Ok, I am new to the forum. I bought a 1996 f250 7.3 that has 210K on it. I just did an oil change, and replaced the oil filter and air filter. However, I am experiancing some not so smooth shifting. With the truck running and at a stop I can push the clutch in and shift pretty smoothly through all the gears. When I start driving is when it gets rough. 2nd going into 3rd and 3rd going into 4th. I've come to find that if you apply pressure to the shifter, towards 3rd gear it will eventually take and same for 4th. If you try and shift any faster than that then gears grind(hate that sound). Could this be a master clutch/slave cylinder issue? Oh and 4th into 5th(OD) is smooth... dont have to hesitate when shifting, I can just throw it right into 5th. Or could this be some kind of transmission issue? I am not too sure if the truck has had any trans work and like I said it has 210K on it. Could a trans fluid change help?
My first post on the forum! Hopefully I find the help I'm looking for. Thanks!

 

Moved to proper forum (yes, I see you're a newbie )

 

Well you moved it alright but I'm not so sure you got in in the proper forum. Seems to me that it should be down with the rest of the 1994.5 - 1997 7.3L Power Stroke Diesels

 

From what I can see, his problem isn't diesel-specific but seems more general - clutch (do 87-96 trucks have the firewall flexing & cracking problems the earlier trucks have, beginning when Ford first introduced hydraulic clutches?) or maybe the transmission, so isn't the engine type immaterial?

 

Thank you for helping me out with getting this post in the right place. I just hope someone sees it and has some helpful info!

 

Have you checked the fluid level in the clutch master cylinder? Don't forget to remove the rubber cup under the cap of the master cylinder when checking or adding fluid to the master cylinder.(I'm assuming the diesel is the same as the gas in this respect).

How much free play does the clutch pedal have?(free play would be a point where the pedal moves easy before a point where the pedal moves somewhat harder)

When taking off from a dead stop, how far do you have to let the clutch pedal up before the truck starts to move?

 

The clutch is pretty smooth ... When I bought the truck the guy said the clutch didnt have more than 500 miles on it... He replaced it with a stage 2 clutch which he said was for towing. So it is a heavier clutch to push in but it doesn't really have much play. I was planning on bleeding the master clutch and fill it with fresh brake fluid. The amount of fluid in the reservoir looks pretty low right now.