Hey guys, here's my problem. 2001 F350 7.3 manual trans. I bought a heim joint kit for my clutch, got tired of replacing the plastic one. While waiting for it to arrive my hpop blew a o ring and dumped out a ton of oil until I got parked. I fixed the o ring and installed the heim joint the same day. While doing the heim joint I nocked the reservoir tube off the master while taking it off the fire wall, put it all back together. I fired up the truck with no leaks from the hpop so I went for a drive. I made approx. 6 shifts and it started to get harder to get it in gear each time. I made it back home and figured i'd got air in the system when I had the reservoir hose off. I found on here how to bleed the system so I started that, while I had the slave out of the tranny my helper opened the reservoir to check the oil level and the slave rod extended another inch out. After hours of trying to get things back working I decided to buy the pre bled complete kit from Oreilly"s. With the advise from the parts guy I bled the new one before I put it in and I did get a bit of air out. So the new kit (reservoir,master cylinder, slave cylinder) is in and I still can't get the truck in gear when its running. I've pumped the pedal till my legs hurt then kept going for another hour. I'm not sure what i'm missing, did the oil leak some how cause me problems? I've checked the clutch pedal throw and its pushing the rod until it bottoms out the master.
I appreciate the help, Kent

 

Bent fork? Does it engage low on the pedal? Is it an OE clutch?

If you drop trans, fix it so the oil, etc that goes in valley no longer dumps into bellhousing and onto your clutch... I used a peice of soft copper with a 90* fitting on the end to extend the valley drain to outside bellhousing.

Cant post pics from phone or I'd show ya what I mean....

 

As far as I know its a OEM clutch. I don't know how a fork would get bent from what I've done so far, as It worked fine until I messed with the master cylinder and heim joint fix. I've been pumping the clutch pedal hoping that its still got air in the system but It's still not going into gear with the engine running. The pedal feels like it should from what I remember. When I try going into gear I can hear what sounds like the through out bearing spinning and the truck will try to move slightly.

 

if you here noise when clutch depressed, I had that happen and it was the clutch fork rubbing on the clutch.My plastic thing on the other end of the fork broke not sure if that caused it but I replaced fork with updated version from south bend clutch. works great now. Clutch fork is a known weak spot if not updated more 99 00 I think though.

 

does any one know how far the slave cylinder rod should travel when its out of the trany and the pedal is pushed? Mine only moves and inch, not sure if that's enough.
Thanks

 

Thanks JPS47, I dont have any noise when i push the pedal down, its when I try getting it into gear after its down. The noise is the same if the pedal is down or not while i try putting it in gear.

 

Double post. Dumb phone...

And I didnt see the last 2 posts!

 

Can you tell if slave cylinder is getting full travel?

The reason I ask about OE clutch is it is 3x harder to disengage than stocker - making it easier to bend fork.

Maybe the plastic fork pivot thingy is broken?

If the fork is OK, the slave cyl has full travel and pivot is ok - it could be bent p-plate fingers or failed clutch springs.

 

Im laid up from knee surgery, but if we cant find somebody to measure that travel by tomorow - I will accept the mission!!

Need SOMETHING to do besides surfing and watching the boobtube.....

 

I don't see how you're going to measure the slave cylinder rod movement, mine compresses some when I install them but I can't tell you how much it does. It won't move much when you pull it out of the bellhousing because it relaxes the hydraulic pressure and the rod automatically extends an inch or so. I have always been told to never open the prebled units though, I just install as is and have no problems. I have to replace mine about once a year since I went to and industrial strength HD clutch (I hate it) but I always feel a huge difference in the pedal as soon as the new one goes in. Your oil leak can cause clutch slipeage but shouldn't cause any engagement issues. I'd say pull the slave off, stick a mirror and small light in there and see what you can see or try the inspection plate if it gives a better angle. I hope you don't have to pull the tranny just for a bent fork or release bearing, it's not complicated but they are HEAVY!

 

If we could, let's start over. What was the clutch doing before you decided to mod the bushing? Are you sure you mod isn't causing a bind somewhere?

You don't mention the clutch slipping at all after the HPOP oring. If the clutch never slipped any, I don't think it's related to the oil leak.

 

Shade is right. I was picturing my toyota and its fork sticks out of bellhousing where the slave cyl pushes it - you can see the travel...

Pain meds make me dummer than usual!

Chris has a good point. What he describes sure sounds like clutch is not disengaging...

 

And share the link for the heim joint kit please! Ive seen where people did this but didnt know there was a kit. Thx!

 

Thanks for the responses. Your right about measuring the stroke not being accurate. When I bought the complete master/slave cylinder kit I was under the impression it was a hook up and go thing, the parts guy at Oreilly's told me it would still need to be bled. So I did before putting it in, by hanging the reservoir and having the slave straight down and pushing it in and out slowly. This did push a few big air bubbles up to the reservoir.

F350-6, the initial prob was the plastic bushing on the clutch pedal was worn out(again). I was having to reach under and rotate it slightly to stop the trany from grinding when going into gear and it worked every time, the pin on the clutch pedal was also worn some. I had already ordered the heim joint off ebay. While disconnecting the master from the fire wall i knocked the reservoir line off, leading me to think i introduced air to the system.

I have checked the travel of the clutch pedal since the heim joint upgrade. The only difference I see is that the pedal no longer hits the rubber stopper because the rod is now slightly longer. I took the safety switch off the rod to see if when the clutch was pushed the rod traveled all the way in. I would say that it is pushing the master all the way in, the pedal is the same distance from the stop as it was with the safety switch on the rod, i've pushed on it pretty hard and its not going in any further and I can't see any where else that could be stopping or binding it.
Sorry for being so long winded, just trying do give lots of detail.
Thanks for your guys's help, this problem is killing me

 

SkySkiJason, here is the seller from ebay i bought the Heim joint from
sheribelle9dl6