ScottyG

I was having chatter problems with my new RAM 910 VDS. It was fine at first but after a few hundred miles the chatter got BAD. A new 145 slave and McLeod master went in with it.

I just got through test driving the car, and I'm MUCH happier with the way the clutch is acting. Here's what I did:

I bled the clutch hydraulics, and adjusted the pedal so that it engages about an inch off the floor. That improved the clutch chatter DRAMATICALLY. There's still a little chatter, but totally tolerable. No worse than the Cartek I ran for 25k miles. I'll be content if it stays like this.

I bench bled both the master and the slave, but there must've been a little air left in the system. I also insulated the clutch braided line where it gets close to the header tubes.

I also swapped the 50k stock trans mount with a new 1LE mount,

I changed out the trans fluid since it has 500 miles since the rebuild. It had a few particles in it, but I guess that's normal for a new break-in. It may be my imagination, but the trans is shifting MUCH MUCH better.

Bottom line, the car appears to be daily street drivable again. I made two back-to-back hard, full 1/4 mile passes, shifting at redline, and everything stayed consistent and the shifting was better than it's been since I can remember.

We'll have to wait and see if it stays this way.

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

mikey

iTrader: (6)

Told Ya! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

The key is the engagement point.

Mikey

ScottyG

Thanks for the recommendation mikey. I would never have guessed that the point of engagement would have had such a big effect.

Later...

CamM

Thanks for the post. My 910 disc will about rattle your teeth out without the proper launch. Either a slow creep and release the pedal slowly or a good blip of the throttle and ride the clutch out of the hole. Lots of chatter otherwise...is this what you experienced? I haven't tried bleeding the hydralics but I've played with the clutch pedal engagement point numerous times without much luck. Any ideas? Same experience??

<small>[ November 11, 2002, 02:11 PM: Message edited by: CamM ]</small>

ScottyG

Sounds VERY similar. Mine was so bad that I quit driving the car until I had the time to work on it (two weeks!)....it was really pissing me off.

I am very tolerant of noise, vibration, ride quality, etc, so for me to park the car for that long.....it means it was pretty bad.

Good luck.

Stick only

What rear gearing do you two have? This plays a CRITICAL part of smooth engagement with any aggressive friction material. I too am a little suprised that the pedal position made a difference, seems with the hydraulic bearing the pressure would be constant no matter what since it is linear <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> .

ScottyG

Looks like we both have 4.11's

mikey

iTrader: (6)

If the engagement point is too far up, the disk does not fully engage and causes chatter. We have seen this on multiple occasions.

Mikey

Stick only

So it seems that reducing the release length is in effect giving the clutch less chance to start chattering...hmmm makes sense.

CamM

However...moving the clutch pedal further down for me in the past has made changing gears difficult or it wouldn't go in gear at all. This was done specifically after the clutch install.

My clutch pedal currently is slightly above the level of the brake pedal. I will try to lower the pedal again since I have over 5k miles on the clutch now. I just changed out my tranny mount from a poly to a 1LE mount and it helped on the severity of the chatter some. Any other suggestions?

Stick only

I believe that is just a function of how far the fingers are moving. If they are not travelled far enough for clean disengagement, the dragging will occur.

The best reason to keep the pedal low is to not OVER travel the fingers, which is what can cause clutch 'sticking open' at high rpm, often seen with stock clutches.

Viper

iTrader: (6)

FWIW, when I installed my RAM 980 disk with new slave and McLeod master, we set it at 1" off the floor. After break in ( 500 miles ) it had risen to 2-1/2". I played with the setting for a while after that but now it's at 1 1/2" and it's great.