I have a new to me 98 3500 2wd that has a clutch that won't release fully. I drove it a hundred miles yesterday then let one of my guys drive it 20 miles across town and when he got there it quit releasing all the way. The clutch pedal feels normal and never has been hard to depress. There is no fluid loss or wetness anywhere. Should I go ahead and replace the master cylinder? It looks like the transmission has to be removed to change the slave, am I right about this? TIA

slave may be ok. what MAY be the issue is the fork pivot ball. when mine went bad it was all of a sudden would not release all the way. problem is for you need to drop trans even to check it. a real pia. real heavy.
wes

Thanks for the reply, but my truck doesn't have a clutch fork. My slave cylinder looks like the one in the picture. http://www.byunspeed.com/images/GM15046288.jpg

i forgot about the center force unit being used on nv4500 trans's.

how many miles on the clutch it is possible that it is worn out.

bad thing again the only way to know for sure is to drop the trans.
wes

Try bleeding the system, its similar to Ford procedure. Could be tricky!

New master cylinder didn't fix it. I can put it in gear and start it to move it around. When I have the clutch pushed in all the way it makes a squealing noise while still creeping forward.

throw out brg gone.

You can try bleeding the system but most likely you will have to pull the trans. Really is not to bad. At least you don't have a 4X4. On mine I pulled the crossmember, transfer case, and pulled the trans at the 4 bolts, leaving the bellhousing in. Then you have plenty of room to get to the top bolts. Be sure to check the piolt bearing in the crank shaft, they can seize up on the input shaft and act like a bad clutch. If you do pull it apart make sure to change that bearing for sure!!!!! They do wear out often. I pulled mine in about 3 hours.

You can try bleeding the system but most likely you will have to pull the trans. Really is not to bad. At least you don't have a 4X4. On mine I pulled the crossmember, transfer case, and pulled the trans at the 4 bolts, leaving the bellhousing in. Then you have plenty of room to get to the top bolts. Be sure to check the piolt bearing in the crank shaft, they can seize up on the input shaft and act like a bad clutch. If you do pull it apart make sure to change that bearing for sure!!!!! They do wear out often. I pulled mine in about 3 hours.

Thanks for the advise, I'll just have to block out some time to do it. Things always break when you need them for some reason.