LUVTruck.com

OK, it's been a month since we've had to fix anything on my son's '78 stepside Luv. Today on his way to school the thing started squealing whenever the clutch is depressed. You can put it in neutral and let the clutch out and the noise goes away as it does when you are driving.

Questions:
1) Is it something like a throw-out bearing possibly? How hard is that to fix?
2) Will he do more damage by driving it that way until the weekend?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Sounds like it may be the throwout bearing. Keep driving it and you may screw up the fingers on the pressure plate. To change it, the motor and tranny must be separated. You could probably drive until the weekend, although I would be doing clutchless shifting while moving.

The local repair shop checked it out this morning and the throwout/pilot bearing is bad. They said the labor charge is the same whether I do just the bearing or do a whole clutch so since we don't know the age of the clutch they are doing the whole thing. That's another $500 my son doesn't have and dad will have to recover in manure scooping and hay bale stacking.....

Just don't get the hay and manure mixed up. ok? That could be a mess.
Oh, and always shovel and stack WITH the wind. Not against it.

_________________
OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?

Noise with the clutch in is either throwout bearing or pilot bearing. You can sometimes tell which by pushing in the clutch just slightly, not enough to disengage but enough to touch the throwout to the fingers on the pressure plate. If you get noise then, it is the throwout, as the pilot bearing isn't turning until the clutch disengages.

The shop is right, it is the same work to replace either as it is to replace the whole clutch, give or take a half hour or so. You might as well do a full clutch replacemenet.