🚨 Semi-Truck Clutch Failure Q&A LIVE

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:40]What's up everybody? About to get this show started.

[00:00:54]Today we're going to be talking about clutch wear, what to look out for. Hope everyone's doing well. Let me know where you're watching from.

[00:01:04]You got any questions? I'm going to be answering questions at the end of the broadcast.

[00:01:15]As I mentioned, we're going to be talking about clutch wear. Let's get this uh let's get this show started.

[00:01:29]I like that background music. What's up everyone? This is Adam with TAT Express and tonight I want to go over some clutch, real clutch failures we see in the shop. common hard shifting complaints, slipping of the clutches, and some things drivers should watch for before major damage happens. I also want to show you some real photos I'm going to show tonight from different clutch applications and failures. So, let's get started with the show today. I first the first thing I got up here is a burnt a burnt clutch uh pressure plate. Now, this is something that I brought up before with the burnt smell, what you're looking for and stuff like that, but this is just a sign of it. You can see the hot spots in the clutch. And we're going to discuss how this happens later on. But this is just what I mentioned.

[00:02:14]You have hot spots on your clutch. Your clutch overheats. It burns these disc pads here. These are brake. They're made of brake material. So, whenever they actually are applied when the clutch is pushed in, it pushes up against this pressure plate. And this is the friction actually transfers over to this pressure plate. But if the clutch is hung up and you're having issues and it's not fully disengaging, this is definitely where you're going to end up coming up with.

[00:02:40]Let's give some more examples. This is just this is the pressure plate here.

[00:02:44]But here's the actual flywheel. So, not only does this happen on the pressure plate on the clutch, it actually happens on the flywheel as well. So, this flywheel is going to start having some issues as well. Start having these burning issues like this. You can see the hot spots on this flywheel. And this is something you don't want to ignore.

[00:03:03]If you start feeling or smelling this this burnt smell in the video that I just released last night, you can I give you an example of how the the RPMs are climbing, but it doesn't actually um accelerate. You can see your RPMs go up, but the but the RP but the miles per hour are not going up. You'll just see it go up like that. That's signs of clutch slipping. And this is what's happening inside that inside the uh inside the clutch. is burning up against that flywheel, causing more damage over time, and you'll end up having to replace these flywheels. Now, I'm going to discuss different types of clutch applications. Some of you guys are running, this is an automated clutch system right here, but most of you guys are still running the semi. It's not a semi-automated. It still has a clutch clever and stuff like that. I'm going to be um I'm going to be I'm going to be answering questions at the end of the at the end of the broadcast, guys. So, if you got questions, make sure to hit me up in the in the chat. Super chat's on as well if you guys are feeling generous and want to support the channel.

[00:04:10]Let me know where you guys are watching from. So, burnt clutch here. You can see it slipping. This is going to cause hard sli hard shifting as well. You're not going to be able to go in gear. I'm going to discuss more of these uh different items as we go along. Here's an example of a new flywheel. This is what This is what a flywheel is supposed to look like.

[00:04:33]Supposed to look like this. This is a resurfaced flywheel. Nice and clean.

[00:04:39]No heat marks. Now, whenever if you do have suspected clutch slipping, it's not going to it's not going to look as clean as this, even if you don't have clutch slipping. But it's very important to keep an eye on these things when you hear different noises or slipping is really and burning. Burning these clutch ups is really what we see most. And we're going to discuss more how this happens.

[00:05:03]Now the clutch, this is an odor style clutch here. When I say odor, this is means it's not an automated clutch.

[00:05:13]But this is this is how these clutch works. this these brake disc or these pads, these friction pads, these friction pads are exactly what's pushing up against the flywheel. So, your input shaft is here. Your input shaft is geared into the the clutch assembly. So, that's going to be turning the transmission. Whenever you push the clutch in, the pressure plate is going to push up against the flywheel and it's going to dis it's going to push it away against away from the flywheel. So, it's going to push a pressure plate away from the flywheel so that you actually can go in gear. And then when it does that, it's going to be the stop brake is going to stop the throwout bearing and it's going to close. It's going to stop this input shaft. The input shaft is going to be always spinning. Now, whenever you hit the clutch, as I mentioned, is going to pull away from the actual friction of the of the engine so that you can slow the transmission down. We're going to discuss how that happens here later. But as you can see here, these are the friction pads here. This is what's up against the um the pressure plate and the flywheel. This is what's going to be burning up. It's going to be burning up and you're going to smell that. That's when I mentioned brake pad smell. It's the same material as brake pads. So over time whenever they overheat, you can see the discoloration in the on these on these uh friction pads. And this is what's going to smell. Also, you can have some damage on these springs here.

[00:06:39]A lot of times these springs, they're carrying a big load. Once you push that clutch in, it's going to be disengaging from the from the flywheel. There's a lot of torque that's happening on these engines. You know, you're high torque on these engines. So, whenever you're if these clutches fail, and they fail often, you can see how they're starting to scrape. You can see indications here of scraping. Those are indicators that that uh it's not disengaging properly or it's getting hung or it could be out of adjustment. We're going to talk about adjustments more, too. Hope everyone's doing fine tonight. Keep on moving.

[00:07:13]Let's compare that to a brand new clutch.

[00:07:17]All right, this is a brand new clutch here. And you can see the difference in the pads.

[00:07:22]There's no discoloration.

[00:07:26]They look very uniform. As I mentioned, you can see the the wear patterns on these, how they're heating up. And when they heat up, they break up. And this one here is nice and clean. You don't see any wear indication. This is a brand new clutch here.

[00:07:43]Uh there's there's two different type of clutches that go on a on a transmission on a normal style transmission, not an automated. It's either going to be a solo or an easy pedal. I know you guys like to go with performance and go with a high performance clutch, but we're not big fans of high performance clutches because over time, not even over time, brand new, they're they're going to be hard to push that clutch pedal in. So, if you're pushing that clutch pedal pedal pedal in for, you know, so many times a day, it's going to wear your leg out. And driver fatigue is real. You want to make sure that you guys, if you're on the road all day, seven, eight hours a day, maybe longer. Shout out to all the drivers out there. You want to be able to keep that that leg, you know, nice and fresh. If you run if you run anything that's not an easy pedal, there's a reason why it's called an easy pedal because it's easy to push the pedal in. If you go with these high performance clutches, I notice it's a lot of more takes a lot more force to push that clutch pedal down. So, be sure to to stick with OEM parts. Don't go with any kind of aftermarket or high performance parts. I want to take look at this is a setup. This is an older style transmission. When I say older, it's not an automated transmission. This is a manual transmission.

