I'm not sure if bleeding is even the problem but I replaced the clutch, slave and master on my '91 cherokee because the clutch was slipping under heavy throttle. the installation went fine, pretty straight forward, but now the clutch won't disengage at all. We bled the system the old fashioned way (pump, pump, pump hold...) and vacuum bled it as well. Nothing. We've probably ran a gallon of brake fluid through this thing and it hasn't gotten any better. Any advice please? I've searched on google, bing and cherokee forum and nothing's come up that we haven't tried. There has to be air bubbles in there we just can't get out!
Thanks,
Dylan

 

anybody?

 

nobody has any ideas?

 

the shift fork is on right?there are no kinks in the line,all the fittings are tight?

 

yes all the connections are good. Bleeding it for hours definitely made it better, and no fluid is leaking out anywhere so I don't think there is a leak in the system.

 

There is a problem I have run into twice now on two different rigs. Cheapo supremo mater cylinders. They just ren't designed correctly for the XJ. What I did was increase the rod length going in by about 12 - 5/8". The extra stroke cured the problem.

 

Did you mean 1/2" - 5/8"? If I put another 12" on the rod I think my clutch would be in the back seat
Well, we've bled it even more. Built a injector to inject fluid from the bottom of the system, and it still didn't work. How exactly did you ad length to the rod on the master cylinder? That might work, but I think we might have a faulty slave, since we replaced the master and the problem didn't get any better... or worse. Thanks for the response though. I thought I would have had a few more people who have either had the same issue or had some ideas on what to try!
Dylan

 

going off that pull it out and get another one,I know thats not what you want to hear.Sometimes you gotta bite the bullet

 

I would put a new slave on there, I know this is a dumb question but is the clutch disk in the right direction. I saw on a toyota pickup once somebody put the disk in backwards and the clutch would not disengage.

 

make sure your floor mat isnt bunched up under the pedal a tech at work went through 3 slaves before i pointed out the floor mat all bunched up under the pedal...lol and im supposed to be the apprentice

 

that's about all I can do now. Yes, the disk is in the right direction. Luckily it's labeled!
I hate to have to replace the slave... I just wish Schmucks would have just sold me a decent part! Now I've wasted hours of time and replaced a master cylinder that I probably didn't need to. Oh well, I got it for $35 instead of $97 they wanted thanks to their price matching policy!!
I'm sure there are tons of people out there that have been in similar circumstances.
Thanks guys!

 

I had a similar problem with a hydraulic clutch. I used an S 10 drivetrain in a street rod I built. The master cyl was mounted at a 30 degree angle. The exit for the pressure line was above the bottom of the cylinder. With the master cylinder mounted to the firewall it was impossible to get the air out of the master cyl. The easiest solution was to unbolt the master cyl, keeping the pressure line intact (connected) then tip the master cyl to the correct angle to allow the small air bubble out through the pressure line, while performing the bleeding process. Took me three days to figure that out, and I wore out the bleed screw on the slave cyl, from turning it in and out so much. Had to get a new one. After I got the system bled, it worked great for the 10 years I had the car, no further problems. Hope this helps.

Wagon man

 

thanks for the tip. That's not actually a bad idea. The master cylinder is level, but the line goes up on the firewall before it goes down to the slave, so there is a possibility of air being trapped in the line right there. Thanks for the tip.

 

I had this exact same problem with mine, the actuator rod busted right through the fork, What a b****

 

I'm having the same issue with my 87xj 4cyl. I replaced the clutch, slave and master cyl. And I'm having a hard time bleeding it. It's working but it's right to the floor to disengage. It seems like there is air trapped in there I can't get out by regular bleeding. I will try to vacuum bleed it soon.

Tried to vacuum bleed when I got home today. It seemed to work. I never have a helping hand so this vacuum has been a life saver for me. I had to use this method when I replaced the brake master cyl too.