Thanks for the help everyone. I ended up just having a friend of mine drive me to the Ford dealer to pick up the part, and fortunately for me it was only the bushing. I can't believe that crappy piece of plastic cost me $10, but at least the problem was solved for $10.

 

Good deal. Glad you're back.

 

so the rod had popped off?

 

Yep. Once I had the part it was literally a 10 second fix.

 

yeah....when it happened to me, it took my probably an hour and a half (probably more...) to figure out what had happened...once i did, yep, 10 minutes to drill and stick a pin in there....good deal, glad ya got it figured out n fixed!

 

I did the cotter pin trick on mine too. A couple of washers, a quick hole and it works just fine. I had to use what was left of the bushing cuz it got mangled the first time I replaced it and stepped on the clutch. The post where the bushing fits was worn on the backside and the bushing slipped right off and disintegrated. 15K miles and it looks and feels like brand new.

 

OK, I'm having clutch problems again, but something new this time. When I came home tonight I pulled up to a stop sign, stopped, and when I went to go the transmission popped out of gear. When I put it back in gear it made grinding sounds. The clutch itself was replaced about 70K miles ago and I just replaced the bushing recently. The clutch pedal is working fine. Throwout bearing? If so, has anyone changed it and how do I do it? Thanks.

 

How about the throwout bearing carrier bending?

 

check to see how much its moving in the bushing. check the bushings that hold the axle in the housing. look for cracks when the pedal is pushed down. check your fluid. what does it look like, cloudy, sparkly stuff in it?
how far down is pedal engagement?
kinda sounds like you didnt have the trans all the way in and when you went to put it back in it bumped the syncros around when it popped out.

it could be the throwout still but not convinced. sometimes you can get a little grease on the shaft and it helps it out. the tranny has got to come out and it just slides on the shaft align it with the tool and put the tranny back in. i really like that kevlar bearing that southbend uses it last longer and its smoother.

 

Keep in mind that I've never done my own transmission work so if anyone has pics that would be great.

barebackjake, fluid is fine, pedal engagement is/was normal, and I had the clutch fully depressed when this happened.

Kwik, is there any way to diagnose this without pulling the tranny?

 

Not without being very familiar with where the fork sits normally if you removed the slave cylinder. The height difference would be very slight and I am not familiar enough to be able to help in that regard.

 

sounds like it just didnt make it in all the way. if it dosnt do it again i wouldnt be real worried about it. might be just gettting time for a fluid change. the slave is supposed to have 11mm of travel.

so the pedal feels the same? alot of times if the pilot bearing is sticking the pedal gets hard. or it will squeel.

 

Well, this wasn't what I expected at all. The clutch, transmission, and fluids were fine. The bolts on the rear driver's side hub sheared off somehow. I have no clue how or why and the shop that did the work for me had never seen this happen before. Because of the price, I had them swap the old rear axle with a rebuilt rear axle. I appreciate all the help though guys.

 

They must have been loose. I've seen it a lot on CV flanges if the bolts are not properly torqued. I'm surprised that you didn't see any oil coming out.
If they were all tight and still broke off all eight like that - well that's a new one on me.

 

Can't wrap my brain around how that could have happened. Let's hope it was a fluke.