dannyual777

My slave cylinder went out on me suddenly about 2 months ago and I did a lot of research on these hydraulic clutch systems before I started my work.

I bought the AP brand of clutch master and slave cylinders (from Autozone) that everyone claims is what GM uses. For what it's worth, my original OEM parts that I removed had the AP cast in them so I believe that these are what GM used. Maybe the quality isn't the same these days.

I've got a Monster remote bleeder hose and I've bled the system twice with it. I've also used a MityVac to bleed it with the vacuum method. There is no sponginess to the pedal. It's firm and at about the same level as the brake pedal It's hard to believe that there is still air in the system but what do I know?

It's a pain driving this car with the clutch engaging and disengaging so close to the floor. My 5.0 Mustang is nothing like this and it feels like I have to learn to drive a manual transmission all over again every time I jump in the Trans Am . The car is "jerky" as well because my clutch pedal/gas pedal timing is now off. I can't get used to it because I drive my Mustang just as much as the T/A.

I'll try bleeding again just in case. Short of replacing my new master cylinder with a Tick, is there anything else that I've overlooked or that I can try to get my clutch to engage a little higher up?

gmdoctor

iTrader: (3)

Same prob here. I ordered a tick master to try and remedy the problem.
Btw my slave is also shimmed to the correct height so if this doesnt fix it im gonna put in a new slave

Jeremy@RPMTransmissions

iTrader: (12)

I personally haven't had much luck with the remote bleeders. All the ones I've used have leaked air back into the system. I would put a shim behind the slave, take the remote bleeder off and bleed it from under the car. If that doesn't work it might be time to replace the slave with a GM unit. I have seen some aftermarket "AP" units that are actually cheap chinese copys of the original GM unit and they don't work nearly as well.

Good luck and I hope you get it figured out soon. Hydraulic issues are always a headache.

dannyual777

Please come back and post how the Tick works out for you.

Danny

dannyual777

Jeremy, obviously removing my bleeder hose is going to require pulling the trans again and I'm not quite at that point yet. found that it was a pain to open and close the bleeder screw and it was also easy to see how air could get into the system using it. I ended up submerging the whole end of the hose in a Smuckers jelly jar half full of brake fluid. I figured that anything sucked back into the system would be brake fluid. On the last pump of the clutch pedal, my wife held the pedal down and I removed the hose out of the jar of brake fluid and tightened up the screw.

I thought that shims were required if the flywheel has been cut (surfaced.) My flywheel is GM original and I didn't even remove it when I changed out my clutch hydraulics. Clutch disc and pressure plate are also factory original.

As far as the slave cylinder goes, I asked a lot of questions on this website about the AP slaves. Pretty much everyone said that the AP slave is the GM slave. With the lack of quality control and the fact that everything is chinese made junk these days, it wouldn't surprise me if mine actually is the problem. Or perhaps its the master cylinder. I wish that I would've kept my original master cylinder because I'd reinstall it and see if that fixed my problem.

FasTimeSS

iTrader: (47)

Might be time for a new master cylinder or a new clutch assembly.

dannyual777

As I stated in my first post, the master cylinder is brand new. I've owned the car since it was brand new and it has just over 25,000 miles on it. Clutch was perfect before the slave cylinder seals gave out two months ago.

VandykeT/A

I replaced the slave,master, and line in my 2000 SS that I just bought because the clutch pulled right off the floor and it locked me out of gear at high rpm. After I replaced it with a autozone slave, advance master, and a 2002 line it feels exactly how it was before. I don't know if it locks me out of gear anymore because I haven't driven it because of steering column problems but I don't have a remote bleeder and I had been bleeding it the old fashioned way. I'm going to try driving it for a while and bleed it some more but I was starting to think it was what stock hydraulics felt like lol. I've had ticks in my other cars for to long.

gmdoctor

iTrader: (3)

for anyone one the fence about the tick unit and clutch engagment issues. Save yourself a bunch of time and headaches and just BUY THE TICK!!!!
it works fantastic.

dannyual777

Doc, thanks for posting back with your Tick results .

oldmano2z

tick ,tick, tick. speed bleeder emersed in brake fluid no problems. tick master with their hydro line to slave , no problems. as for getting used to disengage close to floor, practice makes perfect. people need to stand back look at the obstacle and approach with a clear head. this stuff is easy. just take yourtime it all works out.oooh i sound like a dad now. opps oldman....

dannyual777

The problem for me is the fact that I also drive a 5.0 Mustang with a "normal" clutch. Makes it really tough to get used to this Trans Am clutch disengaging so close to the floor.

Its not just getting used to it. Its the fact that its not supposed to be that way. Whats wrong with wanting something to work the way that its supposed to work? In this day and age of poor quality stuff, I think that we've lowered our standards bar and have come to accept stuff that we really shouldn't be accepting!

gmdoctor

iTrader: (3)

thats the key here, "low quality stuff". seems like theres alot of cheap made parts floating around for these cars.
companies like tick are stepping up and catering to a market of people who want quality parts.
to the guys at tick, keep up the good work

raysadude

iTrader: (11)

I have the same thing happening to me as of now, just finished installing new LS7 clutch kit with new GM master and slave cylinder, new thorwout bearing and pilot bearing. Bled the clutch with JMD method, pedal is solid but clutch would engage when the pedal rather close to the floor.when I depressed the pedal it sits as high as the brake pedal.

I'm thinking maybe there's still air in the system but it doesn't make sense if that's causing the clutch to engage real close to the floor. I don't think that shims are required also since my old setup which was the same exact setup that I put in the car didn't have it and the clutch engaged higher than it is now.

Let me know how yours turn out, I'm going to bleed mine some more and I'll let you know how mine goes.

dannyual777

I'm going to bleed mine some more just in case. It's hard for me to believe that there is any air in the system but who knows?

Anyway, I've still got my stock, factory clutch as well as the stock factory flywheel so there are no shims. The only parts that are different than factory are the new AP slave cylinder and new AP master cylinder.

My clutch pedal is about the same height as the brake pedal. Engagement and disengagement are very close to the floor. Not even close to stock .

raysadude

iTrader: (11)

well that makes me thinking your problem would be in the hydraulic system then, given everything in the clutch stays the same and you changed the hydraulic. did you ever notice if the AP slave and the GM slave are different in size? i doubt it but im just thinking out loud..

oh and by the way you should try to bleed using JMD method, it worked really good, it was my first time bleeding clutch and i didnt even bench bleed the master, and i got the pedal feel back in less than 30 mins.

raysadude

iTrader: (11)

hey man i fixed my problem, bled it 2 more times and now it's excellent.

dannyual777

I've got a remote bleeder hose from Monster that I installed during the transmission R&R for the hydraulics replacement. I've bled using the hose and I've bled using the MityVac method at the clutch master cylinder. That was well over a month ago and I haven't tried bleeding it again, yet.


That's excellent! Later this week, I should have some time to bleed mine again. I've got plenty of brake fluid just waiting!