[00:09:03]regular manual style. And you can see here is where the fork goes. Right here is where a manual fork goes. And what happens is that fork is going to sit in there like this. And it's going to pull that throw out bearing out and disengage that clutch. So, and that once it pulls that throw out bearing out, it's going to be it's going to hit against a a stop brake. That's what's going to slow this input shaft down so that you can get it in first gear and get it in neutral.

[00:09:30]Now, I see a lot of different drivers out there that use double clutching where they they're clutching through each gear. Transmissions are designed these newer these not even newer, these older transmissions are designed just to flow gears. There's going to be different clutch gears in between each gear. So, as long as you're in the right RPM gauge, you don't have to keep pushing that clutch in. I know that some driving schools do teach drivers to clutch for every gear. Now, you don't need to do that. You only really need to clutch when you're taking off or reversing, just starting off. But either way, these clutches, this this style transmission is going to have a fork just like this, just like a fork. And it's going to grab that throwout bearing and pull it out. And that's how that's how these older clutches, when I say older, I'm talking that something that's not automated. It's going to pull that throw out bearing and disengage that clutch and push it up against the stop brake. If you have issues with these cl these forks here, these bushings can wear the the actual fork can wear. The fork is going to be seen right through this this peep hole right here. A lot of these different transmission, these newer transmissions, you don't have a lot of look a lot of looking. We're going to talk about those too.

[00:10:45]Shout out to everyone. Here is a hydraulic hydraulic setup. When I talk about hydraulic, this is a hydraulic setup here.

[00:10:56]Now, what it is is, as you can see, it's the same kind of setup. You have a fork, but there's going to be a slave cylinder that's bolted to the side of the transmission to push this clutch lever in and pull it back. So, it does the same it does the same thing as this one here as the old style one, but the difference is one is hydraulic where you have a master cylinder and a slave cylinder. And that's what's going to pull that pull that throw out bearing where this one is going to have a linkage. When I when I say linkage, these are actually actually rods that you can adjust. Most of the time, if you need to adjust those linkages, they're going to be all rusted. You might have to replace them. the bushings on those leak linkages can wear out and cause excessive play and you're not going to be able to get it in gear. It's going to give you the same type of failure as if you have a failed clutch. Some people will go off and just adjust the hell out of the clutch thinking, "Hey, well, my clutch needs is my my my my gear my my gear's not going in. It's got to be my my adjustment on my clutch." Now, clutch adjustments are important, but if you're not checking the linkages or the hydraulic setup, you're just going to be adjusting a clutch for for uh for failure, especially on the linkage.

[00:12:12]Because I go back I want to go back to what I just said right now. You're not going to adjust clutches on a setup like this. Something that has an automated uh or hydraulic setup, it's going to have a what it's called a solo clutch. Now, those are solo adjusting clutch. Anytime you have a failure on a system that has a hydraulic setup like this fork here, definitely go with a solo clutch because what happens with a linkage right here with a manual linkage when you have the clutch starting to wear out and I'll show you here shortly. When a clutch starts wearing out, the throwout bearing for the for the manual transmissions will start working its way further away from the clutch housing. That's when you start getting pedal play. You'll notice the longer pedal play. you'll have a lot of play in the pedal like 2 in and stuff like that. If you that's when you need to adjust the clutch on a regular style linkage. But if you have if you have a a manual adjusting clutch on a hydraulic setup and that same that same setup starts to happen where the clutch throwout bearing starts working its way from the clutch housing because because that throwout bearing sits away from the clutch housing and these forks is what pulls that throwout bearing back like that to disengage. If you have a manual adjusting clutch on a hydraulic setup, the hydraulic is going to take up for that play. So, you're not going to be able to tell. So, that's why you don't want to go with a manual adjusting clutch on a hydraulic system. Very important. Always remember that. If you see somebody putting a manual adjusting clutch on a hydraulic system setup, that's not going to work. It will work, but it won't last a long time. And check out this input shaft. This is something very important as well. These input shafts are what work goes inside the clutch. They stab inside the clutch.

[00:14:00]They are geared inside the clutch. But if you have them worn out like this, they can get hung. And when they get hung, then you're going to get once you try to pull it out of gear and you push that clutch in, it's going to be hung up on the on the inside of that that clutch assembly and it's going to keep spinning. You're going to think, "Oh, I got a bad stop brake or I need to adjust my clutch." But it's possible that your input shaft is worn, too. This is things that all need to be inspected whenever you have it tore down, which I'm going to discuss more.

[00:14:28]Let's see what else we got.

[00:14:31]Right here, we have a clutch actually removed. Now, we can see the back of the clutch. This is what I'm talking about here. Now, this fork here is what goes right here inside the clutch or sorry, inside the clutch throwout bearing and it pulls it back. It pulls this back and that's how it disengages the clutch from the flywheel. The clutch housing is going to be bolted to the flywheel. So, it's always spinning. But once you press the clutch in, it pulls that throw out bearing out and the internals of that clutch assembly is what disengaged from the flywheel and allows your input shaft to be slowed down by a stop brake. The stop brake is going to be against the against the transmission housing right here. And once you pull that clutch back, it's supposed to stop of that's why it's called a stop brake. It stops the the input shaft so that you can go in gear. That's how it's supposed to work.

[00:15:28]Hope everyone's doing well. Let me try to slow down a little bit.

[00:15:35]Already working up a sweat.

[00:15:38]Hope everyone's doing well.

[00:15:41]Just wanted to share some real world failures and photos.

[00:15:47]So, back to this clutch.

[00:15:50]You can see this clutch is pretty worn.

[00:15:53]Shout out to everyone still doing these clutches out here.

