I went camping this weekend and traversed some decently steep, rocky hills. All was fine until I went down one hill to find it blocked by a bunch of cars and the only way out was to reverse. I had to give it a LOT of gas and ride the clutch for a while to get out of there (5spd). When I got out, I smelled what seemed like something burning. Was it my reverse gear since its weaker and straight-cut? Is this bad or something kind of normal? Thanks!

 

That smell was probably your clutch burning away...it happens

 

such a logical answer, i should have known that. anyway, how do I know when the clutch is burned up too much and needs replacing? how expensive is it to replace? how involved is it to do myself? thanks again

 

Cruise along around 35-40 in 3rd and nail the gas, if your RPM's increase with no real increase in speed then your clutch is slipping and shot, usually that is pretty advanced and you'd notice that by now. Other symptoms could be various problems getting it into gear. Other than that there isnt much you can do outside of visually inspecting it. If you take care of your clutch then slipping it once in a while to the point where you will smell it wont be that detrimental to it. If your gung ho and want to replace it, it could be as cheap as like 150.00 for a cheapo from Vato Zone, or 300.00 for Centerforce dual friction clutch, plus new brake fluid, and dont forget to have the flywheel resurfaced, probably 50.00 or so there. I know there are write-ups for this somewhere, but plan on unbolting the starter, and trans/xfercase assembly and atleast sliding it back to get at the clutch

I'd say next time you get in a spot like that put it in 4lo so you dont have to ride the clutch so long to get moving up the hill, you can just let the clutch out and feed in the gas slow and let the engine and lower gearing do its thing.

Matt

 

Ditto, you might have glazed the pressure plate and clutch disc a bit, but that doesn't mean that your clutch is toast at all (lots of people drive around after forgetting the e-brake is still on, yet the drums are toast unless you drive it for a long time on the highway). Drive it a few more days and see how it feels. If the clutch chatters or the engine RPM seems to be out of sync with the vehicle speed then you may have an issue. Again, just drive it for a little while and see how it does, it may just deglaze by itself.