Hi everyone,

My dad's 1982 4x4 has had an issue on wet mornings whereby the truck 'stutters' sometimes when going into 2nd or 3rd gear, especially when going uphill. (The truck is always in 4x2 mode, it hasn't been offroaded in years.)

It goes away after 5-10 minutes of driving, never happens in the afternoon, and only on mornings when it's damp out. There's no sound of belts squealing or gears chattering, just the stuttering, like it's partway in one gear and partway in another; or maybe a better description is that a giant is holding the truck and shaking it gently...

If you have any thoughts I'm glad to hear them, and thanks.

 

First thought to start with... have you changed your clutch fluid and bleed the line. Is clutch slipping. hard to tell in a low HP motor but maybe going real slow on a hill in 2nd or 3rd and floor it? Oil on clutch disk perhaps.

 

Thanks for your reply. I had the fluids changed about a year ago, when I took it in for a lube. I know they did the gear oil, and at least one other fluid change (aside from the motor oil) under the truck; I assume that would have been the clutch fluid? Or is there another fluid type besides the transaxle and clutch fluid under there? (I don't have the work order in front of me to check against.)

I'll try your hill test and see what the RPMs do. Thanks!

 

Very late reply here, but in the hopes that someone else might have the same problem and runs across this post...the issue was my clutch cylinder had a small leak and was low on fluid and providing no pressure. That's likely why I had the issue I did. Eventually I ran out of fluid completely and the clutch pedal had almost no resistance, which is when i finally took a look.

Replaced and refilled it a couple of months ago and it's been fine since.