Well just worked on the clutch again. I made a plate that covers the hole were the slave bolts to the bell. I then drilled a hole in the center welded a nut to it and treaded a long bolt in it. The bolt acts as the push rod in the slave. I then ran it in until the throw out bearing hit the fingers. I then ran it in 3/4 inch more. SB said that is all that is needed to release the clutch. I then jacked up the rear of the truck and started it. It still would not go into gear. So the clutch was still not disengaged. SB said if that didnt make shifting easier that it was the clutch or tranny not the hydros. I dont think so. I then ran the bolt in till 1 1/4inch started truck and guess what truck shifted almost perfect. I think it needs to go in more but I am a little scared to try that I want to talk to Peter at SB first. I then took the push rod out of the slave and took the black nylon end off of my stock slave rod and installed it on the end that goes into the slave of the SB slave. This seemed to help shifting while I test drove it but I still think it needs to be spaced out more. Now my problem is it grinds when it goes into 4th. It started doing this about 2 days ago. I think that problem maybe related to switching to Royal Purple. I was told that the syncro's actually need friction to work properly. So I am going to switch it back to regular gear oil and try that.

 

You need to run the right oil in the tranny Castrol Syntorq I believe, check your manual if you have one, or call Dodge.

 

Ya thats what im going to do is get the factory stuff and change it back.

 

did you remember to take the spacer behind the pivot ball in the bell housing out? if not, this will cause your shift fork to hang up and not release the clutch properly.

 

Ya I took that washer out from behind the pivot ball, heck I even bought a new pivot ball. I talked to Pete at SB and he is going to send me a special set of hydros that have move movement than the SB one does. The SB one moves 3/4 of an inch I need mine to move at least an 1 1/4 inch for it to disengage all the way. I know this from making the plate and running the bolt in an 1 1/4. I will say one thing about this whole deal. SB is a really good company to deal with. Pete has gone out of his way to help remedy this problem. I just hope his special hydros work.

 

Installed the new slave and master and still the same problem. I even changed the oil

 

Well I guess I got the thing shifting pretty good. The only problem now is when shifting into 4th it still grinds. After talking to a few people I think the the sycro for 4th is wearing out. I think it would work fine for a single disc clutch but not a DD. the DD disc has to much rotating mass for the worn out sycro to stop the gear from spinning. I am going to replace that sycro this weekend. Now I know someone is going to say you should rebuild the whole thing, but 4th is the easiest of the sycros to do. It is right behind the input shaft and doesent require pulling the trans apart to do it. So I am going to try it because of that. If I start having issues in the other gears I will then do a rebuild.

 

Well took trans out, took top cover off trans, started looking around, found tooth missing off 3rd and all sycro's are shot. Trans now getting rebuilt....

 

Got trans back today. Installed, test drove and finally it shifts like brand new. Problem solved.