So please bear with me I’m not a mechanic by any means. So I was driving across Nevada and it seemed as if my clutch went out, still had pressure just couldn’t get it to go into gear. So I drove it home without a clutch and took it to the Ford dealership in town. Didn’t want to take it there husband insisted. So now Besides fixing the clutch, pressure plate and everything that goes with it, they’re telling me after they took it apart with out my approval that my transmission is shot because The input shaft and bearing has less than a quarter of inch of wiggle. Is that even a thing to condemn the whole Transmission because of that, it only has 150,000 miles and it was taken care of. it was my grandfather’s pick up. I had a 7.3 before this same year and didn’t start having any Major problems until I hit 400,000 miles. Any kind of guidance or input would be appreciated. or maybe even some questions that I should be asking them? Thank you

 

Did your clutch slip? (rise in rpm without increase in speed?). It sounds like you could not disengage the clutch and it stayed in gear, does that sound correct?

If that was the case I would have suspected Master and/or slave cylinder issues... not transmission and clutch problems.

Secondly, what did you authorize them to do? 'Spend and hour trying to figure out why I can't shift' is alot different than 'Spend 3 hours pulling my transmission to inspect the input bearing'.

If you did not agree to 6 hours at shop rate to remove and reinstall transmission ($600-800 depending on hourly rate) for diagnostic purposes I would be having a very serious conversation with the manager.

If the clutch held and couldn't disengage to shift, there was likely no call to pull the transmission. I'm pretty sure the slave is external and all work can be done with the transmission intact.

I own a repair shop and would never pull a transmission without getting approval for at least a $1000 repair.

 

Get AAA...etc and get ur towed back to home

 

Ouch I feel your pain. I am going through this very thing right now, although in my garage and not at the dealer.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...problem-2.html

I suspected from your title that if you had a ZF6 it was going to be a pilot bearing failure, it seems to be their one weak point from all the research I've been doing lately. From the sounds of it that is exactly what happened. When your pilot failed it created drag on the input shaft which is why you weren't able to easily shift even though you could still release the pressure plate with the pedal (the shaft was still spinning due to the drag from the exploded bearing).

Anyways, there are others here far more knowledgable who can go into more detail, but from my understanding the design of the ZF6 does warrant a full rebuild once the pilot bearing has worn and by the sounds of it (1/4" is a lot of play), it is certainly time. I have much less play (~1/16") and plan to throw the trans back into the truck for now with a new bronze bushing in place of the OEM roller bearing and will plan to get a rebuild in the near future. I dont drive my truck a ton so I figure I can limp it along for now. If you are doing a lot of cross country driving/towing I would absolutely consider fixing this thing 'the right way'. One thing to consider if you do a rebuild is using a bronze oil-lite bushing as opposed to the needle bearing. These will still wear, but they self-oil and will wear slowly over time, whereas when your OEM needle bearing fails... well you've seen what happens! Replace them anytime you're in there for a clutch and you shouldn't have this issue again!

Edit; here is another thread that goes into more detail about why a rebuild is warranted in zf6 with input shaft play that I came across during my research.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l-rebuild.html

 

@SkySkiJason knows these ZF6 transmissions quite well and might be able to provide a little insight for you.

I have tagged him and hopefully he will be along shortly.

 

If the pilot bearing is bad long enough, it will take out the transmission input bearing. That is prompted me to rebuild my first ZF6....

ZF6 rebuild is ~$2k plus shipping. Call Southbend clutch for a clutch recommendation and PM me for information about a better solution for the pilot bearing.

 

When the pilot bearing is FUBAR, the clutch disk can get clamped off center and that stress is BAD for the input bearing. Often, the TO bearing fails or the fingers on pressure plate fail - rendering the clutch unable to disengage.

 

Thank u everyone for the reply’s. Greatly appreciated! I’m going to read up on some of the other threads u suggested an I called around an I think I’m going to have it repaired at another shop in town .. I’m just so frustrated lol. And I was able to drive the pickup with out it ever slipping out of gear. So I wonder if it could be a master/or slave cylinder.. my grandfather keeps mentioning that also.