troutstock

I am in need of some serious help and advice.

1995 chevy c1500 2wd 4.3l v6

Ill start at the beginning.

Multiple freeze plugs had been going on this truck, and I had been replacing them as necessary. One went between the transmission and the engine and so I pulled it all out of the engine compartment, flushed out the water jacket, new seals, etc.

everything reassembled and ready to go to go and I press the clutch to start the truck and it's stiff. Truck fires up, everything seems good there. I bought and installed a new clutch for the truck as the disc was wearing and the release bearing was trashed.

i press a little more and hear a pop. I think "o ****" and jump down and under the truck with my lamp, and the push pin from the slave wasn't seated when I reinstalled the master cylinder.

so I start by replacing only the slave. Seemed like it was sticking before a full depression. Replace the master.

i can't seem to bleed this thing for the life of me. First thing is there is no bleed valve, it's simple a little cone shaped thumb screw that lets air/fluid out of the side of the cylinder. I've tilted the master cylinder, got air to come up, I've depressed the release cylinder pin, by way of the fork, through a hole in the bell housing and let air bleed up through the system, I've done this with vacuum on it, I've pumped the pedal 100 times w a friend and it still seems like there is air in it.

i can be stubborn and I've invested a bit of time doing this. I've heard a pre bled unit is a safe bet.

in historical news, I've replaced both the slave, when I bought the truck, and the master about 1 year ago, and NEVER had this much trouble bleeding.

any thoughts and wisdom?

i triple checked the clutch before engine reinstall

burnhedge

I did one of those nv3500 slaves a few years ago. Unfortunately my memory sucks. I know in the end it was some combination of pressing the fork while opening and closing the bleeder that finally got it done.

The pre bled units are definitely the way to go if your time is of any value. If your master or slave fails, the other one probably isn't in great shape either. Might as well replace both and not have to bleed.

troutstock

update:

dropped the transmission after installing a sealed clutch/master that did not fix the problem. Turns out I can bleed a chevy clutch. the clutch fork was worn past its reasonable limits, as was the ball stud, but I am thinking that the problem was with the bearing retainer shaft. It seemed like there were multiple areas on it that were worn, creating a non-smooth surface for the release bearing to slide on. Is there supposed to be any type of lip on it, limiting the bearings movement. Anyway I ordered another one so I will find out soon enough.

any suggestions as to how to remove a press-in style clutch [pivot ball?