Clutch quit working on the way home from work this morning. Stopped at light getting off freeway, worked fine. Turned green and started to go and when I went to shift to second not very smooth, third even worse. Like shifting without a clutch(which is what was happening). Managed to get it home. Pushing pedal has no effect. Fluid level good in reservoir. No visible leaks. So am I looking at a slave cylinder or a master cylinder or? I'd be surprised if it was the slave cylinder, only 63k on truck. Last 15k mostly freeway, prior to that unknown.

Posted this in trans section, got some looks but no responses. Trying here. Since first post, I have changed the slave/master cylinder assy and did the bleed procedure. No good. Looked inside hole for slave cylinder with a mirror couldn't see anything abnormal. Rigged up a tool to depress clutch fork, seems o.k.. One thing to note, when I put the slave cylinder in,the plunger needs to compress about 1.25". This normal or should the clutch fork be closer? Seen a lot of posts about the clutch slave/master cylinder but not with the results I'm seeing. Any ideas? Don't have help right now to watch things while pedal being depressed. Will later.

2000 F250/SC/XLT/4X4/PSD/6SPD

 

I had a problem similar to yours on my '94 f250 psd 5 spd. Mine wasn't sudden, it just got worse over time until depressing the clutch did me little or no good. The only way I could get it into gear standing still was to shut the engine off, put it into gear 1st or reverse, then restart the engine. Very hard on the starter, don't want to do that too many times. The source of the problem turned out to be the throwout bearing and bent fingers on the pressure plate. Ended up changing out the clutch. That completely ended the problem you speak about. Hope that is some help to you.

 

You would have known if the slave failed right away. Generally on these trucks the clutch pedal will just "stick" to the floorboard when the slave cylinder fails.

In late 2000 or early 2001 Ford started using an updated clutch fork because lots of them were failing. Appearantly it was very common for the fork to bend/break on the 99 and most of the 2000 models.

Since you've already replaced the hydraulics I guess you know where you have to go next......Here is the upgraded fork if you are looking for a new one. I replaced the fork on my 01 when I changed the clutch, but it turned out I didn't need to because I already had the upgraded part number.

Since you'll have the tranny down for the fork you might as well R2 the clutch....The LUK upgrade is about the same cost as a stock replacement, and is light years ahead of the stocker. Check it out

 

my clutch went out (and is going out again) a while back. It was the OEM clutch and it went out in same fashon. Turned out that one of the springs in the clutch disk had broke free and wedged itself between the pressure plate and clutch disk.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. Going to call the dealer tomorrow. Get an idea what things will cost. Would do it myself but truck is about a foot to long to put in garage and leave there a day or two. And driveway too sloped. Had some help today and determined that it's definitely within the bell housing. Was wishful thinking it was the slave cylinder, easy and low cost. Had the one in my Ranger give out same way a few years back. Except had to pull tranny for that one. Oh well, live and learn.

 

If you need to replace clutch assembly I would defenitely go with a LUK. The factory clutch is a joke. Your gonna be really upset when you see the throwout bearing, its mostly plastic. Just replaced my clutch this weekend. Just quit on me..no noise..nothing. Pulled it out and the center was stripped out of the clutch disc. BTW..Ford doesnt sell a lineup tool...Made one myself...Another tip...take 2 or 3 ratchet straps and make a craddle from the frame rails to support the tranny and it makes it much easier to work back in..especially by yourself...Good luck

 

I feel your pain on the clutch, it happened to me when I was out of town, 1400 miles to be exact. No place to work on it myself, and was stuck paying the ford house 1200 bucks for the same piece of junk. It was on a 2000 PSD 4x4 with 97000 miles. I am seeing a pattern from all the responses. I hate it for you...Good Luck.

 

Good idea on the straps. Thanks. Can you only purchase the LUK kit online? Or do they have some outfits carry them? I'm in Washington state.

 

Wondering if my clutch is about to take a dump ... makes this horrendous sound when starting out in 1st gear only or when moving reeeeely slow in 1st and also starting out in reverse. Would appreciate any ideas. I can get the wife to pull the trans and clutch out for me ( hahahaha ).

 

Talked to a guy at a trans shop. Told me the LUK upgrade is the way to go. He says there is one drawback, low RPM you get a bit of a gear backlash and this is audible. Anyone out there who has the LUK upgrade can verify or deny this? And price quoted was $1350.00 + tax.

 

sounds more likely to be a bearing than a clutch

 

Perhaps I don't know what gear backlash sounds like, but I didn't get any new noises with the LUK, in fact, I got rid of a few.

$1350 is the installed price? That is more than double the retail price of the LUK, so the labor seems a bit high to me, but it's not all that bad I guess.

 

Cookie88- I thought so too. I found a couple of places that do Luk upgrades and both places were comparably priced. Both quoted the cost of the Luk upgrade kit as $975.00. I wonder if they were using the Luk cerematallic upgrade kit which I believe runs $895.00(found it at Carolinaclutch).
http://www.carolinaclutch.com/pr01.htm However I have found a local retailer who sells the Luk upgrade kit for $545.00. The one shop told me if i brought the parts he'd install it for around $400.00. I am trying to determine if I have the dual mass flywheel installed. I'm getting conflicting answers from several sources on this including Ford service/parts departments. Some say if it's the original equipment it should be the dual mass. Others are saying that Ford used both. Ford's replacement part if the dual mass goes bad is a single piece. A tech at one of the dealers said if I pulled the front cover off I would be able to tell. Pulled front cover and all I see is a solid piece of steel. I'm assuming thats a solid flywheel never having seen a dual mass before.

 

All 99.5-2003 7.3's use the single mass flywheel. $545 is what I paid for mine, from a local to you retailer.

$400 is pretty decent on the labor, well, closer to average anyways. You shouldn't need the cerametallic linings. The plain old Repset will hold well past 300 horsepower.

 

Ordered up the LuK clutch upgrade, $545.00 + $45.00 shipping. Paid the the freight, 5 hour drive at least, worth it to pay. Be here tomorrow. Going in this weekend. Still can't believe I couldn't get a straight answer from Ford as to which flywheel I have. Well, I'll know now. lol. I believe I ordered it from the same outfit you did Cookie. www.dieselsite.com . Anyway thanks to all for the help