Drivetrain Clutch Lines

Vehicles may have originally been designed to take people to their destinations, but they have become so much more in the time since. They are now designed for fun and excitement, so you can get out onto the road and enjoy experiences that were impossible not long ago. So, it is important to keep all vehicle's parts in their best condition, and one part you will become familiar with if you are not maintaining your 2011 Ram 3500 is the clutch cable.

Driving a vehicle is even more fun when it has a standard transmission, because you get more control. However, you can discover problems with your clutch cable and find yourself fighting with the vehicle to change gear rather than calmly choosing the next one and continuing on. The clutch cable is the direct and only connection your clutch pedal has with the clutch, which is why it is important to make sure it is in good condition and replace it if it breaks down.

Clutch cables are designed to be strong, because they sit in a very hot engine bay and run directly into a very hot gearbox, filled with oil, where they finally do their job. This is why most clutch cables use steel cables of very high strength, so they will not break down as soon as they are exposed to such extremes. To give them more protection, they will have a cover made of plastic or sometimes even steel, which means they are not exposed to those extremes unless the covering breaks down. Most are adjustable, meaning you can adjust them to fit with the wear on the clutch, and they will use steel 'tabs' to make such adjustment easy.

Because of the work your clutch cable is doing, and because of the conditions it has to operate in, there are some problems that can occur. For example, the cable can stretch as it works over and over again, and this stretching only needs to be by a very small amount for problems to occur. Of course, in the worst case scenario, the clutch cable can snap or break completely, but it is more likely that it will suffer other problems beforehand, which means you can be watching out for certain symptoms in order to avoid this serious one.

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