Further research on my tranny issues: After much forum,youtube,fellow grease monkey opinions, and troubleshooting I am determined to get a consistent answer to my tranny woes. I want to run this buy you guys on this forum.

Is it possible that the shift fork/slave cylinder contact area be worn out to the point that it is causing a chirp because the slave isn't putting the proper pressure on the shift fork to eliminate that noise? I notice if I barely touch the clutch when coasting or sitting in neutral the chirp goes away. can't hear it when throttle is up probably due to the engine noise covering it up.

I am trying so hard to rule out a tranny rebuild here and want to know if this is the real cause. I do notice the shift fork rattles back and forth on idle really bad. It just bounces like crazy. Trucks shifts pretty good. If I downshift to second too quickly I get a grind but if take it easy especially when cold, she shifts pretty good. no slipping and no grinding on upshifting hardly ever.
Is this mod simply bandaiding a larger problem with TO bearing being toast? Would I see other symptoms if TO bearing was toast?

 

If the fork that the slave pushes on is rattling around, then I'd say the ball that it pivots on is worn. That could be your whole problem, especially if the truck shifts good and has no other issues other than that chirp.

 

That's the clutch fork (shift fork is in the tranny). The fork may be bent, or the throwout bearing is worn (noise that goes away with the slightest clutch pedal pressure is typical symptom of a throwout). IIRC, there's a new improved fork design from Ford. Are you still on the original clutch and DM flywheel?

 

i'm interested to see what comes of this - and if there is indeed a new, improved Ford design.

I just pulled a brand new (at least apparently so) pre-bled (obviously) clutch master/slave setup off of a junk truck. I wasn't planning on taking the clutch fork as I've always heard to use new, but since it came out so easily after getting the hydraulics out and was in mint condition, I took it as well. I was surprised how heavy/beefy it was, though. looks like it was stamped out of 7 gauge steel or something. hard to believe they get bent up and deformed the way people say.

anyway - worn throwout bearing does make sense. depending on the age of everything else in the setup, it could be worn out pressure plate spring-fingers. my old explorer did that after a clutch/TO-bearing replacement. I went cheap and tried to save $ and paid for it with another tranny-drop.

finally - if all else is eliminated and you still have slop at the fork there, they do sell flywheel shims. I just came across them on RockAuto while getting ready to buy my remaining tranny swap parts. I think they come in 0.025 and 0.050" obviously that's a last resort and would involve an extra tranny-drop after trying other stuff, but it would take up the slack. there'd have to be an easier solution than that though... even in a shim on the throw-out bearing would be easier...

 

THanks for the clarification. Yes it is the clutch fork. I think it has a single mass setup though I don't know how to be certain. I called valair and southbend, not sure who I ended up reaching in the end but they I explained the roll over noise as sometimes being loud enough to overcome engine sound on some vehicles. I do have some slight jerking as the clutch is being released almost in every gear unless I release really slowly. Apparently that is another characteristic of single mass set up. It doesn't do the jerking as much with a load on it. Almost not at all with a load. I also do have that loud rollover noise but again, tranny shifts pretty dang good. No slipping or grinding on the upshift even if I get in a hurry to get down the road. She will zip right up to speed. I normally don't push until things get to operating temp. It's a little slow shifting when cold. Nature of the beast I think.

The clutch fork doesn't seem to be very loose when truck is off but when it's running in idle it shakes around pretty significantly. I'd say twice as much as it should which I think indicates that it doesn't have enough pressure on it.
I'm gonna pull the slave cylinder and weld a booger on the end of it to increase the engagement about a millimeter or two and see what that does for me. can't hurt.