7/28/2015
Eaton HD Solo Clutch
in my Volvo 610 AutoShift |
|
| Jim2 24 December 2009 11:58 AM |
Just as I was feeling lucky to make it through my first year of HDT ownership with more than half of Jack's recommended $5000 reserve still in my pocket, my local mechanic says the clutch may need replaced. After picking myself up off the floor when hearing his estimated price to replace my Eaton HD Solo clutch, I want to get some other opinions. This started when he was replacing my muffler, a planned repair cost built-in to my purchase price. While pulling my Volvo in and out of the work bay for the muffler job, he says the clutch isn't catching until near the top of its travel and needs adjusted. I agree its always engaged near the top of its travel and I just got used to it, but go ahead and adjust it. After crawling underneath he comes back and says, well I can't adjust it since yours is a self adjusting Solo clutch and must be worn out. He also says he can't really inspect it since upon opening the inspection cover he found the lube tube had come apart and all the grease that I and Speedco pumped into that external Zerk had been globing up inside the inspection cover. So before I buy a new clutch for Christmas, does anyone have any experience or knowledge with this Eaton self adjusting Solo clutch? I've had no clutch slipping at all, just the high pedal position when it engages, and now this worry that grease hasn't been getting into the bearing. I'll get the grease mess cleaned out and replace the broken lube tube. But how to tell if the clutch is really bad, or if the so called self adjuster hasn't been working and it just needs adjustment. Is there a way to manually adjust this "self adjusting" clutch? Other than the high pedal position, would I be getting other indications if the clutch was really bad? If I continue to use it and wait to see how it goes, is it typical to suddenly go out pulling away from a stop or red light? Does that mean I'm stuck in the middle of the street with no way to limp off without a tow? Although I like to perform a lot of my own standard maintenance work, replacing this clutch sounds way beyond my DIY abilities. The mechanic said their labor book listed 11 hours for replacing this clutch and his price estimate for parts & labor was $2000-$2400. Does that sound reasonable? Any other related input is appreciated. Merry Christmas |
| Rif 24 December 2009 12:30 PM |
Jim I can't speak to your specific clutch, but last summer I had to replace the clutch in my 2000 Volvo AutoShift with the N14 engine. It had always engaged at the top of the travel, but it had always worked. One day I stopped at U-Haul for propane and the Autoshift would no longer engage. The clutch brake could not stop it from spinning. At first I hoped it was just the clutch brake or hydraulic system but it turned out to be the clutch itself. Almost $4,000 later all was well. That included new everything -- master and slave cylinders, disk pack, resurfacing flywheel, clutch brake, etc. It now engages a couple inches above the clutch brake. I sure wasn't planning on it, but now I can plan on never doing it again. The price you were quoted seems very good. |
| Jay Pat 24 December 2009 12:54 PM |
There is a place on the clutch that shows the amount of wear. A wear indicator. You will probably have to bump the clutch around with the starter for it to show. (Remove inspection cover) It looks like a slot that is about 1 to 1 1/2 inch long with a round button that will move across the slot as the clutch wears. You can probably Google the solo clutch and find a picture of it. As far as the clutch grabbing at the top of the pedal, the outside linkage may need adjustment. I got 450,000 miles on mine before I replace it. The clutch was good, some of the small springs in the clutch disc had fallen out and were interfering with the clutch operation. I used my truck for work and put about 75,000 miles per year. The replacement is expensive and I replaced mine with another. I was very happy with the solo auto adjustment! It felt like it did the day I picked up the truck. Replacement is expensive and sometimes hard to find. If you are not putting high mileage, you may want a regular clutch. You will have to manually adjust it. |
| Hdonlybob 24 December 2009 04:41 PM |
Jim2 I have that Solo clutch set up in my Volvo, and went thru about one year trying to figure out problems I had with it. Won't bore you with what mine was doing, but in the end it turned out to be just replacing the master cylinder, and slave cylinder, which was peanuts in cost compared to a full clutch Why my post?? |
| J.W. Morgan 24 December 2009 06:11 PM |
 I know I covered this here somewhere before. Jay Pat was correct in how to find a and check the adjuster. I think the estimate sounds a little high but I have never installed a Solo to know the cost of the clutch itself. Make certain that it is measured out an VERIFIED to be worn before throwing a clutch at it! I am still old fashioned I like adjusting mine myself.
