Is the clutch slave internal or external on this truck - Thanks

 

I've haven't change the clutch on my 93 yet but I'll take a look at it more closely when I get home to be sure if someone else doesn't know. I remember some of it looks like it is external from crawling around underneath.

 

Thanks I looked underneath and am happy to say it is external. I bought the line between the two ( Master & slave) and it won't work for the original equipment so to fix the rusted out line I need to buy a new master and slave. Should be here tomorrow and I'll see if I can use regular cheap brake line between the two.

 

if its anything like our year of trucks the hose is not threaded but held in by a pin. lmc truck has the parts pretty cheap.

 

Here is my story which probably would explain why you can't buy a hydraulic line between the clutch and slave cylinder.

At about 100k my plastic actuator rod on the clutch cylinder failed. The cylinder was replaced with a different style which also required a new hydraulic line right down to the slave cylinder.

So if you are still running the original Ford Clutch Cylinder you probably need to get a new clutch cylinder, a new line and a new slave cylinder to make it all work as Ford no longer offers the original parts, only the updated replacement parts.

Note, I also had lots of trouble with the bracket that supports the clutch pedal. It cracked and started to break away from the firewall. Had to replace the whole thing. The reason for the failure was that the replacement cylinder is smaller in diameter and hence you need to push on the pedal harder which I guess the factory bracket could not handle.

Best of luck.

 

Thanks - doing the work tonight - I'll let you know the outcome

 

Installed both - pumped forever, tryed using the slave bleed screw, tryed gravity bleeding (the slave bleed screw is open as we speak as is the cap on the master reservoir) - any ideas?

 

Do you have any pedal at all?
Also did you adjust the rod on the master cylinder as per instructions?
Once I get enough pedal to stop the truck, often I can not shift it in and out of gear with the engine running at this point, I go for a drive and shift gears a lot.
That seems to be the fastest way to get the air out of the system.

 

No pedal at all - Left it overnight with the bleeder open on the slave

 

This brings back memories.

Bleeding the hydraulic clutch system is a real pain in the neck because there is no proper bleeder screws to do it with. I think the idea is for the air to bleed out of the slave cylinder, up the hydraulic line to the master cylinder and out thru the spring loaded check valve inside the cylinder. Good theory, but does not work to well in practice.

The recommended way is to bench bleed the slave, master cylinder and hydraulic line and then install it on the truck as a unit. (Rotate the entire assembly any which way and stroke the master cylinder while bleeding air at the slave and master cylinder connections. I will try this next time I need to work on this system.

The last time I did it I just got out as much air as possible so I would get some pedal to shift gears and then did what Dave said. The air will bleed itself out thru the Master Cylinder eventually. It took me several weeks before I a my pedal back to the top.

If you can't get any pedal, try the bench bleed method. (A lot of work but it might be the only way to get your clutch back)

Furthermore, my truck has no adjustment on the MC rod. Rod length is set at the factory and there is no adjustment on the clutch actuator rod. The eye of the MC cylinder rod just clips onto the pin on the fixed clutch actuator lever with a cheap plastic clip which has broken on me several time to the point were I got sick of this and drilled a 1/8" hole thru the actuator lever and installed a dowel pin to keep the eye of the MC clutch actuator rod from sliding off. You might want to consider this to save yourself some headaches down the road.

 

Complete - the issue was the master cylinder - took it off and bench bled it - pedal is hard now - Thanks for your help!

 

Hamberger, if the MC has no adjustable rod the procedure requires removal of the short arm of the clutch linkage that the pin is located on. You have to reset the arm to get the right amount of free travel before the MC piston is moved.
Right now I do not remember what that spec is, something in the 5/16" area if my mind is working right tonight.

 

Dave,

Neither the Ford Dealer nor the tranny shop I worked with at the time had any answers for me so I took matters into my own hands.

There is no adjustment on my short arm. I have seen short arms with adjustable eccentric cams that you could lock into place with a nut on older trucks. You would turn the eccentric cam on the pin to take out any slack in the MC rod to bring up the pedal. However, on the 93' the clutch adjustment is completely automatic with the cylinder rod length set at the factory once.

The slave cylinder will adjust hydraulically to keep your the clutch actuator fork always snug. So as you clutch wears out the slave cylinder piston moves out to take up the slack. The master cylinder adjusts by letting your brake fluid pass to/from to the reservoir thru an interal check valve in the MC piston. Ironically this check valve is also the only way the system can bleed itself. Unfortunately this check valve design, which is the only way to bleed air, does not work too well so the only way I know is to bench bleed both cylinders and hose and then install it on the truck if you want a solid pedal from the get-go.

As you said if you got enough pedal to get you going, the whole thing will bleed and adjust itself over time. Mine took a few week when I did not do the bench bleed.