clutch slave cylinder == fun police

g'day all

hit a snag today which brought gusty to his knees ; managed to catch the clutch slave cylinder (clutch operating cylinder in the manual) push rod when we were out - the push rod was pulled off the withdrawl lever rendering the clutch unable to be disengaged with the engine was running. (no shit!)

we were pointing up-hill in mild poo, but nothing that bog-stock low range couldn't handle. things came wildly unglued when i tried to get under there and diagnose the problem.

decided that i needed to pull the slave cylinder off to see if i could re-seat the pushrod & re-instal - only to find that the bolts had in all likelihood been put on with a rattle-gun. i managed to get one off (the favourable one) but drew up short of rounding the head on the one behind the propellor-shaft.

clutchless, we managed to start up in low 1 pointing up hill, with the aid of an electric winch (courtesy of a couple of fkin good blokes who i owe a coldie or two!); we drove home without the ability to swap cogs at will. basically meant pointing down hill, stopping, and re-starting in the chosen ... believe it or not you can key-start the patrol in third.

anyway, my proposal is for you to go out to your manual truck next time you've got 5 mins, undo these two bolts by hand and then do them back up again. maybe you'd even use a bit of low strength thread-locker so it doesn't vibrate loose. the theory being that you can undo these by hand, with some 1/2 decent ring spanners, on the side of a hill, with clutch fluid leaking over everything!

ps. would love to see some designs of a bash plate that encompasses the clutch slave if anyone had any on hand?

r's brynk

well i installed a new clutch slave today ($150) and everything went fine. one thing to watch out for is that i did not receive a push-rod with the purchase; luckily i did not lose my old one.

when you go to refill the clutch master with fluid, i can suggest the following method -
- bolt everything up, but open the 9mm bolt-valve (air bleeder valve) on the slave cylinder.
- fill the master reservoir fully & put the lid on, pump the clutch pedal until you see a drip-leak at the valve
- get under and tighten the valve to stop the leak
- you'll need a bar/pole of some form, about 2ft long. it needs to fully depress the clutch pedal and come back to the front seat (slide the front seat forward to hold the pedal down)
- now get back under and bleed the air out of the clutch slave by cracking the valve briefly until fluid starts spilling out, then lock it off again
- take it for a drive, then with the engine still running, bleed the slave once more
- check for leaks again over the next few days

Top post mate - thanks for the effort and glad you got it sorted!

X2 on that one, nice work

quite sure of a bleeder valve for the clutch near the fuel filter; also if you find the right rev range you can still change gear without using the clutch.

Mate I haven't found a single bolt on me ol troll that wasnt done up by hercules. I always carry a resonably comprehensive tool box which includes a breaker bar and a big rubber mallet for bashin sh1t outa uncooperative fasteners.