Clutch Disengaged Sounds Like Marbles Rolling Around

Jeepers2216

Jeepers2216

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I have a 2001 TJ 4.0, with the clutch OUT it sounds like there's marbles rolling around or rattling, when I push clutch in it goes away. And unless I use a little more "force" than I should have to, it will grind going from 1st to 2nd. My initial thought was throw out bearing, but now I'm second guessing myself after reading through all the forums. Some people say it's normal that the TJ "just does that" which I've had a couple Jeeps in my life and never had one that sounded like this and it was "normal". Some say just swap out transmission fluid, some say clutch. I just don't want to go spending money I don't need to.
 
It's normal for the NV3550 trans (2000-2004') to sound like marbles in a can. My clutch is new and it still does it. You can try changing the fluid to Redline for the grinding in 2nd gear issue. My AX-15 did it all the time and never got any worse.
 
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Sounds like a possible pilot bearing to me, I recently had something somewhat similar and just went ahead and did the whole clutch/throw out bearing/pilot bearing work all at once.

Try to isolate it a little more if you can, mine was pretty clearly between the engine and transmission.
 
Jeepers2216 said:
I have a 2001 TJ 4.0, with the clutch OUT it sounds like there's marbles rolling around or rattling, when I push clutch in it goes away. And unless I use a little more "force" than I should have to, it will grind going from 1st to 2nd. My initial thought was throw out bearing, but now I'm second guessing myself after reading through all the forums. Some people say it's normal that the TJ "just does that" which I've had a couple Jeeps in my life and never had one that sounded like this and it was "normal". Some say just swap out transmission fluid, some say clutch. I just don't want to go spending money I don't need to.
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I have this same issue on my '05 with the nsg370 ('05 - '06) trans. I owned a 98 with the ax-15 (someone correct me if I am wrong) and another nsg370 in a 2006 Jeep. I don't remember any of the other Jeeps making that noise. I only notice it when I am stopped at lights and throw the trans into neutral and let my foot off the clutch. It hasn't seemed to affect the performance of the Jeep and I have learned to just live with it. When I feel it is time to replace the clutch, I will replace throw out and pilot bearing and hope the noise is no longer there after. If not, I will accept that those who say it is a normal Jeep thing are right and I just never noticed the noise until I owned this Jeep.

This probably doesn't help you, really. Hopefully, at the very least it helps you know that you're not going crazy. If I remember to, I will post back to this thread when I finally replace the clutch, et al. and let you know if the noise persists.
 
Every NV3550 rumbles in neutral with the clutch out. It has nothing to do with the throwout bearing because the throwout bearing is not engaged when the clutch is out. You can quiet the sound a bit with Redline MTL.

NV3550s are also notorious for grinding into second gear, usually in cold weather. Not much you can do here, though MTL also helps a bit.
 
The NV3550 in my '01 can be little notchy between 1st and 2nd, but my previous Jeep had the same problem with a AX15 after 20 years of use. I have tried replacing the transmission gear lube with Redline MTL and even adding GM Synchromesh; while the overall shifting is smoother the problem persisted.
My solution when shifting between 1st and 2nd is to move the shifter until the gears start to mesh and once the synchro starts to engage; I wait 1-2 seconds and shift into 2nd gear. This process is similar to double clutching and will totally stop or minimize the chunking sound while shifting.
 
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CharlesHS said:
The NV3550 in my '01 can be little notchy between 1st and 2nd, but my previous Jeep had the same problem with a AX15 after 20 years of use. I have tried replacing the transmission gear lube with Redline MTL and even adding GM Synchromesh; while the overall shifting is smoother the problem persisted.
My solution when shifting between 1st and 2nd is to move the shifter until the gears start to mesh and once the synchro starts to engage; I wait 1-2 seconds and shift into 2nd gear. This process is similar to double clutching and will totally stop or minimize the chunking sound while shifting.
Click to expand...

I’ve started to do a little rev matching myself going from first to second and second to third for the first few minutes of driving and has helped quite a bit.
 
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I had the same noisy marble sound on the first day my Jeep was new. I think it’s normal for the NV3550.

At approximately 125k miles I noticed a distinct difference in the noise. I pulled the transmission and discovered the pilot bearing had turned to dust. It was literally ground down to powder. The clutch actually looked really good. I decided to change everything out while I had the transmission on the bench.

I replaced the pilot bearing, throw out bearing, clutch, etc….and the marble noise went away.

I also switched to Amsoil manual transmission fluid. I’m not a big Amsoil fanboy or anything. I just had some laying around I wanted to use. I really like the way it shifts now. It seems to be a good combo for me.
 
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