Clutch travel

[col._kurtz]

I have a '99 Ranger 3.0, 2wd, 5 speed. I recently replaced the clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, and slave cylinder. After all this was done, the clutch would engage after about 2 or 3 inches of travel. Now it is engaging at the very top of travel, maybe an inch or so. Is there any kind of adjustment on the clutch pedal or linkage that could be the cause? Any help would be highly appreciated, really hoping I don't have to pull the transmission back out.

 

[RonD]

Self adjusting clutch..............so no adjustment available.

I would try rebleeding the system.
Have someone push clutch pedal to the floor, open bleeder until fluid stops flowing, then close it.
repeat two or three times, making sure reservoir always has fluid.

If reservoir has ever gone dry then you could have air trapped in the master, it sits at a steep angle which makes it hard to get the air out.

Google: How To Bleed A Ford Ranger Clutch Master Cylinder

Good video on how to get that air out.

 

[col._kurtz]

I had thought about rebleeding it but it seemed to me that air would cause more travel instead of less. It is so close to the top of the pedal that I'm not sure it's fully engaging, I know I have to do something soon.

 

[RonD]

Yes, I would think there would be no air in the system with that symptom, but 99.9% of Ranger clutch travel issues is air in the system, so...........free place to start

Only other thing I can think of is that the wrong pressure plate was used.
There are self-adjusting pressure plates and regular pressure plates.
Self-adjusting plate closes the gap as the friction plate wears down which keeps the clutch pedal in the middle until friction plate is too worn.
Regular plate would rely on external adjustment as friction plate wears down.

If you have a regular plate then as long as it is fully engaging you don't need to change it, it will eventually wear down to center then bottom of pedal travel as friction plate wears.

I would check the part number to see if that is what happened, not sure on what the '99 used.
I would assume self adjusting just because there is no external adjustment.

 

[col._kurtz]

I know it's been a while but I will post what I did to fix the problem. Since I bought all my parts for transmission at Auto zone, they had a lifetime warranty. I dropped the transmission and replaced the clutch, pressure plate and slave cylinder. The only signs of wear on any of it was the ends of the fingers the slave cylinder pushes against. Not real sure what caused it but it was one of the 3 parts I replaced. Definitely didn't want to replace the wrong part and have to turn around and pull it right back out, used enough foul language just pulling it out once!!