Hi people.

Okay so about three weeks back I dropped in a new engine, clutch, oil pump, timing kit, TPS (of which I have since lost one of the bolts from and am having a pain in the ass time trying to find a replacement for), exhaust manifold, cat con, and O2 sensors.

This was all done in the driveway. She runs fine, but I'm a little concerned with a few things.

1) There's a vibration. It's not bad until she warms up, but then it's enough to make my hand sore if I rest it on the shifter knob at a red light. I've taken it to a repair shop since the rebuild to have the truck looked over (just to make sure we didn't royally screw anything up) and I have been told that I don't have any vacuum leaks, and my timing is exactly where it should be.

2) The clutch. First and second gears are, well, crunchy to get into. I can't shift fluidly into them, and though it doesn't feel like I'm grinding anything, it concerns me. (the slave cylinder has been bled).

If anyone has ideas on what could be causing these two issues (or has an extra bolt for a TPS), please help a girl out.

Thanks.

 

Were any of thes issues there before the rebuild?

The shifter vibrates badly until the truck warms up and goes away or just lessens when driving and in gear?

Did your gears crunch before the engine rebuild?

Sounds like you should have replaced the clutch while you were in there.

 

+2, and check all of your motor & transmission mounts, a way off tranny mount can make shifting funky, yeah, real funky...

 

Syncro crunching is a function of clutch not fully releasing or bad syncros. Need to fix your clutch by bleading the system really well or replacing both the master and slave.

Vibration sounds scary. May be linked to the clutch problem. Did you remember to torque the pressure plate and flywheel?

 

Looks like she said the clutch was replaced, and slave cylinder bled. What year truck? Can the clutch be adjusted at all? I would x3 the checking of the motor mounts and motor to tranny mounts.

 

(yeah thanks for reading the entire post before responding, I appreciate the eye for detail..)


It's a 1990. No, it did not crunch before the rebuild. The shifter vibrates at idle, not while I'm in gear or driving. Shifting does not get easier after truck warms up. No noise coming from tranny.

Motor mounts were okay.

Bad pilot bearing maybe?

 

Replacement TPS screws available below:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...llenHeadScrews

 

Thanks for that, but I found a place locally that dismantles 'yotas and has all the odd junk I need - even the stupid bars for the cup holders!

 

Maybe you put the clutch in upside down...

 

oh boy.

 

That seems like something more than a couple people have done...putting the clutch pressure plate on backwards. Would the truck actually drive, though, if that were the problem?

Some people have had to extend the rod on the slave cylinder with certain clutches. For some reason the stock one is not long enough to fully disengage the clutch. Not sure how you find out that's your problem, though, short of finding a longer rod that's the same diameter as the original one...

How bad does it vibrate at idle? Mine wasn't like what you seem to be describing, but it did have a rough idle until it broke in, and I think that's fairly common; the idle will become stronger and smoother as the engine breaks in. I would still make sure all the transmission mounts are good, like the ones that attach the transfercase to the crossmember, etc. Otherwise....I don't know. Weird that it doesn't do it until it's warmed up.

 

If you think this is weird, you shoulda been around BEFORE the rebuild (I'm not even going to go into the crazy stuff that was going on then). The vibration is the reason I thought I had a vacuum leak, because if I switch on the heater or ac, it immediately stops.

Thanks for the input, it helps.

 

Really? Hmm..
I'll bet that will be enough for someone who knows more than me to figure out a better direction to point you. But...maybe they missed a vacuum leak? Was it a good shop? Could a missing ground cause that? Did you check that all the ground wires in the engine compartment are attached to something?

 

Yes, it was a reputable shop that I'd had experience with before with good results. The grounds are fine.

I think I'm gonna have to throw this beast into a transmission shop and have them take a look at her. I have less and less free time (and my patience level has reached rock bottom with this mess) and the weather is not conducive to dropping my drive shaft/tranny in the driveway. Ugh. Well, at least I know that they can't tell me anything is worn out.

 

Huh. Well, good luck. They may be able to find why it grinds, but I doubt that's your vibration source, if heat or AC takes care of it. Let us know what it ends up being!

 

A friend of mine says the a/c pump compressor might be out. So far I've been told I should bleed the slave again for three hours, machine the flywheel, change the pilot bearing, take the clutch plate off and make sure it's on the right direction, blah blah blah.

We'll see. (sigh).