The only way to bleed clutch master/slave - nightmare no more
 

Working on a 87 F150, replaced clutch, master and slave. Was having a hard time bleeding it, getting all of the air out so of course headed here to look for info. What I found was Ford created a nightmare with this and I was not the only one having problems, but a whole bunch of people also had a very, very hard time.
I was trying pretty much every way I read about but I just could not get it to work like it should.
I came across a post where someone had taken the master and slave off the truck , submerged them in fluid, bleed them etc and installed it all as one assembly. Some responses were saying you couldn't put it back on that way etc.
Yes you can and how I wish i had found that post at the start. I was at the end of my rope so figured I would give it a try - could not have been easier and it works like it just came back from the factory. The only "difficult" part was putting the 2 line clamps back on - not hard at all using a swivel socket and extensions.
Pretty simple procedure and I honestly do not see why you would do it any other way now that I have pretty much done them all.
You just bought a new master and slave, so they are already off the truck - just remove the 2 line clamps (1/4" socket) so you also have the line off the truck.
Buy 2 of the big containers of brake fluid (the extra $6-$7 you spend on brake fluid is WELL worth it) and 2 containers just large enough to fit the master and slave in each. I bought a couple of plastic ones at Walmart for like $3.00 a piece in the "tupperware" section.
Put the master and slave in it's own container, loosening the bleed screw on the slave. Fill each container up with brake fluid. and then just bleed them by pushing the rods in and out making sure they are always submerged.. On the master u obviously fill the reservoir. I moved them around at different angles the best i could to insure there were zero air bubbles hiding in there.
Literally only takes minutes per cylinder.
Now the line - I had the master cylinder sitting above the slave (slave container was sitting on the floor). There is zero doubt I have any air in either. Submerge the end of the line that will be attached to the master in that container, the other end above the slave container.
Okay, I was worried I might suck a mouthful of brake fluid but that didn;t happen. Give the line a couple of sucks to start it siphoning. Keep it above the slave container so you can see if there are any air bubbles at all - do not let the master cylinder container empty enough to where the master is no longer submerged. Now that there are no air bubbles in the line, place the other end in the slave container.
Keeping them submerged at all times, attach the lines.
take it outside and hose it off.
Total time is 10-15 minutes easy.
There is absolutely ZERO problems putting it back on the truck as a one piece assembly - it could not be much easier. The ONLY thing to watch out for is make sure the line is on the right side of the vacuum hoses. I dropped the slave down, crawled under the truck to mount it and put the one line clamp back on, went back on top and I had one vacuum line behind the line where the other clamp went. Took a whole 5 minutes to correct it, but pay attention and you won't have to do that.
put the bolts on the master cylinder, mount the rod and be absolutely ecstatic that it now works exactly like it should.
Be mad at yourself for spending a couple of days gravity bleeding, having the wife pump the crap out of it while u lie under the truck with brake fluid dripping all over you, jacking the rear of the truck up etc....
Yes it did cost me an extra $15.00 for 2 containers and an extra brake fluid, but instead of going thru all of that other stuff, wondering if i would ever get it correct, I could have spent 15 minutes doing it this way, mounted it and be done with it, now having the clutch working like it just left the factory.

Obviously love the guy whose post i read that mentioned this. I looked for that post again but could not find it. trust me, the ones who said it couldn't be done that way, was harder or whatever are 1000% wrong.
It could not be easier, you are 100% sure there are no air bubbles in it in 10-15 minutes (after a couple of days of messing with this, I spent extra time bleeding those cylinders because if this did not work, I was at a loss on where to turn next).
Wish i would have seen his post 1st, tho I am not sure if i would have done it that way.
I am just posting this to do you a favor and save you a whole bunch of grief and frustration. It really is a 10 minute job bleeding them if u do it this way.

I am soooooooo happy. Wish i could buy that guy a beer.

Nice write up, but can you clarify which transmission you have. The M5OD uses an internal concentric slave cylinder and not sure if you can install it the way you described; I can be completely wrong though. But it may be possible to install the complete assembly if you were to pass the connected master through the access hole in the integrated bell housing, first. Then procede with the install as you described. Once again, I can be totally incorrect since I've yet to accomplish this task.

The M5OD didn't come out until 1988 so if he has a 1987 truck then he has an external slave cylinder. The slave cylinder will not fit through the hole in the bellhousing so this procedure won't work for concentric slave cylinders. But it's a great write-up for anyone with an external slave cylinder.

Thanks for clearing that up for me andym. I should have made it clear that the slave cylinder will not fit through the hole in the bell housing, but that the master may be able to. Heck, it may not; just wishfully thinking on my part I guess.

yes, sorry - this is for the external slave cylinder.
Not my idea and I could not find the post where the guy talked about doing it this way.
A quick search will show many, many people having a bear of a time getting these to bleed right, from not working at all or not having enough pedal travel, pedal not returning etc.. Doing it this way is honestly SOOOOOOOO easy even I could do it.
You can gravity feed it and hope it works. You can climb under the truck and bleed it while someone pumps the pedal, shooting brake fluid everywhere, you can do both of the above along with all of the little tricks like jacking up the rear end etc
or
take 10 minutes and do it by submerging them and siphoning the line, install as one assembly and sit back and wonder why so many people have problems getting enough pedal travel etc.

I honestly was at a loss of what to try next if this did not work and it turned out to be so easy. Could not be better than if it just came from the factory as you are assured there are zero air bubbles in it anywhere.
Wish i could take the credit and i also wish I could credit the person who I stole it from - I am just hoping the next person who has to bleed the clutch sees this post and saves themselves a whole lot of frustration and time.

Ford Truck with no bleeder on the slave cylinder-help
 

87 f350 the slave has no bleeder screw. I even talked to a ford mechanic and he couldn't tell me how to do bleed the air out of the system. Can anybody help???:-X21

Take a close look at the top of the slave at the end. Is there an allen screw there? That's how it was on my ZF5 with a Sachs slave I had gotten installed last year. The bleeding didn't take too long at all with an assistant to pump the pedal, but I did get fluid all over me lying under the truck.

no there's nothing there.

This is what the service manual recommends.
You remove the slave and fill it with DOT 3 on the bench.

After you're done, verify proper slave cylinder push rod travel
is at least .53 inches, when the clutch pedal is depressed
to the floor.

Below is a link that describes the process.
This is for a 460 or diesel.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ml#post7504969

Thanks i will give that a try

I FINALLY FOUND IT! even after reading most of this thread I was about to give up and used the front camera on my phone to finally discover the stupid Allen key bleeder
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...f46ad160f7.jpg
On the top of the slave just gotta push the line out of the way depending on its resting position.