[00:15:57]Make sure if you don't have the right setup, get the right setup. This is a clutch jack here. Makes the job a lot easier. Trying to wrestle these clutches on by hand. I mean, you can have issues with an alignment. You can actually actually have issues with throwing you, you know, getting hurt. The using the right tools and installing this, which I'll discuss later, is very important because this is heavy duty work. And, you know, I think uh people can agree nothing on a a semi-truck is light. A lot of guys come in, even shocks are going to be a pain in the butt. But as if you use the right tools, you definitely can save yourself some energy and be able to get to some of this stuff pretty easily. You can see the back of this throwout bearing where it's just wore out. This I believe this clutch was off of this off of this uh input shaft and it looked like it was getting hung up. So, even if the clutch was trying to disengage, the the fork, I'm sorry, the fork was trying to disengage the the throwout bearing, but the input shaft was still hung up. You can see the rust hung up. And what ends up happen is this throw out bearing just gets burned up.

[00:17:10]So, even if you push that clutch in and it's that stop brake is trying to stop that stop that that internal that internal spin, the input shaft, it's still going to spin and burn it up. So you can see that here. A lot of times, well, this clutch here. Let me see what type of clutch. This is a looks like a solo.

[00:17:32]It looks like a solo. And you can see it still had some life on it. You can see here it shows where to replace it.

[00:17:39]There's a wear indicator. This what I like about these Solo clutches as well.

[00:17:43]You can see wear indicators, but that's not always going to be the case. Here you can see how this clutch here is still has half a life. But since we there was issues with it getting hung up on the fork or on the input shaft tore up that tore up this um the back of this throwout bearing. Clutch is definitely going to need be to replace.

[00:18:06]This is what I talk about noises as well. If you push in your clutch and you can it's getting hung up, you can start hearing noises, rattling, anything like that. anything out of the ordinary, those are just early signs that you're having issues with your clutch. And there's different types of failures that we're going to discuss, but this is one here. This clutch, like I said, still had some life on it, but looks like it was getting hung up. And maybe this throw out bearing was never greased. It looks pretty dry.

[00:18:37]In the video that I discussed, the long form video, I was talking about how some of these grease lines never get this throw out bearing looks like it never gets never gets greased. Make sure you guys are getting your your throw out bearing greased every time you do a PM cuz this will definitely burn up sooner rather than later.

[00:18:57]Let's see what else we got.

[00:19:01]Here's a picture of the new a new clutch. And this is how they're supposed to look.

[00:19:08]Throttle bearing is smooth.

[00:19:11]There's no wear.

[00:19:13]Now, the throttle bearing has a clean surface. So, when you do push out, push down that clutch, it's going to make sure to be able to stop it, especially if it's not hung up. When we talk about installation, if you try to put this new clutch on a tore up input shaft like this, it's still going to get hung up. So, anytime you do any kind of repairs, make sure everything is inspected. Even these forks here, these forks can wear out.

[00:19:48]They have a bushing here that's bolted onto the housing. That bushing can get wore out, cause that fork to have a lot of play. it won't disengage it properly.

[00:19:57]So, a lot of times when you do clutches like this, I would recommend, and we'll go through this, but input shaft, if if the uh bell housings tore up like this, you may have to replace the bell housing. You can see the grease line fitting on this. And that's what happened. Exactly what happened. You see the grease line here?

[00:20:17]That's a section of the grease line that's supposed to connect to the throwout bearing, which is this one here. And that's what happened over time. It doesn't get greased. It will work. It will work for a little bit, but over over a time, it just gets overheated with no grease. And this is exactly what happens. You can see right here.

[00:20:40]You can see right here the other half of the grease line. It's all caked up. I didn't even recognize it at first, but this is the grease line, which is the other half of this section right here.

[00:20:51]But once that grease line is busted, you're no there's no way to grease it.

[00:20:55]Not a lot of no mechanic is a lot of mechanics are not going to open up this window and stick their hand in there to to grease it. What this does, this grease line is helps it be accessible to the side of the transmission. So ensure that your grease lines are good and you're able to get that get that greased up because if not, this is exactly what happens.

[00:21:17]Here's a picture of checking out the clutch through the sight window.

[00:21:26]Right here is a section in the sight window. When you look into these sight windows here inside the this is the site window at the bottom of the transmission bell housing.

[00:21:37]It's showing to replace. You can see it's close to replacement. That's what the technician is hide is highlighting here. Sometimes it's going to be that easy where you look in there and oh look the clutch is showing to be replaced.

[00:21:47]Need to be replaced. But as I mentioned in this first one, this first one still showed that it had life. Where'd it go?

[00:21:57]Let's go back to that one.

[00:22:02]Where was it?

[00:22:05]This one here still had some life in it.

[00:22:09]See the wear indicator is halfway. But in this video, in this uh clip, you can see the wear indicator is close to replacement. Anytime you get this close to replacement, I wouldn't push it because fixing a clutch on in a shop is going to be a lot easier and a lot less downtime and a lot cheaper than going on a going on the road.

[00:22:31]We're talking about clutches, clutch failures. Got some more clips and videos to show you, photos to show you. Let's move on.

[00:22:41]Now, let's move over to well, this is a setup for replacement. When I say you're going to replace a clutch, anytime you replace a clutch, ensure that this fork, this is a hydraulic setup, but as I mentioned, you see this bushing here on the fork, that fork is what pulls that throw out bearing out. Now, we're still talking about non-automated trucks. When it pulls that throwout bearing out, if you don't check this fork for excessive play, you're definitely going to have some problems. And as you can see here, we replaced the the um the input shaft, the input shaft bearing. And there's a bearing plate here where your throwout bearing is going to go against the stop brake. That first one was really wore.

[00:23:25]Let's go back to that one.

[00:23:28]As you can see, this is a war. This is a war one. And this is a new one.

[00:23:35]You can see the smoothness on the input shaft. It's very important to inspect these. If your input shaft looks like this, as I mentioned, and you throw a new clutch on there, you're still going to have the same problem. Most of the time when you replace clutches, a lot of these components need to be replaced so that you can make sure it's going to last you another 5 600,000 miles. And I know guys in the comments, let me know how long your clutch lasts. It depends on the drivers. As I mentioned, some drivers were trained to push that clutch in at every gear, which is not not good practice. It wears out that clutch a lot f faster. It wears out components.

[00:24:14]Appreciate everyone that's joined us.

