I am putting a 460 with ZF 5-speed in my F150 and one of the things I am running up against is bleeding the hydraulic clutch. This has the external slave cylinder. On the previous setup, with the internal slave, you just gravity bled it a bit and you were good to go. Not so on this one, the fluid barely comes out, like 1 drip every 10 minutes. I have tried bleeding it like you do brakes, with one person pumping the pedal and then releasing the bleeder, this did make it better, but it still has quite a bit of free travel at the top.

I looked up the procedure in my Ford manual and it says to disassemble the whole apparatus and then fill the slave with fluid and reassemble. What the heck is the bleeder screw for, then?

Anyone done this successfully? I have never had to pressure bleed a hydraulic clutch before, they usually just gravity bleed. Should I use a vacuum pump? TIA for any help.