Hello FTE members.

This post is a little long-winded but I wanted to provide as much info as possible.

Looking for a little help here with my clutch issues that appeared suddenly.
2001 F350 SD, dually, diesel, 4x4, crew, 6spd., 130K miles

Problem: Clutch drag and pedal sticking to floor.

Symptoms:
pedal feels ok prior to attempted repair
clutch does not fully disengage
can't shift into any gear from a stop
clutch pedal will sometimes stick to floor in neutral
clutch pedal always sticks after attempting to shift into gear
can't shift out of gear after starting truck in gear (my bad )
spongy pedal (after replacing slave)

Attempted so far:
replaced pedal bushing
bled system 6 or more times
replaced slave cylinder
bled system several times
R&R master cylinder to inspect
drained master, reservoir, lines and blew out the lines
bled system several times

Symptoms didn't change with the exception of a spongier feel to the pedal.

Questions:

• Should I replace the master cylinder? I recall reading somewhere that if the master seals are deteriorated or damaged that blow-by can occur
• Could it be release lever? I understand these are easily bent on these clutches
• Replace the clutch and not bother with the master?
• I also recall reading somewhere that you can inspect the release lever through the PTO port. True?

There may be a related issue, several weeks ago in an ice storm I had a situation....here's a pic:




The truck was bottomed out both on the way down and during recovery.
Thankfully I didn't make it to the bottom of the 60 foot cliff and into the ocean.
Anyway, no visible damage to undercarriage or drivetrain.
Problems started approximately 150-200 driving miles after this incident
Not sure if it is related or not.
I do tow a 30 foot boat and a 30 foot 5th wheel but had no issues until now.

Probably enough info for now..

Any suggestions????

Thanx in advance,
whosdat

 

Could a mod please move this to the clutch section?
My bad....

 

Moved and welcome to FTE.

 

Difficult to diagnose at long distance but it sounds to me like a bad master cyl. One positive indication of that would be fluid traces on the firewall and pushrod under the dash or inside rubber boot seen when master cyl is unbolted.
If there are fluid traces then replace it anyway, if not it still does not mean that the master cyl is good.
The best way to check the throwout lever is to get under, push the lever hard towards the slave cylinder then, measure, at the end of the lever, how far you can push it in the opposite direction.