Hey everyone
Just joined. Acquired a 1989 250 7.3 with approx. 200K. I traded a 2000 Ranger for it. I realized I was taking on a project and I have never owned a diesel before, so the learning curve will be rather large. In any case, I test drove the vehicle, looked around for obvious issues and then traded for it. The truck has a stack in the bed that is going to be removed quickly.


So, to make a long story short, I drove 2 hours to meet and trade. 1 hour of the way home, the clutch went out. The previous owner had just put the new clutch and slave cylinder in--I even saw the old slave in the bed. However, after calling AAA and my wife for a ride (I heard about it the whole way home "who trades a running 4wd truck that only has 100K for that thing?").


Anyway, I have it towed to the Ford dealership, thinking that was my best bet. The dealership says that the master cylinder went and wanted 440. The vehicle was stranded an hour away, so I paid. I went to pick the truck up after hours and drive it away. The truck is really hard to shift into 2nd gear and reverse. Also, the clutch pedal has no tension 1/3 of the way in. The mechanic did note that the previous owner must have welded the pedal rod, because they gave me the new cylinder rod with that cheap bushing on it. Anyway, the truck shifts very hard, reverse even gives a little grind as it goes in. It definitely did not do this in the previous 2 hours I had owned the vehicle before the clutch failed.


Is this sudden(I think, I've driven it less than 200 miles) hard shifting after the main cylinder was changed an issue that is indicative of a major problem, or does it just need to be bled?


The mechanic also noted that there was residual block sealant in the coolant reservoir. The radiator looks good, the oil looks good, no blow by at all. The master mechanic told me that block sealer can seal a block forever. I was incredulous, but he swore he has used it on his own older trucks with cavitation and it worked. Not saying I have cavitation, but thinking ahead....


The alternator is also not charging adequately. It is giving a small charge, but not enough to really charge batteries fully. It is only showing about 12.4 volts on the batteries when running, 12.1 when off. I checked the voltage regulator, is good. An alternator is my next purchase, but I want to make sure about my tranny first.


Thanks in advance for ANY advice.

 

Your first problem is that the clutch isn't disengaging fully. This is causing grinding in gears, and will ruin your synchros(making it even harder) if you don't get it fixed.
Check the clutch rod going into the master cylender; make sure it's long enough to actually actuate the cylinder with only a little bit of slop at the top of the pedal travel. If not, that's the first thing to fix.
If it is actuating properly, the dealership didn't bleed the slave properly. These things are a royal pain to bleed fully, to the point that I ended up modifying my throwout lever with a bolt to give me an adjustable linkage down there, so I could use more of the slave cylinder travel and bleed it properly.

 

What Macrobb said^^^

When checking play, make sure you look closely at the connection from master rod to pedal-- these are infamous for how sloppy they get due to poor design. A health DIY fix isn't too tough though.

On the alternator, it would be a good time to do the 3G upgrade if you can. These are stout and much higher output alts that are a bolt-in mod.
Only have to wire 3 wires and the rest is bolt-on.
There are many threads about it!

 

If the previous owner welded the pedal incorrectly, is there a remedy? Junkyard replacement I guess? The dealership is over an hour away, otherwise I would take it back and ask them to fix it.

 

pain to bleed ?? the clutch bleeds automatically // nothing special just push it 200 times and the air will self evacuate

but like macrobb says do check the linkage .. and yep .. junkyard is a good bet for that type of thing if it's welded and goobered up

 

I took the advice I received here and checked on the clutch play. As was thought, it was welded and the bushing was gone. The problem with the weld is, as thought, it left the rod two short to fully engage the cutch, especially with the bushing gone.


I have taken a few pictures to show the slop and the welded arm


What is my best option?

 

I'm not sure how Its welded...it wouldn't articulate if it was welded together. Is it just a glob that holds the eye inside the pin, like a lame rivet?

Anyways, I have an 89 also and it doesn't have an adjustable clutch rod. I don't think any pickup in this era had one.

So the best option might be to grind the crap off the end of the pin, and do the bolt mod. It's basically pressing the pin out of the arm, and boring it out for (I think) a 1/2" bolt, which fits nicely inside the eye of the stock clutch master cyl.
If you're already out of room on the clutch you may have to replace the master. (That's if the pedals are square, brake and clutch)

OH this just hit me, now that you have an adjustable rod...cut off the weld and see if you have more room to extend it! If so maybe problem goes away easily, and finish up with the bolt mod.

(What the heck did they do for all that money??? Didn't fix it...left the welded rod in there...jerks)

 

Ok, so I didn't explain it well enough last night. The weld is just a glob that serves as a lame rivet. The actual problem is not too short - bad explanation by me - it's that there is so much slop inside the arm attachment because there is no bushing, that it is a full 2 inches of pedal movement before the clutch engages. With there no way to put a bushing in, I guess a grind out and bolt in its place is best? Then I can manufacture a bushing?

Also, when grinding out, and then placing the bolt in its place on the arm/lever, can that arm/lever just be unbolted off the side of the brake and. Clutch assembly? I really would prefer to just pop off the arm, make the mod, manufacture the bushing with out unbolting and removing the whole dang assembly

Thanks

Frank

 

Taking the whole assembly off is a major PITA if you ask me.

I was able to do this mod in the truck! It's been years since and can't remember all the details.
I just went out and looked-- you *can* get the arm off the rest of the assembly. There's a bolt holding it on, and I'm sure it's splined/keyed. It's hard to get off and may take penetrating oil and any/every amount of leverage you can get up there but it's possible. It's coming back to me now!
I didn't use a bushing. At 1/2" the bolt size was so big that I didn't want to bore the eye on the rod too big, besides not having a bit larger than 1/2" at the time. I think its been about 6-7 years and there's a little wear for sure in my setup. But even still its about an inch at the pedal, and resistance starts about 1/2" lower than even with my brake so there's plenty of throw.
That said, you MAY be able to find a copper sleeve the right size and get away with a 7/16" bolt or similar. Its up to you and your ingenuity!

Another tip to get more throw is to remove the rubber stopper that the pedal-side arm hits, adds another 1/2" or so and could be the difference while you find time to do the mod.

 

Awesome! Thanks so much for the help, I really appreciate it. It has cut down a lot of my learning curve.


Did you weld the bolt onto the arm after you had ground out/popped off of the old one? I don't have a welder and hoping to see if I can find a work around to welding the half inch bolt

 

No welding, just a very short bolt and a nylon lock nut. It doesn't have to be super short but any longer than 3/4" or so is just wasted bolt. This will also depend on how long the copper bushing is, if you choose to go that route.

You're very welcome! Just trying to help out others, as I've learned an immense ammount from this site and people willing to share knowledge and experience.
Let us know what you do and how it works!

 

Here's an eBay listing for basically what we are doing:
Fancy pedal fix

Here's a VERY informative video taking you through most of the steps.
If you go the bolt only route you won't be cutting your master rod like in the video. But he's got great tips here, even if a bit long-winded.
I know he's taking about the powerstroke but it's the same for our setup as it's the OBS stuff.

 

That's an adjustable pushrod. Loosen the jam nut, rotate the male-threaded section of the rod to lengthen it, re-tighten nut. Should be able to do that with the rod in place, without having to break that erful-looking weld.

(Wow, who in their right mind would weld that rod to the arm that way? Another entry in the "previous owners do the darnedest things" collection....)