# 2000 F350 7.3L Diesel 6 sp clutch repair



## Big Red 00 F350 (Mar 9, 2005)

I have a 4x4 long bed w/ 78k miles. Today, my ZF 6 spd tranny was very hard to engage and disengage. No problems noted ever with this except a week or so ago, just a bit of drag when shifting but nothing too serious. Local repair shop says it is bad clutch n pressure plate assembly (OEM item) and recommends I consider a LUK aftermarket clutch n pressure plate assy upgrade kit which incl new flywheel. He says it will cost total $1400 incl labor and will be cheaper for future clutch replace when necessary vs OEM clutch replace.

Anyone got any experience with this and comments?


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## plowed (Nov 30, 2001)

Any noise? I'm certainly no clutch expert but have done a couple of them. Throw out bearing? Slave cylinder...


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## Big Red 00 F350 (Mar 9, 2005)

No noise, just diff to engage and disengage. Once engaged, tough to disengage. When clutch pedal pushed in, does not want to release.


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## plowed (Nov 30, 2001)

Sounds like the slave cylinder. I had the same problem on an older 80's truck years ago.


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## Big Red 00 F350 (Mar 9, 2005)

Thanks, I will go over to the repair shop tomorrow morning to see if it is the slave or what.


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## oldmankent (Mar 2, 2001)

I've heard of the clutch fork(? I think) wearing out on these trucks. I don't know for sure if that is even a real part name, but try the dieselstop.com for more info. Do a search under your year truck. If you don't have a diesel, still check the posts they should apply to you.


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## PLM-1 (Nov 29, 2004)

plowed said:


> Sounds like the slave cylinder. I had the same problem on an older 80's truck years ago.


I was thinking that...but they don't usually happen over night but get progressively worse.


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## Big Red 00 F350 (Mar 9, 2005)

found out the clutch disc assy was bad. one of the 3 springs came out of holding slot since the slot metal had broken at the corner. had them replace with upgraded LUK clutch assy kit for a 6spd 7.3L diesel. Wow, what a diff. in operation and smoothness.


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## oldmankent (Mar 2, 2001)

Big Red 00 F350 said:


> found out the clutch disc assy was bad. one of the 3 springs came out of holding slot since the slot metal had broken at the corner. had them replace with upgraded LUK clutch assy kit for a 6spd 7.3L diesel. Wow, what a diff. in operation and smoothness.


Yeah, the Luks are nice except not on the wallet. I've got one and it was a major improvement over the dual mass flywheel.


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## MickiRig1 (Dec 5, 2003)

Bummer OEM failure, that don't happen often to us?
Guess we are the extreme duty testers and it FAILED!


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## CubMan (Mar 21, 2005)

Interesting about your clutch. I have a 97 F150 4.6 5spd. It has went through 3 clutches in the last month. It is not releasing, causing a hard shift into first and bad grinding when moved into reverse. They replaced the clutch, pressure plate, slave cylinder, master cylinder for the slave cyl, pilot and throw out bearing, and the flywheel. Immediatly after the clutch is changed out, it shifts smooth, after 30miles the hard shifting starts... They have been working with the Ford Hotline and so far no luck. I just bought it a month ago, and part of the deal is that they were to repair the clutch. A month later and they are still having the same issues.


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