Hi, I have an 01 3.0 manual trans 2wd. Truck was shifting fine but clutch felt weird/resisted just a little/made rubbing noise upon pedal return when hot. I replaced the MC thinking it would be no big deal... The problem is now it’s really hard to get into first/reverse from a dead stop. And it seems to get Slightly better after bleeding but temporarily. What I’ve tried:

Bleeding every method I can find. Bottles and bottles of dot 3... hand pump, Vacuum pump, gravity bleed, bench bleed MC, hard as a rock, firm pedal, still hard to get into gear.

Changed trans fluid, no difference.

I bled the system a week ago and it seemed pretty drivable. I got in yesterday to drive it for the first time since then and it was significantly harder. Leak at quick connect? Needs new o ring? There’s no fluid leaking there but maybe air? Is that possible?

Not losing fluid anywhere, the reservoir is topped off, noticed a change in shift feel, without change in fluid level.

(I wanna figure it out)

 

How long has it been since the clutch was changed, you still could have air in the system, and it could be the pilot bearing is bad.

 

could have trapped air still in system, slave cylinder can be bad. Havent messed with any other than mine so dont know how your master is situated straight out or angled like on the 90's. If angled you may need to bleed by taking master partially apart INSIDE cab. I posted how to do it some years back and I think it was put into the file to be kept. Do a search and if ya cant find send me a PM and I will send it to ya.

 

My vote is that there's air in the system. It is really tough to get the air out of a Ranger clutch system. A good video to watch:

 

I’ve done that method in the video a number of times, I can get the master rock hard, only difference is not that much fluid comes out of the slave, unless I pull a vacuum. It trickles out when I gravity bleed, so I can’t observe bubbles... Pretty sure I opened the bleeder right up.

Maybe an obstruction?

 

So I got in it today and it’s shifting fine... haven’t touched it. Intermittent?? Any idea what’s going on?