so today at work we had to drag this commercial grade half ton washer down this alley behind the dry cleaners, we put a tow strap around it and attached it to my truck (1993 f150 4.9L l6 5 speed) and pulled. i rode the clutch pretty good and when we were done you could smell the clutch pretty badly. i wasnt to worried because i just replaced the clutch 3 weeks ago

but when i drove home about 10 minutes later the clutch didnt have the "bite" it used to, and when i put it under load, WOT at 30mph in 4th, it deffinatly slipped some, which it never did before.

so i was wondering if i should be worrying about permanent damage, or if it was just slipping because it was too hot.
thanx

 

Why were you riding the clutch so much?

You *might* need to replace it. You could've warped the flywheel from the heat generated as well.

Also you might have glazed the flywheel making it slick.

 

well i had to go slower than the truck would if the clutch wasnt engaged because of the rough concrete we were sliping it on.

so you think i might ony need the flywheel replaced? that was also changed when i did the clutch 3 weeks ago

 

Try this first... let the truck sit for about a good 6 hours... and take it back out and see how the clutch reacts. I think it was from the heat.

You might need a new clutch/flywheel... without examination, it's really hard to tell.

If you plan on doing that kind of stuff with your truck, I'd recommend either getting a heavy duty clutch or a different ring and pinion for the rear end.

 

okay i just got home from a friends house, (that means it sat for 5 hours in his drivway) and it seems to be working fine (thank God)

i don't typically do much towing which is why i didn't get a HD clutch kit, plus, they were like $140 more, but i didnt shop around much,

and yeah the rear end in that thing is ridiculous at 2.73, but it works out fine considering the peak power is somewhere around 2000 rpm.

thanx a lot..

 

That is what I figured.

The stock clutch lining is pretty good... but it doesn't like a lot of heat...

I notice that the stock clutch actually holds the heat.

But that is for one point... Heat retention = Smoother clutch engagements.

2.73 rear end!!! WTF! How can you even... drive it?!

What speed is your crawl ratio? (Crawl speed is determined by being in 1st gear and letting the engine idle itself in gear on a flat surface.)

I couldn't stand the 3.55's... and I got 4.10's, and it is just cutting it with my F150. I think 4.30's would've been a better choice, but I'm not going to spend the $$ on it to move up .20th of a gear ratio.

 

Chuck, the 4.9 isn't too bad with 2.73's, it has a ton more bottom end than our V6's. The tranny has the same ratios as ours, it's a M5OD.

I stunk mine up pretty bad jockeying a loaded trailer trying to back it up a steep driveway last summer. It's a heavy duty but it almost totally faded, I think I was boiling the fluid. It seemed to be no worse for wear after a cooldown. That was the only time I wished I had anything lower than my 3.55's.

 

not sure but i shift out of 1st at about 11 or 12 mph, and i can ride the brakes pretty good before it stalls while idling in 1st

i believe the specs are 265 ft lbs at 2000 rpm

i think the only other rear end matched up with the 4.9l is a 3.5somthing, and a 4 speed. i drove one and you shift about every 3/4 of a second

 

I keep forgetting. :o

But yes... you are right, it is the only downfall of standard shift.. it takes a lot of thought to do something, which sometimes can lead to too much anguish and swearing...

I smoked my '99 (there was a plum of smoke from burning the clutch) because I wasn't paying attention at a yield sign, and I needed to gun into traffic, and I gave it about 2,500 rpms worth thinking I was in 1st... bad, very bad choice... but about an hour or two after, it drove fine.

 

Oh hell, I've grabbed 3rd by mistake instead of 1st and started out from a dead stop - no big deal. It just chugs and shudders for a bit till it gets rolling. When I'm driving in town with a 25 or 30 mph speed limit and 4 way stops, I get lazy - I use only 2nd and 4th, shifting up at 20 mph.

 

Oh I can start in 3rd too... but you are right, it chugs and chugs... lol

Because of my gearing, I start out in 2nd because 1st is too low to even do anything.

But with my '99 with the 3.55s, I was giving it about 2,500 rpms (maybe more) worth and slowly dumped the clutch while in 3rd... making it smoke so badly... the odor was gross.