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813 clutch slipping smell?

bevanet

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I was using my 813 to pack the road this weekend. The road is pretty steep, maybe a 12 degree incline. I was in 1st gear with the xfer case in low and maybe 1500 rpms. A couple times when I went up an area where the soil was a bit soft and the wheels sunk in a little (5 inches or so), I smelled a pretty distinct buring smell. I didn't feel the truck slip at all, but I can't think of anything else besides the clutch slipping that would smell like this. My clutch pedal has about 2 inches of free play. Just wondering if anyone else has smelled this under an increased load, and if it is the clutch or something different?
 

Wildchild467

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you just changed the oil... you get the engine up to temperature and maybe its getting hotter burning off any oil that may have spilled during an oil change? Im just thinking outloud.
 

hippiedude

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If it smells like burning brakes and the brakes are not sticking than your clutch is slipping .........watch you tack. to see if your rpms increase when you get that smell again .........Something is getting hot .............. Tim
 

poppop

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If its slipping in that low of a gear it is in bad shape. Put it in high and maybe third gear. Hold the brakes and let out the clutch. If the engine stalls then it is not the clutch.
 

dmetalmiki

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cooking

It's suprising when crawling / working slow, just HOW much heat wafts up and over otherwise unefected bits! When winching I have smelt "things" hot, It usually passes on driving away. Check cloth covered wired rods and cables. Check Oil spills / drips / leaks etc.. Me thinks you COULD NOT induce clutch slip in low first gear. Never did rate the "put it against the wall and drop the clutch theory". Seen perfectly servicible clutches tear the rivits and beak the shock springs....

On the other hand there are walls and there are walls! lol

thttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS3mAtzBc1Mhat way!.
 

M543A2

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There was a test for clutch holding for Allis Chalmers tractors. It said to set the throttle at an RPM I do not remember, but it was considerably high, drop the clutch in high gear with the brakes held and time the interval taken to kill the motor. If the time was longer than specification, the clutch needed replaced.
I also am not a fan of this procedure, but it was the recommended test. I test them by having the truck in high gear on the road at around 30 to 40 MPH, floor the accelerator and see if the tach spools up faster than normal for the speed increase. You will also hear the motor speed increase more than it should. A really bad clutch will let go and the motor will wind up quickly. Watch for over-speed in that case!
Regards Marti
 

M543A2

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Another thought; do you have free-play in the clutch pedal? There should be no resistance in the pedal for one and one half to two inches travel before you feel the resistance of the throw-out bearing touching the pressure plate fingers. If you have no free-travel, the throw-out bearing could be holding the clutch partially released. In that case, adjust linkage until you have free-travel.
Regards Marti
 

bevanet

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Thanks for all the input on this. If I remember correctly I think I smelled the burning smell the day before I changed the oil as well as after. It does smell a bit like burning brakes. I agree that it should be hard to slip the clutch in low-low. There is about 2 inches of pedal free play, so I think the adjustment is ok. I'm pretty sensitive to the sound of the engine and I didn't hear it rev up like it was slipping. I really don't want to stress test it, because I probably only drive 20 miles a year, so If I can put off fixing it for a few years that would be great. It looks like a big job!

I also noticed that my engine water temp crept up to about 230 degrees. There is only about an inch of coolant in the bottom of the "can" on top of the engine when hot. What level should it be? The coolant looked clean, so I'm wondering if it is low on coolant or the thermostat is stuck and that made the engine hot enough to make something stink. The outside air temp was about 55 degrees the truck was empty, so doesn't seem like it was working very hard.
 

rumplecat

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I don't think your engine should be heating up with no load, even in low. I drove mine 300 miles from a GSA site in Mississippi at around 70 degrees and when I ended the trip the water in my radiator was cool!
James
 

OPCOM

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It's suprising when crawling / working slow, just HOW much heat wafts up and over otherwise unefected bits! When winching I have smelt "things" hot, It usually passes on driving away. Check cloth covered wired rods and cables. Check Oil spills / drips / leaks etc.. Me thinks you COULD NOT induce clutch slip in low first gear. Never did rate the "put it against the wall and drop the clutch theory". Seen perfectly servicible clutches tear the rivits and beak the shock springs....

On the other hand there are walls and there are walls! lol

thttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS3mAtzBc1Mhat way!.
First couple of times I went on a road trip in the deuce, I smelled, heard, and felt so many things that I was in a state of anxiety at times. All those things were revealed to be perfectly normal except maybe that banjo music and squealing off in the distance during a 40MPH night pass through the twisting back roads of Kentucky.

Additionaly the clutch if bad will slip more in the high gears than low. When I drove from Dallas to Chester, IL, I had just had the transmission serviced and it was too full. When it became hot and the oil expanded some would get into the clutch and it would slip, but only at a certain higher percentage of throttle. That instance was discussed in a topic and experts replied, perhaps one of my road trip topics, would have been the 2009 road trip. I suppose 54REO has drained a bit of the gear oil out by now since he owns the truck??
 
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glcaines

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Hiawassee, Georgia
I also noticed that my engine water temp crept up to about 230 degrees. There is only about an inch of coolant in the bottom of the "can" on top of the engine when hot. What level should it be? The coolant looked clean, so I'm wondering if it is low on coolant or the thermostat is stuck and that made the engine hot enough to make something stink. The outside air temp was about 55 degrees the truck was empty, so doesn't seem like it was working very hard.
Something is not right if your engine temperature climbed like that, especially with minimal load and cool ambient temperature. Two thoughts:

1. Perhaps the burning smell was the belt slipping causing the water pump to not move coolant through the radiator like it should.
2. Plugged up radiator, stuck thermostat or faulty water pump.

Also, your truck could have been making that smell all along, but the air blowing by carried the smell away before you smelled it. When driving slow packing the road in low range, there wasn't much wind to blow the smell away.
 
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bevanet

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looks like I need to look into the cooling first. Does anyone know how full the coolant can is supposed to be, and what manual explains how to change the thermostat?
 

OPCOM

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The can should have a line on it I think about halfway. It should not be allowed to get empty.
 

bevanet

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Arizona
I got back up in the woods today and looked at the 813. The belts all seem to be loose. I can turn the water pump, fan, and power steering pulleys with my hands. It sounds like this may be the problem - engine heating up -> causes stuff to smell (possible belt slipping smell) -> I think it is the clutch slipping. I'll read up on how to tighten the belts and give it a test run next time I'm up there. Thanks for the ideas!
 

m139h2otruck

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I have no idea how long you have had your truck, or how long it sat before you got it, but when we got the M812A1, the coolent looked like rusty water. All the little small hose lines that connect between the thermostat housing, the engine, the radiator and the surge tank were either plugged tight with rust or totally broken down on the inside so no fluid could flow. I installed a WIX coolent filter w/ SCA on the side of the block so the coolent would not go acid over time (at least not as quick). There are photos here somewhere.
 
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