2011 Jeep JKU Sahara, 120k miles 6speed

Jeep is my fun vehicle and I just use it to head to the mountains to tow my small camping trailer

the Jeep is getting harder to shift into any gear and harder when I tow, just assume the heavy load of towing so I have to shift quick.

The other day coming home I actually was unable To get it into any gear for a hot minute and was stuck at a traffic light until I kind of forced it into second gear

I’m not sure how long this has been going on but I’ve started to notice how there is a hydraulic whine when I put the transmission into any gear

attached is a video, you can see I don’t hear it when I press the clutch, only when I press the clutch and shift into gear

just curious on thoughts and assume it will lead to a possible failure of something


i am at that distance on a 6 speed for a clutch replacement

 

I reckon it’s the throw out bearing

 

The throw out bearing would squeal when you push the clutch pedal, that's when it's engaged against the pressure plate. I can't imagine why shifting into a gear would change what the TOB is doing, though admittedly I'm no trans expert. In fact, with the vehicle stationary and the clutch disengaged, nothing in the trans should be spinning at all and your noise definitely sounds like it winds down when you take it out of gear.

 

Clutch plate not sliding on the input shaftgrooves. They wear a pattern at that mileage that does not allow the clutch plate to 'float' between the flywheel and the pressure plate contact. Another issue could be the fork pivot, TO bearing wear (as another has said) but in any event you may have to remove the tranny but in doing so advise you to look at all comopnents needing replacement. One way to test this is to shut the engine off when you are having difficulty getting into gear and see if it slides in easy then with pedal pushed. Keep pedal in, start engine and takeoff and advise if it seemed fairly normal. If so what I mentioned above most likely applies and could even involve replacing the input shaft of the gearbox to truly correct properly.

 

And another thing I do (and trust me I have removed and replaced more manual transmissions than I care to count) is get a couple of bottles of beer and drink them while I slide a new clutch plate up and down the input shaft spline until I cannot feel any spec of dust jamming or restricting the motion and clean the spline like new and use no lube at all on it or the plate spline. When the beer is finished you can install the gearbox.

 

Haha! I will be following this procedure exactly as per the specifications next time I'm in there.

 

I replaced the slave cylinder and it’s seems to have fixed all my symptoms

smoother shifting, not sticking no more squeal, I’m sure I’m around the corner for future issues but I feel confident I’m good for now, have only driven 20 miles but it’s like night and day