1996 Ranger 4x4 4.0L M05D 5 speed difficult shift when not moving.

[cnord]

Gurus,

I have a difficult time shifting into 1st gear while at a complete stop; roll a little and it will engage. Shifts normal when underway. After doing a bit of research this looks to be a classic case of the clutch not going into full release. The usual suspect being the slave cylinder. No evidence of any fluid leak at the clutch slave cylinder or clutch master cylinder. I did bleed the system -- no air detected. The slave cylinder looks to extend and retract when viewed through the inspection port on the bell housing.

So a few questions:

What is the expected extend and retract distance of the slave cylinder when viewed through the inspection port? 5mm 10mm ?mm ?

If (when...sigh) I drop the transmission is it doable leaving the transfer case attached? It looks like once the exhaust and cross member (and everything else) is removed there is room for the entire assembly (xfer and transmission) to slide back and drop down.

Advice?

Thanx,

Chris

 

[RonD]

Master can get air trapped at the top, have to pull it out, turn it upside down and press rod in to push air into the hose, then re-install and bleed whole system making sure to keep reservoir topped up

Or with master out you can remove c-clip let air out then re-install clip and master


It could also be that your pilot bearing is starting to go out
It supports the engine end of the input shaft, its in the end of the crankshaft
Pilot bearing allows the input shaft to spin at a different RPM than the engine

i.e. when you are stopped transmission is at 0 RPMs, always matches rear wheel RPMs since there is no disconnect, lol
Engine is at 700RPMs, as is clutch disc and input shaft if trans is in Neutral
When you push down clutch pedal the clutch disc and input shaft need to drop to 0 RPMs, so you can put it in 1st, or ANY GEAR
If clutch disc is rubbing on flywheel or pressure plate(always spins at engine RPMs) then it doesn't want to slow down to 0 RPMs
If Pilot bearing is binding up a bit it tries to keep input shaft spinning so won't let it drop to 0 RPMs

Failing Pilot bearing will usually make a noise when input shaft is spinning at a different RPM than engine, but not always


No you don't have to remove transfer case, but trans and transfer case combo is heavy and awkward to move around

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Like Ron says, first suspect is air in system. I built myself a vacuum bleeder that uses engine vacuum to bleed. It works great.
A couple other possibilities that ive personally run across;
One or both ears that bolts the master to the firewall is broken.
The firewall has a crack in the metal allowing movement of the master.

 

[cnord]

I did swap out the clutch master cylinder with a unit that was prefilled. It was worth the $40 gamble; but no change in the issue. No noticeable bearing noise. Clutch pedal is firm. I have a hand vacuum pump bleed tool and will attach to the slave cylinder bleed port and run the process once more. If this does not solve it; I'll plan on dropping the transmission. Always good to have another project ;-) Thanks for the advice.