Clutch pedal went stiff..Pushed it down hard and it blew the hydraulic line off.

[Ranger89xlt]

I was driving my 1989 ranger with the 2.9 and the 5 speed. I had to pull over for about 2 minutes and just left the truck running. Everything was working fine when i got out. I got back in and went to press the clutch, it didn’t press. It was completely stiff. I ended up pressing down pretty hard and the pedal got very easy to push and I heard fluid coming it somewhere. Crawled under the truck and saw that the hydraulic line had blown out of the fitting at the transmission. My first question is

1. What would cause the pedal to go stiff like this?

2. I couldn’t figure out how to connect the line back in...How does the hydraulic fitting go back into the transmission?

I ended up getting it to slowly roll and put it in 1st and drove it home without the clutch..it shifted fine, being I wasn’t using the clutch with shifts, but it limped home and still shifted. Thanks for the help!

 

[Paulos]

I could be wrong, but I think the '89 Rangers had a quick connector at the slave cylinder. If the quick connector somehow disconnected, the check ball would prevent fluid/pressure loss... until the pedal was pushed too hard. I'm not familiar with the quick connect fittings, so maybe someone that is more knowledgeable on the subject will have some input. Is part of the quick connector still in the slave cylinder? Hopefully it was just a fluke thing that the connector became disconnected, that way you can replace/repair the connector and won't have to pull the trans to change a possibly seized slave cylinder.

 

[Josh B]

Maybe it had already come off. If it's like the 93 clutch system when that hose comes off the slave it closes with a spring valve. Not sure what your extra push may have done.
The hose goes into the slave fitting with the use of a ford slave cylinder tool, kind of a U shaped end on a flat handle, all one piece stamped thing really, I'm not sure exactly how it locks in place with that, but I did one of those 12 years ago somehow.
The last I got was a powertorque that uses a pop in springy collar type clip thing, you remove it by sticking a flat screwdriver behind the back and pop it out, like a cotter spring collar or something.
With that setup you simply push the hose into the slave until the collar on the hose clears the key slot (you can hold a light to the connection until you see it clear the slot), then just hold it in tight and pop the locking clip back in place. Seemed a bit easier and more secure to me

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

IIRC, the slave has little fingers surrounded by a small spring. The line has a small ridge that the fingers catch. On the line is a white plastic ring like a 1/2" piece of pex pipe. The ford tool pushes that white piece into the fingers, forcing them apart so the line can be released. Lots of times dirt builds up in the fingers and if it isn't cleaned out its impossible to get the line to release. I can see dirt preventing the line from being pushed into place properly....

 

[Josh B]

Here's a photo from the box that the power torque came in. What Always describes there is the reason why I liked this one. They may have simply found a way to make it cheaper, but it does make it also easier to secure. I cannot vouch for the quality of their product, give me maybe 1, 5, or 10 years on that.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Kind of like the duckbill clips on fuel lines.

 

[Ranger89xlt]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I figured it out. Simply just cleaned out the fitting at the slave cylinder, and the line pushed right back in. Not sure what happened there. Added some fluid and bled the air out of the system, and it’s doing good now!

 

[gw33gp]

Good to here about a good, simple resolution.