I was doing some reading online, granted it was for Mustangs with hydraulic clutches, that the throw should be between 1-4 inches. However the article said that if the throw is closer to 4" that the pressure plate was severely warn out.

I’ve heard if the clutch is blead like brakes then it wont be blead properly and air will still be in the line. Instead rather as the clutch petal is being pushed down crack open the bleader screw on the slave cylinder and BEFORE the petal bottoms out close the bleader screw. If you have to get a new master or slave cylinder gong to have a heck of a time getting all the air out of the cylinder, that’s what took me so long with mine was getting all the minuet air pockets out of the new master/slave cylinders I installed.

If the guy you bought the truck from wasn’t very mechanically inclined it is possible that he put the throw out barring on wrong... if he did the clutch job that is. On my 84 on the throw out barring in the grove were the fork sits there’s a lobe and the lobe has to be between the fork tines. Might be a problem area?

problem areas to conceder:
- fork not on pivot point all the way (it can be tricky to get the clip on the fork to latch onto the pivot ball in the bellhousing)
- air in the lines
- pressure plate not torqued down
just a few off the top of my head.

hopefully it helps a little bit.

 

I also had to do this too and it accually helped get the throw I needed.

 

I did not notice the dates of post on this thread until now. The thread is a little old. But the problem would seem to be on going.

I have a F350 on cold days no real clutch problems, except after several miles of driving and once the truck warms up and using the clutch.

I put heat tape along the line from Master cylinder to the slave. It helped some.

I had change the plastic peace on the end of slave cylinder rod at one time, but noticed it had worn again, so changed it again, that helped some. And had changed the shaft bushings, on the clutch peddle shaft. it helped some.

The plastic bushing on pivot arm and the master cylinder rod was good, but when pushing on the clutch peddle I noticed and inch or so of free play before the clutch master cylinder began to engage.

I disconnected the pivot arm from the master cylinder rod. Removed the nut on the spline shaft the pivot arm is held on with, and removed the pivot arm from the clutch peddle shaft.

Loosened the two Master cylinder bolts on the fire wall allowing the master cylinder to move out ward away from the fire wall approximately 1/8 to a 1/4 of an inch.

Place the bushing back in the master cylinder rod and placed the pivot arm back on the or into the master cylinder rod as it would normally be alined.

With the clutch peddle in its fully up position against the stops, the Master Cylinder rod pushed in by hand and the master cylinder pushed back away from the fire wall.

Alined the pivot arm on the spline with all slack out/removed, tighten the nut that holds the arm on the spline shaft.

Then tightened the the two master cylinder bolts that hold it to the fire wall.

Now there is no play in the clutch peddle, the master cylinder piston begins to move at the top of the clutch peddle from the stops.

Removed the free play in the clutch peddle, the Clutch disengages at about mid stroke of the clutch peddle, no problems noted yet.

 

Zombie thread! Back from the dead, but that's a good procedure you added.

Same symptom, but not on a Ford truck many years ago. Pontiac Fiero clutch would not disengage after replacement. Everything moved, just not enough. Bled lines and changed parts to no avail. Eventually found that machining the flywheel had changed the geometry just enough to mess up disengagement. A few thou at the flywheel is quite a bit more at the pedal. Hydraulic clutches are a fixed travel, not really adjustable, nor do they "self adjust". Principle holds for any hydraulic clutch linkage. Replace that flywheel instead of machining. They really are not that expensive.