Hey guys, It's time for me to ask help on something I've never personal had experience with, but it doesn't seem too difficult so I'm going to try and tackle it.

I was driving home one day from school, and as I was approaching a traffic light, I put my foot on the clutch take the truck out of gear. When I put pressure on the clutch pedal it went straight to the floor with no pressure. I figured perhaps I lost pressure, so I tried pumping it, but still to no success. When I eventually got the truck home stuck in 3rd, I noticed that the external clutch slave cylinder was hanging down from the transmission broken.

I went out and bought a new one, read the instructions and realized this is more than what I had thought.

My problem is I need to remove, bleed, and reinstall this external slave cylinder, but I'm pretty skiddish about the whole removal, and bleeding/installation proceedure, being as though I've got no experience with it.

Any help you guys can provide would be awesome

Thanks
Drew

footnote: Might have forgotten something, so More information to come when asked

 

It's fairly simple. The clutch line is attached to the slave cylinder by a pin that can be driven out by a small nail. You don't have to worry about ruining this pin. The slave cylinder should have one included.

Once you get the old one off and put the new on you have to bleed it. I found this walkthrough to be helpful:

How to Bleed Your Clutch Hydraulics Without a Helper

It's always easier to have a helper. It's just like bleeding brakes...

 

Many people have found over and over that you almost never can get all the air out of the system the first time, but if you get it good enough where you can get it in gear, drive it. The vibration from driving it will help migrate the air bubbles up the line where they will go up and come out of the clutch master.

 

Yep...Dave beat me to it. Everytime I've done it, it never seems like you have the all the air out, which you probably don't, and you get frustrated thinking you did something wrong.

If it's working good enough to get into reverse and first then drive it around...in a couple days it will feel just like it should. So don't be surprised if when you're done, the petal is lower then what you would expect and soft at the top.

 

Yeah, you guys were right, the bleed is exactly like bleeding brakes. Inexperience made me over play it

However, my problem is larger than simply the slave cylinder now.

When I went to replace the slave cylinder, I figured it was time to replace the whole hydraullic clutch system (that is the slave cylinder, the hose connecting the master and slave, and the master cylinder itself), it's better to be safe than sorry. I properly filled the slave and then installed it into its housing on the drivers side of the transmission, installed the clutch hose, routed it up to the newly installed master cylinder and installed it to the master itself. Now, when i hooked the clutch pedal linkage adjustment back up to the rod protruding from the rear of the master cylinder through the firewall and pressed down on the clutch pedal, I got zero to minimal pressure in the pedal and it bent the rod. I went to the store and got the master cylinder replaced, went through the same routine, and it bent another rod. Not only does it bend the rods, but went I push the clutch pedal down with the clutch pedal linkage adjustment is hooked up, it twists the master (like it is on a pivet point) and pushes the firewall forward. When I hook up the clutch pedal linkage adjustment, the clutch pedal is all the way out to its normal position. When pushed down, it wont retract to it's normal position, it stays down about 2 1/2 inches

I'm pretty lost as to what the problem is

 

You might have a cracked firewall. It happens.

 

Did you find a solution to your bent rod problem?

I helped a friend on a dodge with the exact same problem. Turned out it was the throwout bearing had seized and cocked in side the bell housing. Except that it was a dodge all the symptoms were the same. Broken rod, flexing firewall.

 

I have an 88 350 with a 460. tring to replace to external slave cylider. got the hose on new on and redy to mount to tranny, but cant get rod to push inn far enouh to slide it into place. PLEASE HELP?????

 

The new slave comes with a plastic retainer that holds the rod back into the slave. I was trying to put a old slave back in myself, and after I rigged up some wire and wires ties to hold it back, I still could not get it in place. I ended up getting a long 3/8 coupler nut(that couple all-thread together) and a 3/8 bolt, putting them together and slipping it inbetween the arm and the bellhousing. I then unscrewed the bolt, using it like a jack, to depress the clutch enough to slide the slave in place. It was a battle.

 

I got mine into place by putting the shaft against the arm and pushing it down into the collapsed position. Then I swung it into the harness on the bell housing. I've gotten pretty good at it since I've had to do it so often. It can be a pain but its no more difficult than putting in a shock or strut.

 

I recently (this past weekend) went through this same ordeal. I could NOT get the new slave cylinder to fit between the clutch lever and the mounting area. I used a breaker bar to push back on the clutch lever, felt something "slip", and the clutch lever got quite loose - and then fell out! I checked everything and nothing was broken, so I put the lever back in, and lo and behold the slave cylinder slid right in, fairly easily. I think I had pushed the clutch lever to far onto the ball stud on the transmission and changed the geometry such that there wasn't enough clearance for the slave cylinder.

As far as bleeding it, I had pretty good luck with rotating the slave cylinder so the bleed screw was facing up. Makes sense because the air will accumulate at the top of the slave underneath the bleed screw. I still need to get in there and bleed it some more though... it loses pressure when it sits. I probably foamed the oil up bleeding it and I need to wait for the air to come out of solution and then rebleed it.

 

That has been my experience as well. I can remove the slave cylinder, and then easily put it back in place easily by putting the shaft against its indent in the arm, compressing the slave cylinder shaft, and then swinging the slave cylinder body directly and without much effort into its proper location in the metal bracket/harness. Then installing the plastic C-clip.

 

I have removed the pin from the slave cylinder.. But the line is still tight I don't see anything else holding it in place. I looks to be the original slave cylinder on the truck..Been working on it for days. Ideas?