replace. 

External slave allegedly a pre-bleed set up. Tested that tonight seems to be working fine no leaks.

 

Marginal clutch operation gets worse as the fluid gets hot.

 

You don't have a transmission problem, you have a clutch problem. You posted that everything was new, but I didn't see any mention of "flywheel." New, used, or original? If used or original, did you by any chance have it resurfaced?

 

Wait -- "We didn't put the bell housing shield back on ..."? What shield? The steel spacer plate that's supposed to go forward of the flywheel, between the bell housing and the block? Why didn't you put that back on? Why would you suspect that omitting a part the factory obviously thought was necessary, and which affects the physical relationship between the clutch and the slave cylinder might not cause a problem?

 

The thought crossed my mind but never figured it would cause this to happen. Thanks.

[RynoMJ]

Well not really sure what my next course of action is aside from pulling the trans. Clutch has good resistance, fork seems to move fine from what I can tell from the slave port. Just weird how it worked fine and now it doesn't work at all. Any last thoughts?

[carnuck]

Bad master cyl. Fluid too low? Does it have the roll pin holding the plastic line in? I'd take the slave off, press the pedal and see if the slave comes out, then retracts without releasing the pedal.

 

On my '86 I had trouble with the clutch arm being slightly bent off straight and air kept getting pumped into the clutch. The fluid kept draining down the firewall (and into the fuse box) After the third master under warranty, I took the one off my '87 and it went bad in a week. I noticed the different angles of the pedals and bent the original back into alignment and the master stopped leaking again.