Slave Cylinder Brand???

[hilltopfarm]

I just bought a 2003 FX4 Ranger and the slave cylinder is gone on it. You can push the pedal all the way to the floor with no resistance. Since I have to pull the tranny and transfer case to get at it, I want to make sure that I put in a quality replacement. Is there any particular brand that I should get??? I have looked at the Performance Clutch kit which comes with slave, master, reservoir and lines all pre-bled for $146. Should I go with that or just get an individual slave along with a new clutch. The concern that I have is of pulling the tranny and then after a couple of weeks the slave goes again. I have heard of that happening with this year. Any advice??

Thanks,
--Anthony

 

[racsan]

about 8 years ago i put in a new slave & clutch/pressure plate. they werent bad but i had lost 2nd in the transmission so i got a rebuilt unit, since i was in there i figured i might as well do the clutch & slave. 70,000 miles (8 years) later i noticed the throwout bearing was going bad, and i had a spongy clutch, id have to add fluid almost daily as time wore on so i tore it down & put in another clutch disc, pressure plate & slave assy. both times the parts came from autozone, there does seem to be a bit of a differance in the new slave assy, hopefully its better. cost wise i paid $200 for parts. earlier in the year the truck got a new clutch master ($40) and a new line from the clutcu master to the slave cyl. ($90). im not sureif any one brand would be better than another, seems like there all from china anyhow.....

 

[pcollins]

Your best bet is to drop the money on an OEM slave. Its really hit or miss with these. I had one cheap aftermarket slave bad right out of the box. The replacement however (yes i was dumb enough to do a warranty exchange for the same aftermarket crap) lasted the rest of the time i owned the truck with 0 issues.

 

[snake]

Motorcraft. 'nuff said.

 

[hank857]

Just a hard call as all fail. With that said I bought a name brand and it failed after about 30K, but at the same time I lost OD so had to pull the trans again anyhow. I got autozone now all lifetime they replaced the clutch (s) no questions asked each time I had to pull the transmission.

Have you checked the master? They are really pretty flimsey, and cause the same problem. Look inside at the carpet see if it is wet or not before you go to the slave. If you do the slave, also do the master at the same time, one will fail when one is done and the other not. DOnt ask how I know.

 

[hilltopfarm]

Just a hard call as all fail. With that said I bought a name brand and it failed after about 30K, but at the same time I lost OD so had to pull the trans again anyhow. I got autozone now all lifetime they replaced the clutch (s) no questions asked each time I had to pull the transmission.

Have you checked the master? They are really pretty flimsey, and cause the same problem. Look inside at the carpet see if it is wet or not before you go to the slave. If you do the slave, also do the master at the same time, one will fail when one is done and the other not. DOnt ask how I know.

Yep, I checked the slave is leaking, bell-housing is all wet on the inside. I ordered a new clutch & a Perfection clutch hydraulics set. The perfection set comes with master + slave and everything in between it is all pre-bled so all I have to do is throw it in there when I get the tranny off. Looks like the leaking brake fluid from the slave has rusted the clutch plates so good thing that I ordered new ones.

The prospect of changing this thing every 70K does not feel very good. It is unfortunate that Ford or some aftermarket company does not offer a better slave that will last.