Hard to go shift into all gears

[Bbryan63]

1997 ranger 2.3l 2wd. Was getting hard to shift into gears every now and then so I replaced the clutch and the clave cylinder. I drive it to work every night but after about 10 miles or if your using the clutch a lot it will do the same thing almost impossible to get into gear. I also replaced the hydraulic line to the slave when installing the clutch. Any help would be appreciated I don’t know what to do. Input?

 

[RonD]

Welcome to TRS

I guess you are down to the Master, you have air in the system, simple as that.

You can pull the master and hold it so its at an upward angle in the rear so any air inside can be pushed out by pumping the pushrod
Or replace it with a pre-filled Master

If you have the old slave you can bench bled the master, you need the old slave to hold open the "Quick Connect" fitting in order to bleed the master while its at rear up angle


Its not a transmission issue if you can shift into any gear with engine OFF

 

[Bbryan63]

Welcome to TRS

I guess you are down to the Master, you have air in the system, simple as that.

You can pull the master and hold it so its at an upward angle in the rear so any air inside can be pushed out by pumping the pushrod
Or replace it with a pre-filled Master

If you have the old slave you can bench bled the master, you need the old slave to hold open the "Quick Connect" fitting in order to bleed the master while its at rear up angle


Its not a transmission issue if you can shift into any gear with engine OFF

I might just buy a ore filled master then! I was hoping it wasn’t the transmission!! Thank you for the info man it’s been a giant headache

 

[RonD]

Yes, the hydraulic clutch system on the Ranger has too close a tolerance in "working" mode
Any air in the system causes what you have, and new clutch disc makes it even more noticeable, the new disc is thicker so to disengage it you need FULL travel of the slave

Using a SAC(self adjusting) pressure plate can help, and should be used just for longer clutch life, but its still susceptible to air in the system


How clutch works
Transmission can not be disconnected from rear wheels(unless you remove drive shaft, lol)
So when rear wheels are at 0rpms, transmission is at 0rpms
Clutch disc is sandwiched in between flywheel and pressure plate, these are both bolted to the engine(crankshaft) so always spin at engine rpms

Say engine is idling at 750rpms, so flywheel and pressure plate are at 750rpm
And clutch disc is at 750rpms(trans in neutral)
So to put transmission(at 0rpms) in to any gear, the clutch disc needs to slow down to 0rpms
When you press clutch pedal down the slave should fill with fluid and push against the springs of the pressure plate
The pressure plate is what holds clutch disc against flywheel
So with pressure released the clutch disc "should be" free to slow down to 0rpms
But if there is even a little pressure, clutch disc can rub on flywheel and/or pressure plate
Clutch disc is 10", and transmission synchro is 4", as you push stick shift into a gear the synchro is first to thing used to "match RPMs", when stopped its used to slow down the clutch disc to 0rpms
With more than 2 to 1 ratio, ANY rubbing of the clutch disc will make it hard to get into gear

If the slave doesn't travel out its full distance then clutch disc will rub
This could be from air in the slave or the master


You didn't mention replacing pressure plate, just "clutch" if you reused the pressure plate that could be the problem
A SAC pressure plate MUST BE RESET before it can be used again with a new clutch disc

SAC pressure plate always has these 3 springs on it: https://cdn.nexternal.com/uuc/images/CLUTCH_LUK_SAC.jpg
Can have 4 springs

Regular pressure plate does not: https://ic.carid.com/wp/sachs/w01332624213sac_1.jpg

You CAN use either, but the SAC works best, IMO

 

[1990RangerinSK]

Its not a transmission issue if you can shift into any gear with engine OFF

Not necessarily. It *could* be bad synchros (but all of them would have to be bad).