ok ,this is dads truck . its a 2000 (isb) 2500 5 speed 4x4. i drove his truck today after he said it seems to be slipping in 4th - and, it is. from my understanding, there is no adjustment possible on it - right? i have read numerous recommendations on the south bend . are there any others? also, i remember reading in the past that there are other things to check for once the tranny is out - what are they? thrust bearing , main shaft bearings, etc? his transmission seems to always make like a soft "grind" or vibration noise as where my 97 never did- does that mean that the main shaft bearings are junk? i have changed manual clutches before (although im no expert) on vehicles with far less component weight. is this something that i can do on the garage floor? if i use a trans jack , will i be able to remove it from under the vehicle? do i remove the transfer case first? any advice will be appreciated greatly! strange thing is that he only has 86,000 miles on it- but, he did buy it used. if we shouldnt do it ourselves, what type of shop would be best suited/equipped/ trained to handle this (dealerships are completely out of the question and i would like to find a shop that knows the idiosyncrasies of this vehicle because i have heard of people having problems with trans alignment, etc causing problems)? also, if anyone knows of a GOOD shop within an hour of pittsburgh, pa - please let us know.

 

The clutch in the 95 I bought lasted 23k miles, From prevoius abuse. I think most seperate the TC from the trans. Weight is a big factor here. I suppose you could do it on the a grage floor with a good trans jack. Clutchwise there are many good ones. Resurface the flywheel , make sure you replace the pilot bearing. If you change tye fluids make sure you use the correct replacement. If you take it in instead any good mechanic shop should be able to tackle the job. If it was the engine I would say find someone diesel specific definatly. Im fortunate here to have 2 diesel shops near by.
Good luck.

 

pc of cake job.......need floor jack to roll tranny and transfer box around,,(seperate them a lot less weight to deal with.) Usualls- replace t.o. bng too inspect fork as are prone to wear, . If going to seriosly use truck consider Peters advise( S.B.)

 

go with the southbend and most of the other companies like BD power and others just put their name on a southbend clutch. A little info for you while you shop around for pricing

 

If I had it to do all over again, I would bread the t-case away from the trans first...might sound like extra work in the beginning, but I had a hard time stabbing the whole thing back toghether because it was awkward together...

 

well, we elected to do the job ourselves (actually, i talked him into it). it came apart fairly easy except for beating the crossmember out- i hope it goes back in easily with a floor jack. clutch was almost at the rivets. we ordered the "oem'' clutch from peter at south bend. he is very knowledgable and said it should work out just fine with the stock hp and degree of towing that this truck sees. usually you would expect someone to try to persuade you to buy a more expensive unit- so , im very impressed with that. also, we ordered the input shaft kit from him too with the bearing s and seals already installed. i went to dodge and got the output shaft seal for the trans and the input shaft seal for the t-case and put them in today. picked up the flywheel from having it cut and installed it. now, im just waiting for ups to bring the trans jack that i ordered from northern equipment for $99. i figure it may help this ametuer to not destroy the pilot bearing during reassembly. peter also gave me a good tip : get 4 bolts at the auto parts like the ones that bolt the trans to the bellhousing and cut the heads off making them a stud. screw them into the bellhousing so that they will help to act as a guide for reassembly. so, no regrets so far. if it all keeps going this smoothly, id elect to do the job again if needed. thanks for all of the advice!

 

The ends of the cross member and the frame are tapered. To remove it knock it foreward and up and it will be loose, do the reverse to install it. That makes it easy to do.