I have been working on a 1985 F250 460 7.5l for about a month now. Every time I fix a problem, a new on pops up. It's driving me insane. The latest issue : I can't shift.
A couple weeks ago the clutch slave cylinder died on me. I replaced that and the hydraulic line. The truck worked for about a week. When it became hard to shift, I bled it again and it would work for about a day.
Today I replaced the clutch master cylinder, bled, no shift. I have vac bled, gravity bled, had my son pump the pedal as I opened the bleeder...Not sure what to do next. Is my clutch bad?
I don't have the expertise or the time to do that job myself.

To recap: New master, new slave, new hydraulic line. Bleeding has been a royal PITA. Clutch pedal still isn't very stiff, but I do have some resistance, and the slave cylinder engages when the pedal is down.
I'm not sure how far the slave is supposed to push the clutch fork, but I measured it to be about an inch. Maybe a little less. I am guessing that is not nearly enough, which is why I have continued to try bleeding.

I am at a loss here. Maybe I should just take it to the shop, but I can't really afford that right now. I have watched endless videos on bleeding the clutch, and have tried them all. Must have went through gallons of DOT 3. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. My vac pump hold pressure, so I don't think that there is a leak in the system.

 

I assume the tranny will go into all gears with the engine "off" ?

What is the brand of the slave cylinder ? Lot's of junk parts out there now days.

 

Get a plan together of where you can drive safely. Warm the truck up in neutral. Hopefully you are pointed in the correct direction to drive it out. Turn the engine off, put it in 1st gear, start it up and take off. If you need to stop you will have to turn the key off. Get out on the road and shift up through the gears pushing in on the clutch. The more you drive it, the better the clutch will get. From the bumping around on the road and the vibration from the engine, the air bubbles will work their way up backwards and out the clutch master. Just make sure you have plenty of fluid in it before you start out.

It only took a few miles and my clutch was working like new again.

 

The brand was "Power Torque". It's what my local parts store had on hand.
Yes, it will go into gear when off.

 

I will give it a shot, but considering it stopped shifting after I bled and drove for a day, I feel like I already tried this. Still, I will try this right now.

 

Before I did that, I would try tapping the slave and lines with a hammer to see if the vibration can move air up and out.

 

But you replaced more parts. So you introduced air into the system again.

 

That is what I would try also but before that I would check the firewall for cracks.
This may be hard being it will not build pressure to flex the firewall but you might be able to see something.
Dave ----

 

Like fuzzface said, check the firewall for flex, I would also check all of your bushings in the bracket under the dash and check to make sure the bracket has not broke. It doesn't take much slack for the clutch to not work properly.

 

Good call on the pedal bracket as someone just replaced one because it was cracked and caused issues.
Was that you?
Dave ----

 

No Sir fuzzface not me
but I have worked on these a day or two.
Had me own repair shop for 25+ years

 

We get it shifting yet and if so what was the fix as it can help others.
Dave ----