[00:24:17]On the left side here or on this side here, as I mentioned, all components are replaced. This is going to guarantee that you have a solid clutch life on your new clutch. You don't want to go back like this. You don't want to go back with a wore out input shaft. And I'll show you some tools that we use whenever we do replace these because it's not just a easy bolt on, bolt off.

[00:24:38]There's a snap ring there and it can be a little complicated. It's not as easy as uh as it looks.

[00:24:47]You want to make sure you have the right equipment and right setup because it will it can be a pain in the butt.

[00:24:55]Here's a closeup of that throwout bearing. This is what I mentioned. No grease. gets hot and this is what happens over time. The throw out bearings just burn up like this, cause more damage. Some drivers will end up still pushing it to see if they can get to the next stop, but I wouldn't recommend it. This is the same throwout bearing that I showed you earlier, but it's a closeup of it. You can see the grease line busted here. All caked up.

[00:25:22]Hasn't been greased in a really long time. Make sure those grease lines are working.

[00:25:28]Here's the clutch bolted to the transmission.

[00:25:32]You can see the wear in this. A lot of wear.

[00:25:37]This is going to be making a lot of noise.

[00:25:41]And as I mentioned before, look at the life on this clutch. It's still halfway.

[00:25:45]This is the wear wear indicator. As you can see, I got my star on it right there. Over here is completely worn and replaced. Over here is new. You can see this clutch probably this throw bearing has not seen grease. Guys, make sure to get your thrott bearing greased.

[00:26:03]Now, let's talk about automated clutches. Automated clutches are a little different. A lot different, actually.

[00:26:11]When I say automated, these are semi-automated. So, they're still using a clutch actuator, but they're removing your actual pedal. You don't have a pedal. And the clutch face looks a little different.

[00:26:24]This is how the clutch face looks.

[00:26:28]Now you can see there's no throw out bearing. There's just these pressure plate here. Now the difference between a manual system and an automated system is instead of it pulling the throw out bearing out, now it's going to be pushing up against that clutch plate, this clutch face, and pulling the clutch clutch to disengage it. So it pushes pushes this section in instead of pulling. And what it does, it's going to pull it's going to do this section.

[00:26:56]Boom. Pull out. So when it pushes in, it pulls the clutch away from the flywheel.

[00:27:01]This is how automated clutches work.

[00:27:04]Very important to understand what kind of setup you have and go with the same type of clutch. Don't try to swap these.

[00:27:10]Make sure you check your serial number, check the part number. Even the flywheels on these can be set the setup's different. And I want to discuss how these wear out. In this particular clip, he's looking at he's showing the the actual clutch.

[00:27:26]And we're whenever you look for wear on these, there's no wear indicators, but you're going to look for the similar symptoms. Clutch slipping, noises, excessive when I when we talked about brake pad wear. You're going to see that around the housing. You're going to have excessive wear inside built up all caked up. All those brake brake uh brake material all caked up on there. On these particular setups here, you want to have a smooth surface. All these different points right here need to be smooth. If they become uneven, they come you you'll see them uneven. If you look from the side, they'll start becoming uneven.

[00:28:04]That's going to cause that's going to make your clutch not disengage properly, and you can have some issues. Let's talk more about how these work.

[00:28:14]Here's another picture of a worn clutch.

[00:28:17]This one's drowned drenched in oil.

[00:28:22]Another thing I want to mention, anytime you're doing these type of clutches, if you do have major oil leaks and stuff like that, it's time to get it fixed because all this oil is just going to go onto the go inside the transmission right here. Looked like it wasn't making it all the way in. Most of the time it's going to stay on the outside. You can see the flywheel housing has a lip, so it will kind of keep that oil out of there, but you still don't want to risk oil leaks going inside the clutch. It's going to wear it out a lot faster. But if we zoom in here, look at these look at these uh points here. This is where your clutch actuator is going to push up against the clutch.

[00:29:00]The difference between this is going to be pushing up against it and not pulling. But you can see it's wear. So instead of it wearing out the throwout bearing, it's going to be wearing out these pressure points here. And you can see that it's just wore out. Like as soon as it's put as soon as the the um the the clutch actuator is trying to push up against this clutch housing and it's still hung up, it's just going to wore out wear out like this. Definitely something to look for. This is what's going to cause hard shifting. Um hard hard shifting and noises. Definitely going to hear some noises when it comes to this here.

[00:29:39]You can see this. It's it's a it's what ends up happening is it becomes warp.

[00:29:44]Let's get a closer view of that. Here's a closer view of that here. And you can see how much wear.

[00:29:54]There's not supposed to be that much wear on there.

[00:29:57]You can see how sharp these edges are.

[00:29:59]This is what we're looking for when we take a when we start having issues with automated systems and we pull it pull it apart. You can see how much wear is on this.

[00:30:09]Definitely not disengaging the clutch clutch could be getting hung up, not going into gear.

[00:30:16]Big issue that we see. So, let's look at the clutch actuator. This is what presses presses up against that section is a clutch actuator.

[00:30:26]When we talk about automated systems, they're not automatic. A lot of people will get crazy if you call them automatic. They're what's happened is it's just removing, as I mentioned, the driver. All it's using is an actuator to push up against that clutch. And these are the actuators. The actuators are air driven. You can see the airline here.

[00:30:46]There's an airline going to the stop brake. And you, this is an electric, this is an electric one, but this here is just to show the position of it. One thing I want to mention while we're here is on automated systems, it's just as important to get the clutch adjusted.

[00:31:02]But what's going to happen is you're going to get the clutch actuator calibrated. You're going to need software to do this. So, you don't want to skip that as well. I would recommend getting it done at least once a year because if you don't get the clutch actuator adjusted or calibrated, you don't adjust them, you calibrate them, it's going to what ends up happening if the clutch starts to wear and the pressure is not pushing it like it's supposed to and you don't calibrate it, you're going to start burning up that clutch faster. it's going to start slipping because if the clutch actuator is not adjusted or calibrated, it's not going to be able to push that that plate in all the way to disengage the clutch all the way. So, that's where you'll get clutch slipping, issues like that. So, it's just as important. It's just as important. Just because you have an automated system doesn't mean, hey, I don't have to worry about anything. No, this is very important. Also, whenever you do repairs like this, be be prepared to replace these clutch actuators as well. Just as you're replacing forks, you're going to replace clutch actuators, too. And these are a little bit different. They're not going to be running a uh traditional stop brake.

