How to bleed a clutch on a Freightliner Cascadia?

The process is the more or less the same for hydraulic clutches across all years, makes and models of semi trucks, it resembles bleeding brakes on a car. Here are the steps for bleed the clutch on your semi truck:

  1. Fill the clutch / brake fluid to the maximum level in the reservoir

  2. Locate the bleed fitting on the transmission, usually on the slave cylinder housing if its visible, attach a clear and air tight hose to fitting and submerge it in a container with enough clutch / brake fluid to cover the hose end

  3. Press the clutch pedal 10-15 times or until it gets firm while pressing (if there is air in the system it will not be firm, so just press the pedal 15 times)

  4. Press the pedal to the very end and hold

  5. Unscrew the bleed fitting and watch the air bubbles go through the hose and once they stop flowing tighten the fitting back up

  6. Release the clutch pedal and repeat steps 1-6 until there are no air bubbles in the fluid from the bleed fitting

  • This process may be lengthy, If you're in a shop environment you can expedite this procedure by creating an air adapter inside of an old clutch reservoir cap and applying a very minimal amount of air to the system, do this at your own risk.

If you're looking for a replacement clutch, check out our Drivetrain collection for your Freightliner Cascadia, we offer different options of clutches to fit your standards.

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