I have a 1982 F150 I6 3speed SROD. My clutch is really noisy if I sit at idle in neutral with the pedal out. If I engage the clutch, it's nice and quite. It's always been this way, I've recently had a complete new clutch assembly installed but it's still noisy. There is adequate free play and the release bearing is not rubbing against the pressure plate with the pedal released. Any idea's

 

I had an 83 F-150 300 I-6 and it had a noisy clutch too. I lived with it until I had the clutch changed out because it didn't hurt anything, but it turned out that it was the pilot bearing. If it gets worse, I'd changed it out, but if it stays the same, I'd just turn the radio up.

 

Thanks, it has a new pilot bearing, clutch, pressure plate and release bearing, that's what puzzled me. Maybe the shaft into the trans? It's mildly annoying, but I can live with it, just don't want to get stranded.

 

Maybe input shaft bearing, countershaft....sounds like a tranny problem. My TOD was growling constantly, except when I pushed the clutch in. After I did a refresh on it, I found that the countershaft was rubbing up against the input shaft bearing. Never caused a problem, and drove it like that for a few years...kind of liked the deisel-like sound..............

Just a possibility.

 

You say it's noisy. Does the noise sound like a squeaking or maybe a chirping? I had this with my 83 and my 84 fords. In both trucks, it started after I had the flywheel turned and had a new clutch installed. Also, both trucks had new throwout bearings, pressure plates, pilot bushings and clutch disks. And, I greased everything appropriately when I put them together.

What I did find is that the noise was coming from the clutch fork. I took a light spring and attached one end to the outer end of the clutch fork and I attached the other end to somewhere up under the cab...I forget where. The spring is very light and pulls up on the fork only slightly. But, by pulling the fork up just a little bit, the noise went away.

You can check to see if yours is doing the same thing. When you hear it making the noise, block the wheels and crawl under the truck while it is idling. Grab the clutch fork and push up on it slightly. If it goes away, you have the same problem.

In these trucks with the hydraulic clutch, the throwout bearing runs against the clutch release fingers all of the time. I think that maybe the release fingers don't run in a perfect circle around the tranny input shaft and this causes some runout in the throughout bearing. I am guess that the runout causes the clutch fork to rattle around a bit and squeak.

- Ron

 

It is a diesel type of sound like a rapid 'clacking' consistent with the engine revs. The clutch is mechanical. I'll try moving fork about and see if it makes a difference. I've been under the truck trying to locate the noise and I can see some slight movement in the release fork as the engine idles. I've a feeling though it might be tranny, if it could last a couple of years I'm not too concerned.

 

Tell us if/when you find the solution to the problem....helpful to those with similar...

Good luck!

 

Well I can't figure this out. I tried heavier tranny oil but didn't make much difference. I think I'll just run it till I come across a cheap one in a wreckers that I can get rebuilt.