[00:32:11]They have internal stop brakes here.

[00:32:12]It's on the side, which I'll discuss a little bit later. But what it does, it's going to slow that input shaft down internally. It's not going to use a stop brake, a traditional stop brake. It uses is use an internal stop brake and there's disc in here which should be replaced as well. All these components are going to need to be replaced if you want to ensure you your clutch is going to last a long time. If you don't replace it, there's no guarantee you're going to get the same amount of the same amount of mileage out of that clutch as before. If you do all the right procedures and you follow OEM procedures, I'm we're very big on OEM procedures. We even have extra procedures at our shop to make sure this is why I have so many photos because we we take photos of every step that we take so we can ensure that everything's done correctly. And you can see here this electrical connector here, it it needs to be stowed away properly. We've had issues where a clutch was a clutch was replaced once before and it ended up failing pretty quickly because this line here was not secured properly. ended up rub rubbing against the flywheel or the clutch housing and burning it up and causing problems. And there's not easy access. As you can see, these bell housings are completely closed, unlike the first one that we looked at earlier.

[00:33:32]Let's see. Let's go back to that. You have somewhat of an opening here. You have somewhat in an opening. Even whenever you go to look inside the these older clutches, these older setups, you see there's an opening. There's no opening on these.

[00:33:48]They're completely closed. The good thing is you don't have to worry about greasing these. So, if you do have an automated system, you don't have to grease these. But, I'm going to discuss later on something that's even more important than greasing. So, make sure you guys are stay tuned because I want to discuss those as well. Let's move right along.

[00:34:07]Let's see what else we got.

[00:34:10]Okay. I don't want to jump to that one yet. Here's another picture of the clutch actuator.

[00:34:18]As I mentioned, make sure everything's stowed away properly. These lines here, they get neglected a lot. The internal stop brake that I mentioned earlier is also air driven. And you can see how this line actually is replaced. Always good practice to replace those lines.

[00:34:34]You don't want to put all this back together and then you have this line fell on you, which is the internal stop brake here above that runs here to this internal stop brake. You don't want that to fail because what's going to happen, it's going to feel like it's still not going to go in gear. It's going to be grinding because the air if this line leaks here, and it will over time, this line starts to leak and you're not getting enough air pressure to that internal stop brake and you'll have grinding. So that's very important to replace as well.

[00:35:07]Here's a trans here's an shift transmission. So you can see a better setup of how these are put on these trucks.

[00:35:15]Now this is an eye shift, but most of these automated systems are going to be the same. They have a clutch actuator, internal brake. You can see the internal brake line here ran by air. Make sure air is I mean air is very important for these trucks even for the older trucks because when you're doing the split and you use that splitter valve if you have issues with air and it gets contaminated. We'll talk about that later. I'll show you some contamination that really really causes some issues.

[00:35:47]You don't want that happening.

[00:35:50]Let's move right along.

[00:35:55]Also, with these input shafts as well, it's the same way on the on the regular manual shifting automated systems are the same. If you have a tore up input shaft, go ahead and replace it. A lot of times, if you guys are getting these done with someone that doesn't do these often and they're just going to just throw you another clutch on there and try to save you some money, this is not the place to save money, especially when it comes to clutches. if if they're an automated system or even a regular manual system. If you're skipping the throwout bearing or I'm sorry the clutch uh clutch fork, if you're skipping that input shaft, any of those are going to give you some problems. Here's a better picture of that internal brake. You can see the airline here. We replace the airlines anytime we do that. And we also mark everything. As I mentioned, we have more procedures than regular shops are.

[00:36:47]Our our standards are above um the industry standards. We have more standards than most other shops do.

[00:36:54]We've had even guys that used to that come from dealers that I mean they some of them will last long. Some of them feel like we're doing more than what dealers do. But the reason why we do this because dealers will just throw stuff on and not record it and not torque it and not record that it's torqued or mark each boat and throw everything back together and you have issues all the way down the road. We don't want that for our customers. So, this is why we have extra procedures.

[00:37:21]Shout out to all our technicians that follow our procedures. I know sometimes it can be a headache, but this is why we do it. We do it for our customers. And we don't want comebacks.

[00:37:30]Here's another in another highlight of this line here.

[00:37:34]Very important line. A lot of people skip this. I'm going to discuss how this internal break works here shortly. So, make sure you stay tuned.

[00:37:42]And then at the end of the broadcast, I will be answering questions. So, if you got any questions, make sure to hit me up in the in the chat. I don't have my uh chat box up here. I was too busy organizing my photos. Next time, I'll make sure our chat box is here. But I see you guys here. I see you guys in the chats. I see them down here. They're just not popping up on the screen here.

[00:38:03]But I do see them. So, make sure to hit me up. lot of our got a lot of guys here that uh we got somebody here from uh got a guy just mentioned he just did a job just like this today that's just proves that shows that we these clutches that burn up all the time we see it all the time thanks for joining us got a someone here from uh Harrisburg Pennsylvania thanks for joining us what's up Francisco you pet says, "Thanks for sharing your knowledge."

[00:38:40]Also got uh son of mine, too. What's up, man? Thanks for joining us. Appreciate you always chiming in on every on everything that we post. Local mechanic, I believe you're out of Houston, aren't you? Appreciate you joining us, too. AC says, "Good content." Thank you. Thank you for the comment. Hello, Emily. How are How are you? Thank you for joining us. Let's keep on moving. Let's keep on moving and see what else we got to cover here. Let's talk about that internal break. Here's a breakdown of the internal brake. Okay, this is what this section is right here. So, instead of a stop brake, as I mentioned, where the throwout bearing is going to be pulled back against the clutch housing or the transmission housing and against a stop brake to slow down the input shaft. here on an automated system, it uses these friction pads internally. So, it uses air to engage these friction pads. And these friction pads is what slow the input shaft down on an automated system.

[00:39:42]So, when you're coming to a stop, the clutch actuator gets pushed in to disengage the clutch. And then air gets added to this section here to these pressure plates or these friction pads.

