Mormon_Munk

I have a 99' Jeep Cherokee Sport. Recently gear changing/the clutch started to give me problems. It started off little, where I would push in the clutch and the would be difficult to put it into a gear. Usually, trying to put it back into 1st after stopping. Nothing too bad. And then after a little bit of driving that day, it would have no troubles at all. Then another days comes around, and the same thing. Hard to get it into 1st or 2nd, but relatively easy to get it into the higher gears. (one day this was happening, then suddenly stopped - as in, it was totally normal to shift into all gears). Also, then this difficulty in shifting would happen, it would not go into reverse easily either.

Then recently, on one of the coldest mornings in a while, it would not shift at all. I was able to first get it into gear and leave the house, but when I got to a stoplight, I literally could got get it into any gear. It took all the strength I had to pull it into 2nd, enabling me to get going again. I checked the fluid level right after that and it was still high. Went to school, came back and was able to get going, but only until I to stop again. This time, after stopping, it seemed like the clutch would not disengage at all, making the car stall and die as if it wasnt getting enough gas - even though I had my foot on the clutch like normal.

The tow guy to brought it home said it's probably the throw-out bearing. When I called a mechanic, he said it sounds like the whole clutch needs to be replaced, but I'm hoping that it's not that since we don't to have to spend that much if it's not necessary. Any ideas on what it might be?

Other possible pertinent information - I live in Utah where it gets really cold and salt is put on the roads whenever it snows.

PatHenry

i'd concur that it's probably the Throw-out bearing. Really when it comes down to it, if you're replacing the TOB, you want to do a new clutch just because if you're separating the tranny from the engine, you want all new parts so you don't have to do it again for a while.

I had problems like that when a spring broke on my clutch disc..

So unfortunately, there's almost certainly no way around it - you're going to be putting a new clutch set (pressure plate, disc, TOB and pilot bearing) in.

PatHenry

Honestly, unless it's a funky slave cylinder (you can look into that just to be sure) or funky master cylinder issue - your BEST CASE scenario is going to be a bad TOB or broken disc spring or something like that, because anything else that might be wrong with it (like worn synchros) would be an internal transmission issue and require not only separating the tranny from the motor, but possibly a rebuild/replace of the whole assembly.

You can do the clutch replacement yourself if you have a level workspace (a garage), a floor jack and jack-stands, a transmission jack (Harbor Freight or try to borrow one) and a decent array of mechanics tools (aka sockets, ratchets, wrenches and breaker bar) and some time (I'd suggest setting aside a weekend if it's your first time).
If you do, you'll probably spend just about $120-200 on parts and tools (excluding a tranny jack) rather than the several hundred that your mechanic is likely quoting you.