Let me know if I can be of any help. Here is the full Eaton Service Manual |
| Jim2 24 December 2009 07:53 PM |
Thanks for the input. With your comments and the good documentation on Eaton's site I found the wear indicator and other components. The wear indicator is reading less than half worn. The clutch looks good through the inspection opening. The gaps between plates are within the Eaton specs. I fixed the lube tube and got grease in where it belongs. As usual getting under there and putting hands on was a good learning experience. The pedal is directly connected to the hydraulic operator and I didn't find any adjustable linkage. So I think my clutch is ok and not close to worn out. But still not sure why it engages near the top of the pedal movement. Seems like the mechanic just assumed that condition meant the clutch was worn out. I've got used to it operating like that and it doesn't bother me as long as it keeps working. |
| J.W. Morgan 24 December 2009 09:03 PM |
Jim I bet there is a pedal linkage adjustment to help you with where the clutch lets out, there are actually mechanics I have met that didn't know that periodic linkage adjustment was necessary to keep the clutch brake functioning. Your initial post sounded to me like a shop trying to make some Christmas money, and I hate when I get that feeling. Merry Christmas! |
| Scrap 25 December 2009 12:27 AM |
If you are positive that you have a half inch gap between the brake and the release bearing like the service manual says, then it has to be the hydraulics. You gotta be positive though because it wouldn't be the first early 2000's vintage solo with a hung adjusting cam. Triple check it. Sometimes rods do need tweaking, but adjusting them when the clutch is out of adjustment ends up in a never ending circle of hell. |
| Russ Barnes 25 December 2009 10:35 AM |
For reference: when I picked up my T2 the dealer said it had "just had a new clutch." Lo and behold there was an invoice in the glove box from a KW dealer for a new clutch, resurfaced flywheel and other misc. parts. The charge to the dealer was $2,3xx so the quote was in the ballpark.
I didn't like the fact that the pedal was quite high and I have wondered about the quality of the replacement so after reading the same info that JW and Scrap mentioned I wanted to go through everything. I think about a year ago there was a post by Scrap that showed with a Solo adjusting tool. So I went to Truck Pro to get one. After about 3 months of bugging them one day I stopped in and they gave me one no charge. They couldn't find it, but when the Eaton rep came in the clerk asked how to get one, the rep went to his car and brought in three no charge. I have Merry Christmas to all |
| bstark 25 December 2009 06:58 PM |
Scrap and J.W. Am I correct in assuming that you can't just go willy-nilly adjusting linkage as two things have to work together; the clutch brake and the clutch engagement/disengagement. From what little I know about mine; adjusting for one condition requires you follow up by a compensatory adjustment to the other. I'm kind of lucky in that I have the Eaton Solo Ceramic Disc but mine is all linkage from the pedal down to the throw-out bearing arm with no hydraulics to deal with in between. |
| Russ Barnes 25 December 2009 08:22 PM |
At least on the instructions I have there is another step that details a method to adjust the angle of the clutch pedal that doesn't factor into the clutch brake or the disc engagement/disengagement so this is a little more involved than adjusting the clutch on the ole '40 Ford I had as a teen. Like Bruce, mine does have any hydraulics either, but I don't know if this is all Kenworth's |
| J.W. Morgan 25 December 2009 10:29 PM |
Bruce, You are correct, it doesn't take but a few turns to leave you scratching your head and wondering you cant get the clutch to disengage.. Now after thinking about it a bit more, there is probably no need to adjust the linkage for a hydraulic unit, I bet it is what it is. I am more used to working on "trucks", and have yet to deal with a hydraulic model in a HDT. I really should rebuild a VNL to get "up to date" with this crossover LDT/HDT stuff. |
| Scrap 26 December 2009 03:21 AM |
Ya Bruce A worn release fork is about the only time you'd need to adjust rods. But Solo uses the roller fork which mitigates that. Worn bearings in the bellcrank is another spot where your pedal can be messed up but your clutch itself is in good adjustment. Along with that, wear on the stop bolts of a conventional cab KW makes you think you need a rod adjustment but the added freeplay you think you are seeing is actually added total pedal travel (i.e.: yoke to bearing gap of over 1/8"). The downside of rods is two added grease Zerks that are buried in the frame and they can transmit a fair amount of noise. Some also end up with a spring that twangs in just the right conditions as well. The downside of hydraulic for me is the loss of freeplay. That's what I use to cancel my cruise and/or my Jake. I'm a disaster in one for the first hour. |
| trucksaledave 26 December 2009 10:17 PM |
As much as I am a hands on person, or a, do it yourself person. Old age is making me smarter. HALF OF BEING SMART IS KNOWING WHAT YOU ARE DUMB AT. JMO trucksaledave |