I have a 1987 2.6L Dodge Raider with a throwout bearing that is starting to whine. Trouble is, the clutch was rebuilt with a new friction plate, throwout bearing, and cover 10,000 miles ago. This was all done at the local Mitsubishi dealerships service shop, actually the same dealership the truck was bought from new in 1987. There is only 52K on the truck, and it has been babied its entire life.

Questions:

I've been told that if you take the clutch apart to replace the bearing, you should replace the friction plate as well. Do I need to do this with only 10k on the friction plate?

I'm short on cash right now, so I don't want to spend 1k on a clutch rebuild to replace a $50 part.

The bearing is only whining 50% of the time right now, how long can I drive on it without damaging something else?

And what could have caused this bearing to fail so soon after being replaced? Should I expect any sort of break on fixing it if I take it back to the dealership?

Picture of the truck.

First question is how do you know its the throwout bearing?

Do you only get noise when you lightly press the clutch?

How about stopped in neutral with the clutch fully pressed?

Stopped in neutral without your foot on the clutch?

Yes, you can just replace the throwout bearing.. Or the pilot bearing and even the input brearing without changing any other parts. This assumes they are not damaged.

Kevin

A clutch repair usually includes a clutch disc, a pressure plate assy., a throwout bearing, and a pilot bearing/bushing. You want a new clutch disc and throwout for sure, the clutch because it's pretty cheap and it's the wear part. A normal clutch life is around 40k, as you observed with yours, and the new one is 25% gone. The pressure plate is probably fine, as is the flywheel friction surface.

I would go back to the dealer for this one and see what they will do. Offer to pay for the new clutch disc, they cover the throwout bearing and labor.

and do Kevin's tests to make sure it's not tranny bearings...

idler shaft bearing..............

Do you mean counter shaft bearing? / all gears noisy but 4th?

yes 1st/3rd and 5th noisy

Its a low-pitched whining noise whenever I press the clutch, in neutral or in gear. Goes away as soon as the clutch engages.