[00:39:54]and it slows that slows that clutch or slows the input shaft down so it can go on gear. If you skip this part, if you don't replace these and you just throw everything back together, you're definitely going to have some problems. As you can see here, we do replace that. That's part of the procedures. It's very important to follow OEM procedures. This is a DT12 and definitely want to replace those friction pads because they can wear they wear out just like it. It's almost like replacing a clutch on a manual system without replacing the stop brake. It It would still give you problems with not being able to go in gear, hard shifting, stuff like that. And then the only solution is tearing everything back down again. Not fun. So, let's talk about installation.

[00:40:40]Installation is just as important, you guys. If you want your clutch to last long, make sure everything is getting replaced properly. I know people are like, "Oh, there's too many parts to replace." But guys, any of these steps that get skipped, any of these small steps that get skipped, like this airline here, the internal brake, uh the input shaft worn, even the um there's a there's bearings on the back of this input shaft, and which I'll show you as well. If you skip these steps, you're going to end up having the same problem as I mentioned before. Another thing you don't want to skip is rear main seals.

[00:41:18]This is a tool that we use. This is a Volvo. When anytime you replace a clutch and you put everything back together, if you don't replace these rear main seals, they will leak. Now, why why do they leak? Because when you put a new clutch on, it's going to grab the flywheel at a a bigger grab. It's going to be grabbing it a lot harder. When that happens, it starts to flex. This this seal will flex. The rear main seal will flex. And if you use the same rear main seal and you put a new clutch on there and it's grabbing a lot more, it's transferring all that torque to that transmission, it will flex and it will leak. And if it does leak, guess what happens? Rework.

[00:42:01]You have to take everything back down.

[00:42:03]Now, I'll put this tool up for a reason.

[00:42:05]A lot of these guys out here, I see clips out here where they're, you know, put picking out these even even removing these seals. If you're not using the right tools, you can damage the crankshaft. You can damage the housing.

[00:42:18]And trying to hammer these seals in with that with not using the right tool. Just trying to hammer and tap them in. Save you some money and not buy the tool.

[00:42:27]It's not going to work. It's not going to work. If you try to tap these in without using, this is goes on any vehicle, especially on semi-truckss. If you're trying to replace seals and you're not using the right tool, you're risking chance of it seal leaking again.

[00:42:42]and definitely causing some problems because it was going to leak again.

[00:42:48]Here's a here's a seal actually installed. You may look at that seal and be like, "Oh man, I don't need no tool for that. That's an easy that's an easy seal. I can I can install that with a socket." No, you can't. You might be able to get it in there. But once you put everything back together, if it starts leaking, guess what? You're going to do it again. So using the right tools, even removing these, I see all different types of way of removing these, but using the right tools to remove these because a lot of times if you try to remove these without the tools, you will use selftap screws screws, but with a self with the selftap screws and the remover tool, it keeps it centered. It will keep it centered. You can see it right here. Let's go back to that last photo.

[00:43:34]You see how it has these pilot holes here? Those pilot holes will allow that screw to stay straight. If you try to do it without this, there's possibility that you can go sideways and scrape the housing. Let's go back.

[00:43:50]Scrape the housing here. And these these housings are not easy to replace. It's the whole back of nowadays it's the whole back of the trans whole back of the engine. Here's a bolt here. But this is this is part of the rear gear housing. This flywheel housing is is part of the whole gear housing. So, if you damage this, you're you're you're changing a small job into a huge job. Replacing the whole back of the flywheel housing, which is back of the gear train on on modern engines. It's the whole back of the engine. You don't want to risk damage it. And on the other side is the crank.

[00:44:25]This is the actual crank. So, if you damage that crank, you scratch it, that seal won't be able to seal up there properly, and you can cause some some leakage. So, make sure you use the right tools.

[00:44:36]Back to installation. When we talk about input shafts, you want to use the right tools as well. Input shafts are not easy to replace. They look like they're easy.

[00:44:45]You can do it by hand, but you want to be able to use the tools to get everything back in there, right, and installed correctly. This is a input shaft tool that you're going to use to replace it. Now, this is not going to be an automated. This is going back to that manual transmission with the broken grease line. Here, you can still see the broken grease line. got to replace those because if they have too much play and you go back on it, that that that input shaft is going to end up having too much play and getting hung up on the fly on the inside of that clutch and cause some problems. See what else we got here.

[00:45:24]Input shaft replaced on this one as well.

[00:45:28]Brand new input shaft. nice clean spline uh splines splines.

[00:45:35]Correct me if I'm wrong. As you can see here, there's a bearing back here. And that bearing is set in there by a snap ring. You might be able to try to get that snap ring off, but if you don't have the right tools, which is this one, to get everything back in, it is a pain in the butt.

[00:45:52]Definitely going to cause the the job to go a lot longer. And then you have to wait on tools. Sometimes these bearings, these input shaft bearings are going to go bad as well. So, make sure when you do have the clutch removed.

[00:46:06]I would just make sure you're using a quality shop. If you're in a DFW area, give us a shout. 972-2253017.

[00:46:14]As you can see, we have all the tools.

[00:46:16]We have all the knowledge to get these done correctly. I don't want to put dealers down, but we sometimes we're better. We are better in deal than dealers in some places because some of these guys don't like their job. They don't like being there. Our guys, we make sure our morale is up. A lot of guys, we they take pride in their in their work. Our guys, all our guys take pride in their work. And if you're a diesel technician out there, you should do the same. You should take pride in your work. Don't try to rush through these jobs. I know sometimes they can be a headache. But guys, you don't want to put these back together and rushing and then having you turn around and redo it again. Let's keep on moving. Here is another shot of that rear main seal. As I mentioned, once you have the seal removed, this is the back of the crank.

[00:47:02]This is the crank inside the engine. So, if you try to remove those seals incorrectly or even when you do use a tool and you don't clean this up correctly, there's possibilities of it leaking again. Since we have this up here, I want to mention when you go back on with the flywheel, we've seen this a lot of times. I know you're probably like, "Oh, who who would do that?" We've seen these flywheels.

[00:47:25]You see how they have a pilot? There's a a pin. That pin needs to be lined up with a flywheel. There's going to be another hole where that flywheel can go on. If that's not on there correctly, you're throwing the time off on the truck because these flywheels going to have sensors. And if they're off, not only are you going to damage it, we've had an issue where a clutch came in. Uh, just got replaced from another shop.

