kerry.king

Hey everyone. I have a South Bend dd clutch in my 08 ctd. G56 Trans. I installed the clutch about 50k ago. Trans has been getting hard to shift. Fluid in the clutch master cylinder reservoir is dirty. I think I need to flush it, refill and bleed it. But I have no idea how to go about it. Searched here & YouTube and didn't come across anything.
Any help is appreciated.
Thank you

kerry.king

Guys, I really need some help here. Don't have much experience with hydraulic clutches. Found that my slave cylinder on the side of the Trans could be wiggled & rotated 360 degrees. Is this normal? I tightened up the 2 nuts and topped off the fluid. No change in shift quality. Any advice is appreciated. Pic of slave cylinder is attached

mega-engr

You haven't been able to find any bleeder valves at master or slave? I'm no expert as I have an automatic :-), however, it could be bypassing internally at master or slave. I suppose you don't see any leakage or where air could get in? Bleeding sounds like a good first step. I'm sure there is someone much more knowledgeable on this to chime in soon.

kerry.king

Thanks for replying mega. I don't see any obvious drips. I have the south Bend upgraded hydraulics and I don't see a bleeder anywhere. I just read dieseljunkies thread on his issues with the clutch and Trans and he wasn't able to bleed his either. My issue isn't quite the same as his though

mega-engr

My only experience with hydraulic clutches was in a car and either the slave or master cylinder bypassing internally. If this is the case then be careful because the clutch can be burned/worn out quickly due to the slippage during engagement which seems to also cause hard to shift... I would hit up the experts at Southbend or where you attained your parts.

kerry.king

I have an update for anyone watching this. Turns out I got one of the older clutch systems that has a manufacturing defect. The pins on the flywheel have come loose and kept pressure on my clutch causing it to wear out early. I had called south Bend & spoken to a wonderfully nice fella named Ryan. He had me run a couple diagnosis tests and when those didn't work out I had to pull my transmission and take really good pics of everything at each side of disassembly. I emailed the pics to Ryan and he called me back within 30 minutes of my sending him pictures. Quick phone conversation and he sent me a brand new, upgraded clutch, flywheel & hydraulics. I'm getting the whole brand spanking new upgraded current version at no charge.
I'm now a South Bend clutch man for life. Excellent customer service. Should be getting my new clutch Friday, so I I'll be installing it Friday evening. I'm thinking about documenting the installation and doing a write up if anyone is interested.

mega-engr

That is awesome news to a difficult situation. Thanks for letting us know the result/outcome and information about Southbend standing behind their products and giving great customer service.