kishy's 1985 Ranger

[kishy]

Did you get the prebled master cylinder? I hear its a royal pain if you don't get the prebled. Luckily I haven't had any trouble out of mine.

I did not, but I've heard the same and will be trying to bleed it before install. I think it has something to do with the direction/orientation of the MC when installed that causes the issues.

I have no reason to suspect my existing one is bad, but I figured if I'm bleeding the system anyway...

[kishy]

Ended up with more free time and motivation than expected, so I helped a buddy replace his brake pads then got the Ranger off the ground to start on the clutch job.













At present the trans is out of the truck, bellhousing separated (the slave cylinder is sandwiched in between the trans and bellhousing), but clutch is still assembled on the flywheel. This took from about 9:30PM to midnight. The clutch line is hanging disconnected slowly dripping into a drain pan, didn't really have any alternative option. I topped off the reservoir, I'm hoping it doesn't go completely dry by tomorrow.

[gadget73]

if its a rubber line, take a pair of vise grips and some scrap fuel line and make yourself a hose pincher. The needle nose versions work better but both help. Put the hose over the jaws to make it nice and round so it doesn't cut the hose and squish it enough to stop the dribble. If its a hard line, maybe try a vacuum cap if you have one small enough.


Did the slave cylinder fail? Looks awful wet inside the bellhouse.

[kishy]

if its a rubber line, take a pair of vise grips and some scrap fuel line and make yourself a hose pincher. The needle nose versions work better but both help. Put the hose over the jaws to make it nice and round so it doesn't cut the hose and squish it enough to stop the dribble. If its a hard line, maybe try a vacuum cap if you have one small enough.


Did the slave cylinder fail? Looks awful wet inside the bellhouse.

Flexible plastic line, I wouldn't have trusted trying to squeeze it. Didn't end up mattering since I was replacing both hydraulic parts too.

Slave cylinder was fairly dry, I think it's all from the severely leaky valve cover and somehow finds its way in there. But it got a new slave cylinder anyway. Based on Ford part numbers I suspect it was all original.

Clutch disc was totally shot, flush with the rivet heads, with rivet head damage on the flywheel. New everything is on including the U-joint I didn't do when I replaced the front one only. First try after reassembling the clutch was not releasing. I re-bled it and it works perfect now. Clutch starts to grab within 2 inches off the floor instead of 1 inch away from the top.

As it happens the hose for my "one man brake bleeder" perfectly fits onto the clutch line fittings so bleeding the master before it was all assembled, and then keeping the fluid in the line while putting the trans in, was pretty simple and contained. Still a huge mess from disassembly but the bleeding was OK.

Total work time for both days combined is about 11 hours...I feel like that's not bad for a first timer working at a fairly sluggish pace.

[kishy]

Ah crap. Getting ready for work this morning I remembered what I forgot to do: lubricate the splines that the clutch disc slides on.

It slid freely and the clutch wasn't dragging at all (verified with wheels off the ground) so maybe I'll be OK.

[DerekTheGreat]

It's always something. Good work though. Exceeds my ability lol

[87gtVIC]

Sweet. Keep that truck running!

You gonna take the tranny out again?

[kishy]

It's always something. Good work though. Exceeds my ability lol

I thought it would exceed mine, but then I just did it lol.

No one part was even especially difficult or frustrating either, thinking back on it...positioning the trans was annoying but that's about it.

Sweet. Keep that truck running!

You gonna take the tranny out again?

I think I'm going to leave it unless I hear any clutch rubbing sounds or suspect it starts dragging. In normal operation the clutch disc hovers what, thousandths of an inch off the flywheel? I kind of doubt the lubrication is needed...

It wouldn't be the end of the world to unbolt things and just slide it back if that were possible. The issue is as soon as the input shaft comes out of the pilot bearing the trans must be dropped and angled to clear the tunnel and wiggle out between it and the crossmember below. This would mean pulling the clutch line to move the trans far enough to lubricate the splines.

Unless anyone has any experience in this area to say I really, really need to lubricate it, or I notice a related issue, I'm leaving it. Some search results imply I should be OK leaving it.

Edit:
But then there's this: https://www.zf.com/brands/en_de/sach...utch_disk.html
"If the clutch disk is not greased correctly when it is installed, then fretting corrosion may occur in the hub spline. In this case, the clutch disk will seize instead of sliding along the transmission input shaft."

Looks like I'm taking it apart again. Better now than once a problem develops. Clutch hydraulics are arranged such that I probably won't have to introduce any air at least as long as I cap the line off immediately, so that's nice.

[TecNickal]

I guess that means the job will go faster then

Still though great work!

[gadget73]

I never greased a clutch, but I've never dealt with one that wasn't mechanically driven. Just be really sparing with any lube, it'll sling out of there and get all over the parts that should not slip if you overdo it.

[kishy]

Yanked it out, lubed the splines (lightly) with the pink ceramic grease stuff that came with the clutch kit, reassembled and test drove all in about 4 hours.

I think I did get a little air in somewhere because it grabs a little higher off the floor than it did yesterday, but nothing to be concerned about. I'll re-bleed it if it's bugging me. It drives well as it is.

[DerekTheGreat]

If that set-up is anything like the stuff they used in '94 you'll want to get that air out. It'll eventually move somewhere else and then it might not fully disengage the clutch. I had my clutch done on my '94 back when I had it, then got it out of the shop and went to a buddy's house. On the way the thing stopped de clutching. Had to rev match and not stop the remaining 5 or 10 miles. Then bleeding was a PITA, ended up having to use a fork lift to lift the truck so the thing would bleed right. Never had a problem after that though.

[kishy]

I think it's pretty similar, but there are differences. With this trans (TK5 - not the M5OD, and not either of the Mitsubishi ones), the slave cylinder line fitting and bleeder point out of the bellhousing upwards rather than straight out the side (which I believe the later ones do). So air should be able to escape from the slave a lot easier as the highest point on the slave cylinder is the bleeder screw.

With the orientation of the MC (mounted at an angle, high point is where the reservoir line goes, low point is where the slave line goes) if an air bubble were trapped in the line, it should gradually migrate up to the reservoir. My understanding is that when the amount of air is very small, the system self-bleeds to the reservoir by design. I watched it do this the first time. Bubbles, fluid level drops.

I don't think this setup is the same brutal pain for clutch bleeding as the later ones are often described as.


Edit: just looked at some videos and pics of newer Ranger stuff. Mine definitely isn't that batshit crazy setup. The entire system in mine is arranged so gravity will pull fluid to the lowest points and allow air to go where it needs to (either bleed screw or reservoir), no funny tilting required.

[kishy]

Saturday, pulled the valve cover, found mating surface near unusably warped. Tried to hammer is out flat, didn't get too far. Going to try to get a new one, the cast aluminum-looking one on the Turbocoupe I decided not to take the engine from should be a good choice I think...



Also greased the steering linkage where applicable and did an oil change. It was way short on the change interval but I wanted to see if there was any antifreeze in it. Seemingly not. The oil milkshaking from when it was DD before was hopefully just condensation because it never really gets hot enough on my daily commute.

Clutch full engagement point has snuck a little further up the pedal again. Logically, this can only be because air is getting out up to the reservoir.

[Tiggie]

And the turbocoupe valve cover will say turbo. That’ll make it faster too!