[00:47:50]Brand new clutch, brand new flywheel.

[00:47:52]Guy didn't know what was going on. It wouldn't go into gear. It was acting up.

[00:47:55]Got it towed to our shop. I was like, "Well, we're going to have to tear everything back down because we got to make sure everything's done correctly."

[00:48:02]Oh, well, it just got done. I don't want to tear everything back down again.

[00:48:05]Well, I'm sorry, but we we have to. So, finally, we got the okay to tear everything down. We tear everything down and this this pin right here was not lined up and whoever installed it just slapped it on and bolted it down, cracked the new flywheel, damaged, had to get another flywheel, end up messing up the clutch because it kept slipping and burning up. Just a whole headache, guys. So, make sure you guys are using the right shop when getting this stuff done. It's very important. Back to tools. Whenever you go to install these, you got to use these alignment tools, especially on these automated trucks because it's not going to be that easy to work that input shaft in. Once you have that transmission off and you try to stab it back in if you don't have the right alignment tools, it is going to be a headache. It is not as easy as these older clutches where you sometimes you could just throw it on and wrestle that transmission on there. Not that easy.

[00:49:03]Not that easy, especially with these automated systems. But I like the design. Look at look at instead of just sections of friction pads, look how it has a whole disc of friction pads, bigger springs.

[00:49:16]So I mean a lot of these trucks are going automated, guys. I know a lot of pe these people are they don't like automated systems, but they are all most of them are all going automated. So like it or love it, they're here. Just like after treatment systems, they're not going away.

[00:49:34]Torquing procedures. Very important.

[00:49:36]Don't skip torquing procedures.

[00:49:39]Some people will just hit this with an impact and and say it's okay. No. You can see the tools still in place. The alignment tool still in place. This helps the technician helps everybody.

[00:49:49]Once you put everything back together, that transmission should slide right in.

[00:49:54]And there's also some bench testing that you're going to be doing. Not bench, but off the truck.

[00:50:00]See what else we got.

[00:50:02]Rear main seal install. As I mentioned, do not skip this. Very important part.

[00:50:07]Don't want to skip that rear main seal.

[00:50:09]Turn around, start leaking as soon as you get everything back together.

[00:50:14]Flywheel.

[00:50:16]Flywheel is very important to torque as well. Do not just slap these flywheels on with a gun and thinking it's okay.

[00:50:24]Recording each. He's recording each torque.

[00:50:28]Got the flywheel locked in place.

[00:50:31]Everything's getting torqued down.

[00:50:32]Recorded.

[00:50:34]This covers us. Make sure nothing's happening. When I talk about the right tools, now this is an older clutch.

[00:50:42]I say older clutch, but I should say a non-automated clutch. This is a regular manual manual clutch.

[00:50:51]And you can see here the tools make it this much easier trying to wrestle these back on there. If you don't have a clutch jack, guys, if you're out there working on these trucks and you don't have a clutch jack, make sure to put invest in one. It's the best thing you can get. Also, if you're an owner operator and you're looking for a shop that to do a clutch job and they're wrestling clutches on there, that's a bad indicator right there. Even if they tell you, I've done this 100 times.

[00:51:17]Okay. Well, I mean, not using tools and aligning things correctly, there's there is going to be failures.

[00:51:25]right here on these on these solo clutches, these clutches that are they adjust on their own, there's bolts that hold the clutch completely together. So, if you're ever removing one of these, you got to put these bolts back in because on a solo clutch, if you remove the clutch without putting these bolts and holding it in place, it'll lose its adjustments. It'll lose the whole adjustment and you won't be able to use the clutch again.

[00:51:50]Let's see what else we got here. You know what? I got to had a video here. We talked about air actuators and bench testing.

[00:51:59]This tech the technician here since all these transmissions, these automated systems are running off of air, it's a good idea to test them off the truck.

[00:52:09]This is a very common leak here on a on a shift on a Volvo. These air fittings will leak all the time. And here you could say, hey, you know what? That's not a big deal. But that clutch actuator that I mentioned earlier, if there's not enough air going to the transmission, it's not going to be able to disengage that clutch all the way and then you'll have some slippage. So, air leaks are just as important on any transmission.

[00:52:35]So, don't skip that. Make sure to get that.

[00:52:39]See what else we got here.

[00:52:42]Pilot bearings. Now, these pilot bearings go Let me find a clip.

[00:52:49]I'll show you where this pilot bearing goes.

[00:52:53]This is where the pilot bearing goes.

[00:52:56]Right in the middle of the flywheel.

[00:52:57]Now, what does a pilot bearing do?

[00:53:01]Wrong clip.

[00:53:03]What does a pilot bearing do? Where is that clip at?

[00:53:09]Oh, I went back. Here we go.

[00:53:12]Is this it? No, this one's it. Okay. So, the pilot bearing makes sure that the input shaft is centered. The input shaft is very long. It goes in, it goes inside the clutch. And on the other side, it's going to stick right here. It's going to stick right here to the flywheel pilot bearing. If the pilot bearing is not the right size, too loose. This one's just a barely a little loose. But you want to make sure the pilot bearing is the right size. You got to hammer these back in using a an installer. But what the pilot bearing does, it keeps that it keeps that shaft centered. If that pilot bearing wears out, that's one of the noises you're going to hear. You'll hear it while you're idling or you hear it while you're driving. That's one of the noises that can happen. Also, something else that needs to be replaced whenever you do a clutch.

[00:54:04]Pilot bearings are just as important and just as important. See what else we got here.

[00:54:10]Uh, this is another picture of a of the clutch being torqued.

[00:54:20]Oh, lost me.

[00:54:25]Of the clutch being torqued down, marked. Something you don't want to skip. Now, clutches are not going to be tightened down too crazy. You put some Loctite on there and you're going to torque them down. Don't hit them with a gun. Some people hit them with a gun.

[00:54:39]Strip it out. Mess it up. These are not something you're going to be just hitting with the impact and saying it's okay.

[00:54:49]Do not skip these steps, guys.

[00:54:53]All right.

[00:54:55]Another thing whenever I'm mentioning jobs, if you're down here below and you're already down here and you're already already down this deep into this truck, this guy had worn rear engine mounts.

