Clutch Changeout Issues with Hydraulics
Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:56 pm
I just had a new clutch in the Ranger (2001) at 80,000 miles. They put in the disc, pressure plate, pilot, release bearing, and a new slave. I got the truck back and the engagement was at the floor. There is not adjustment on the pedal and the shop said these Ford hydraulic clutches are a real pain on pedal height. They said in their experience if you drive it a few hundred miles it will improve. I drove a couple hundred miles and then it started not going into gear from a dead stop. My shop was closed so I took it somewhere else. The guy held the clutch pedal at the engagement point firmly and it slowly dropped indicating a leak. I told him it was fine the first two days and that all the clutch parts and slave had just been changed. He said that it is sometimes better to change the slave and master together because the new parts down below often put more pressure on the master and make it go out. At any rate, he put a new master in (bench bled, then further bled in the truck) and it is working fine. However...
my clutch engages about 1/2 to 1 inch off the floor (hard to measure this) and it seems to me that is a bit low. It was far worse before the new master was installed though. Now I would think that as the clutch disc wears the engagement point will slowly rise. However....
the Ranger pressure plate has a special self adjusting feature and I am not sure how that would affect the pedal height.
What you all think of this? Not much I can do when the pedal has no adjustment other than tear off the 3/16 thick rubber pad from the pedal stop to get more travel, but will that cause me to over extend the master and mess it up? We are talking maybe 1/8" more stroke of the master at most.
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A little more info on the broader scope. Two years ago I had a new clutch and slave in the F150 and the pedal was engaging at the floor. I drove it 9 months until cold mornings made it not go into gear until the engine warmed up. Had new master installed and the pedal was fine, right were you want it about halfway up from floor. The old master in this case was not leaking but the piston was not coming all the way back in it's bore, falling short by about half an inch--worked fine with old worn clutch, but new clutch needed that original stroke.
my clutch engages about 1/2 to 1 inch off the floor (hard to measure this) and it seems to me that is a bit low. It was far worse before the new master was installed though. Now I would think that as the clutch disc wears the engagement point will slowly rise. However....
the Ranger pressure plate has a special self adjusting feature and I am not sure how that would affect the pedal height.
What you all think of this? Not much I can do when the pedal has no adjustment other than tear off the 3/16 thick rubber pad from the pedal stop to get more travel, but will that cause me to over extend the master and mess it up? We are talking maybe 1/8" more stroke of the master at most.
________________________________________________
A little more info on the broader scope. Two years ago I had a new clutch and slave in the F150 and the pedal was engaging at the floor. I drove it 9 months until cold mornings made it not go into gear until the engine warmed up. Had new master installed and the pedal was fine, right were you want it about halfway up from floor. The old master in this case was not leaking but the piston was not coming all the way back in it's bore, falling short by about half an inch--worked fine with old worn clutch, but new clutch needed that original stroke.