HD Clutch = stiff pedal?

[venuspie1]

Looking at buying a 96 ranger. It's 5-speed and the owner is saying he had an HD clutch installed. He knows nothing else, just told the shop to put the strongest clutch in possible. Truck shifts great and clutch feels fine but the pedal effort is incredibly hard. I've had many rangers and their hydraulic clutches always feel super soft. This feels like a mustang clutch with a cable system instead of hydraulic. Looks like a new master cylinder was installed too.

Anyone ever see or hear of an HD clutch or stiff pedal? Thanks

 

[Shran]

Dunno if I'd think into it much. I have five Rangers and one Explorer at the moment, all 5 speeds, and the pedals all feel different. More resistance (to a point) is usually a good thing, it indicates to me that the hydraulics were bled correctly when they were replaced. They are really mushy if there's any air present.

 

[RonD]

Heavy duty clutch usually means stronger springs on the pressure plate, so it takes more effort to disengage, push springs in to release pressure on the clutch disc

So yes it is possible that is why you have to press down harder on the pedal
They don't necessarily last longer than standard clutches, but it certainly eliminates people "riding the clutch pedal", lol, which would help with longer life

If you get it you will have to live with it, until disc wears down enough to change it, and then put in a self adjusting(SAC) pressure plate and new disc

Hopefully its not a "racing clutch" disc, they don't last as long, they are made of a softer materially that gets sticky when hot, which grabs better but also wears out much faster, so not for daily driver use

 

[adsm08]

I installed a pretty HD ceramic clutch in my Ranger a few years ago. The pressure plate was pretty beefy, and it was hard to push the pedal until it got broken in. It's still on the hard side and feels more like a cable clutch. It drives me up a wall because the B2 feels mushy by comparison so I always think there is something wrong with that one now.

 

[19Walt93]

If the pressure is too high it could cause the firewall to crack around the master cylinder, we used to see it happen with F trucks. As the disc wears and gets thinner, the pressure plate extends further and the pedal effort increases due to loss of leverage on the pressure plate fingers. Ford used to sell a firewall reinforcement plate as a fix. A Centerforce Gold clutch will give you improved grip without too stiff a pedal.

 

[venuspie1]

Thanks for all the replies. It definitely is the hardest hydraulic unit I’ve felt in the pedal before. I’ll keep an eye on the firewall as well.

 

[Dirtman]

Try driving a car/truck with a z bar. I think the older stuff with z bars actually had thicker firewalls from the factory. My mustang firewall is thick as hell compared to an f100 of that era. But stangs were unibody.

 

[Freddie Fudpucker]

Back in the day I raced with 3 finger 180lb zoomie clutches. You could not push the pedal down with your toes.
You could rev it up and dump the clutch and be gone.

I just bought a new clutch assy for the 1984. Its all OEM rated parts.