[00:55:12]Now, if you're down here and you see worn engine mounts, rear engine mounts, you already have the transmission off.

[00:55:19]Yeah, you might not want to spend that extra money. You might all the technicians just trying to get me to spend more money. That's not the case because if worn engine mounts is going to be the truck when the truck takes off, it's going to clink clink, it's going to move. The whole engine feels like it's moving. Now, these engine mounts are very important. If they're not, if they're wore out and you just go ahead and throw another clutch on there, brand new clutch on there, you're going to have some wear and it's going to end up costing you more down the road because you have to tear this back down again. And it's not an easy job removing the oil pan, supporting the back of the engine. As you can see, the whole engine needs to be lifted so that you can take the weight off the back of the engine to replace these. A lot of these mounting rear mounting um engine mounts are going to be in different locations. They're not going to be easy to replace if the transmissions on it. So, if you're already down there, go ahead and replace the engine mounts if they're worn.

[00:56:14]Save you some time.

[00:56:17]Back to installation. Transmission's back on. Everything's marked. Make sure don't skip these steps. Again, we're not using impacts.

[00:56:28]Drive these on because these housings, as I showed you earlier, these housing are actually aluminum. They're aluminum housing. So, if you try to just tighten these down with a gun, you can end up having some stripping them out. It won't hold that transmission on there. Another thing that I want to mention is if you do have a clutch replacement, it's always good practice to get it checked out maybe a month or two down the road, take it back to the shop, make sure that the transmission bolts didn't come loose. A lot of times they won't come loose, but it's good to get good to get them checked out because sometimes they will strip without someone knowing.

[00:57:08]That's why torquing is better, not using a gun. But even with torquing, sometimes they can get loose because even if you look at Eaton's manual, it will say that you want to check out transmission bolts regularly. It's not something that you want to do during a pre-trip. But if you have the truck in once a year, ask them to check all the bolts if they can check your transmission bolts to make sure nothing comes loose because when transmission bolts comes loose, you'll have the transmission start to come loose. You won't be able to get it in gear. You'll think it's something else.

[00:57:38]You think it's a clutch. definitely cause some problems.

[00:57:42]The last thing that I want to discuss, one of the most important things, this is not only on automated systems, but on manual systems as well, is the air system.

[00:57:52]As I mentioned earlier, air is what's driving these actuators on these newer model trucks. And even the shifters, the shifters for the splitter gear, they also use air. So, if you're not if you're skipping this, this is a main problem we see as well when it comes to contaminated systems is air systems getting contaminated. These are air these are air dryers and you can see that they being neglected. Replace air dryers at least once a year because you think, oh, you know what? I could skip an air dryer. Don't skip the air dryer because what can end up being just an air dryer, this contamination gets into the transmission, gets into the actuator, the actuator is not working right now. You have a burned off clutch.

[00:58:38]Replacing all these act placing an actuator, replacing clutch, flywheel, input shafts. All this could be avoided is if you replace the dryer. Now, some of these dryers are not going to be able to some of the dryer filters won't be able to get replaced because they've been waiting too long. If it's anything over two years, these dryer filters will not come off. The whole housing will need to be replaced. That's why it's important to replace them once a year.

[00:59:04]Yeah. Once a year. Because once they're like this, that's it. That's it. And these luckily were able to be removed, but you can still see the buildup that's inside the dryer. The filters replaced, but the look at all this buildup still in the dryer. It's And imagine what's in the system. So, this is what I wanted to discuss today, guys. I hope you guys got some good information from this. If you are seeing any kind of slipping, excessive heat, noises, hard shifting, burning smell, high engagement with the high engagement on the with the with the transmissions with the setups that have a clutch, the high engagement, you'll start seeing the truck take off at a high at the with the pedal being higher. Usually, you'll take off as soon as the pedal starts releasing, the truck starts taking off.

[00:59:53]If the pedal starts becoming higher, even with a even with a hydraulic setup, that's an indicator that your clutch is getting wore out. So, make sure to get those checked out because if you wait too long, it would definitely cost you more. Let's see if I got any questions.

[01:00:07]If not, we're going to go ahead and wrap it up.

[01:00:10]Emily says, "I replace a clutch disc and later had a problem with the clutch selecting." Okay. Um, well, I'll need some more information on that. If it's not able clutch selecting, what does that mean? Are you are you meaning that it's not been able to get in gear?

[01:00:28]That's why I mentioned at the beginning of the video, go with OEM parts. A lot of times when you replace these um clutches on an automated system, you want to replace all the components. The clutch actuator, clutch actuator on the front side of this. Make sure that input shaft is good.

[01:00:51]Make sure to change that internal brake because if that's wore out, that's that can give you some problems with it going in gear. Going back to this photo here.

[01:01:00]Where is it at?

[01:01:06]It's not coming up. Let's see if it's still up here.

[01:01:17]If you're not changing out all the components and inspecting everything correctly, you'll have issues with it not going in gear.

[01:01:26]Also, make sure you're following OEM procedures whenever you're replacing these clutch actuators because if you're not, definitely have some problems. These clutch actuators OEM steps are going to show you exactly how to calibrate them before you go in. Even after you install, you want to make sure you calibrate everything. If things aren't calibrated correctly, Emily, I would suggest trying to calibrate it. If it's not calibrating, and what I do like about automated systems is you are you're able to use diagnostic software to run different tests while the transmission is still on the truck, while everything's still together to try to pinpoint where the problem is.

[01:02:05]because sometimes those problems aren't going to be easy to find. As I mentioned, if you're not replacing these internal brakes, that can give you some problems, too. Air leaks, making sure your air is right, your air pressure is right when you're when you're bench testing these. You can see if air is the right air is going to the system. If it's not, that's definitely going to give you some problems. I hope that helped you out, Emily. If not, hit me up. You can hit us up at info@ tatexpress.com.

[01:02:30]And guys, if you're in the DFW and you're looking for a quality clutch replacement, hit us up 972-2253017.

[01:02:38]We'll be more than happy to help you out. We have express service. We have parts houses just right up the block from us, so we where we're able to get all the parts that you need. Give us a shout, guys. If you're catching this on the replay, hit me up in the comments below. We'll be more than happy to help you. We'll see you next