What am I doing wrong?

[InTheStix]

Took my trans back out again yesterday evening-removed pressure plate bolts and had to use a 12" screwdriver to pry off the pressure plate-also had to pry the clutch disc off-the were both incredibly stuck by rust-guess that's what I get for pressure washing my engine a couple of months ago to clean it up for painting....anyway, my clutch and pressure plate needed to be replaced. It's the factory original.It lasted 130,000 miles-from what everyone says,I guess this is exceptional.The guy that had the truck before Dad drove a lot of highway miles-not a lot of shifting.No matter how many MC's I would have put in it,it would have never came unstuck and released.Live and learn......

 

[Hardwareman]

That's got to be the cleanest used bellhousing I've ever seen....

Yeah, this is the one I bought from a guy out in Redlands that had a 5.0 project Ranger going for like 3 years he said...............still not finished! It's the one I was talking to you about before I bought it. Thanks by the way. It was out of a 2000/2001 Ranger and I looked at the odometer while he was'nt looking and sure enough it only had 27,000 miles on it. I know that does'nt mean this is the tranny that was in there, but man this thing sounds new. Slight hum from perfectly working internals and shifts great!

InTheStix,

Sorry man, I must have not seen the new posts in this thread. I would say that you've found you're problem with the pressure plate and clutch disc. PLEASE swap out your pilot bearing while you're in there as it can cause shifting problems if worn or rusted. When are you starting reassembly?




Allen

 

[Hardwareman]

BTW:

Sorry, I assumed that you replaced all of your clutch components. I did'nt know that you only changed your master...lol




Allen

 

[InTheStix]

No,I didn't replace the clutch and PP like I should have when I had the engine out.I had no idea what typical mileage would be for my Ranger's clutch.I guess it really depends on how it was driven, but the truck has mostly highway mileage.From reading posts here,I learned that it was probably time for replacement-all of you guys know Rangers WAY better than I do-this is my first one.I haven't even owned a manual trans vehicle since a '66 Mustang Dad bought me when I graduated high school (Class of '76-DAMN,has it been that long?-lol).I will replace the pilot bearing,so I won't have to pull the trans for the third time (only done it twice and already have it down to a 1 hr job).I will have the flywheel resurfaced too-it has no grooves or scratches,the clutch disc was not even worn down to the rivets yet,as a matter of fact,it still has cross cuts visible.I hope to have the little Ford back together by next weekend-no one has a pressure plate in stock locally at the moment,I'll have one brought in(takes a day or 2),that will give NAPA time to resurface my flywheel.Thanx Hardwareman,your help is GREATLY appreciated!

 

[InTheStix]

I FINALLY HAVE A CLUTCH AGAIN!!!!! Got up today,drove 30mi to a parts store that had a pressure plate in stock,got the PP,clutch disc,pilot bearing and alignment tool for about 100 bucks.I examined my flywheel-it had no hot spots or any sign of serious wear-cleaned it up with 80 grit emery cloth,wiped everything down with lacquer thinner and started re-assembly.After about 2hrs of work,I had my new clutch and trans back in the little Ford.I took a break long enough to put a new brake line and caliper on a friend's Heep,then decided to put in one of the 2 new master cylinders I had.I bench bled one of them and put it in the truck.I no longer have fluid coming through the top of my MC-I guess when my clutch and PP were stuck from rust the pressure had to come out somewhere(through the top).My little Ford now shifts and releases better than it ever did.NEVER AGAIN will I pressure wash a clutch and pressure plate assembly and then let sit for a couple of months.....rust is your worst enemy!!!! Now maybe I can start putting the rest of my Ranger back together and start looking for a painter!!!

 

[Hardwareman]

No problem I'm just glad you got it back together.

You're absolutely right about the pressure in the system having to go somewhere. Since everything was locked up from rust it would have just kept blowing out of each and every master you put in there.

Well, you were frustrated but kept at it and now you're done! Good job!




Allen

 

[grnrngr]

OK well, I guess I gotta start a survey...the other day, I ofhandedly sorta recommended not changing a slave cylinder when doing the complete clutch job. Since you've already changed everything else I'm wondering... did you change the slave? Obviously, since it's working great, you don't want to fix something that's not broken. Personally, when I swapped the first one in my 90 Ranger, I didn't change the slave and had no problem but it was only a year or so later, maybe 15-20k miles, that the engine went out. But if a fair number of them do infact not last thru a second clutch, for the $75 or $100 or so it adds to the cost of the job, it's definitely better to do it. Should have my Ranger back on the road soon, I'll be watching for my OEM slave cylinder to fail. Didn't have this kind of resource available when I did my Bronco 2, so the slave unit in there is the one that came with the used trans from the wrecking yard. Haven't had any issues with it for the year or so that it been in there...So question is..how many people actually do swap out the slave cylinder when they do the clutch job? and then how many of those who don't, have slave failure later?

 

[grnrngr]

My goodness...totally forgot to say... Great job getting it back up and on the road!!

 

[V8_power428@hotmail.com]

The slave cylinders are a bitch to bleed and it takes a long time to get all the air out i work at ford and have done a few including my own.

 

[InTheStix]

Thanx to all the guys here,with their knowledge and experience working on Rangers,there's nothing on these little Fords that can't be figured out and fixed!I highly recommend Hardwareman's method of MC/slave cylinder bleeding-it worked for me! To answer grnrngr-yes I did replace my slave cylinder-as a matter of fact,I replaced everything(MC,slave,throwout bearing assembly,hydraulic line,clutch disc,pressure plate and pilot bearing) and it only cost me around 300 bucks.I would recommend replacing everything to anyone faced with clutch problems....if you have the money to do so. My Ranger did have a whine in it,I'm sure it was the throwout bearing since this bearing rides on the PP fingers all the time,now the whine is gone.Hope you have your Ranger back on the road soon!!!!! I'm ready to put my bed back on and start putting my interior back in!

 

[noz89]

Hello Guys, after reading this thread, I wonder if I may have not done something when I replaced my clutch and slave. My new Slave did not come with the spring that is in this pic

. The old slave did have it, but as I recall, I didnt think the spring went on this new one. My problem is that my clutch pedal doesnt go all the way up, and in engages while depressing the pedal only about an inch or two. Secondly, the tranny does make a whining sound. Now I am thinking that may be the TO bearing. It is a 94, 3.0 5spd.

 

[feellnfroggy]

Rule of Thumb for anyone. You must be 10% smarter than the equipment your working with...


My personal opinion, and i dont know much about your mechanical skills, but if every master cylinder yoru getting 'seems' to be defective maybe its not the parts, have you had someone double check your isntalling correctly? also i change three trannys and had three times clutch would engage. three different answers. first one f250, we didnt tighten tranny bolts all teh way, tranny was quarter inch out and not fully seated, second one isuzu trooper tranny was half inch out due to heater hose between tranny housing and block, third one was mustang, clutch cable had stretched and wasnt engaging clutch, If the mc is leakingthere is a loose line somewhere and/or it wasnt installed properly (lines crossed?)

I dont mean to sound negative but these are things that happen to most people despite the expertise level, Like it or not we're all amatuers, (msotly all) and we flubb things up, take the whole tranny apart again(pita) and put it all back together again, see what step you missed, find what you didnt catch the first time around.follow bleeding procedures slowly and with purpose, you'll catch something you did wrong, and maybe even the original Mc will work.(long shot)



::edit::Wow ive been reading alot of old post and not even realizing it. disregard