Hi all, I'm having some issues with my clutch - I'm hoping to avoid dropping the trans...

Background info:
1980 euro 300d 4 speed with about 208k miles on the clock...
full clutch kit with less than 5k miles on it.

It all began with a leaking clutch slave, which I replaced in January 2012...prior to that no issues whatsoever with clutch. About 4months later (on a warm day), the clutch began slipping after a long drive on mountain roads. I noticed it was fine when cold though. For some reason, I figured it was time to replace clutch, so I had a full clutch kit dropped in. Car ran fine for a while, until it started exhibiting the same symptoms again...which led to this thread:

slipping clutch question euro 300d

It seems the issue I have is a clutch release bearing that's partially loaded with the pedal up, so the clutch is not fully engaged - also, after about 10 mins of operation, I hear a chattering when the clutch pedal is depressed, which leads me to believe there is termendous pressure on the release bearing. While driving, I also hear a low humming noise.

I've adjsuted the eccentric several times to get it to the point where the pushrod is at its shortest hoping that the return hole is open; this seems to work fine for a while, but the issue still resurfaces.

At this point, the car is just sitting on my street as I don't want to drive it until I figure this out. I'm begining to think the slave cylinder I replaced in early 2012 is faulty, as the condition occurred after this. I'm contemplating putting in new slave, master & pushrod so I can rule these out - from what I see, the eccentric is doing its job, as anytime I try to adjust it, I can clearly see the pushrod length change.

If that doesn't work, the next step would be to drop the trans so I can see what's really going on in there. However, I'd like to leave this as a last resort, as everything was replaced, and I don't really have much time to wrench on this car at the moment.

I appreciate any input/suggestions.

Cheers!