2002 F-150 4.2L 5-speed 65,000 miles

My slave cylinder has gone out on me and I am wondering how big a job it is going to be to replace it. The last time I was into pulling a transmission was about 1990. Physically it wouldn't be a problem at all. Mentally I might end up using a sledge hammer to tweak the problem.

When pulling the transmission is it a simple job of sliding the transmission back replacing the cylinder and sliding it back together or is it going to be something else?

Tom

 

You should be able to replace the slave cylinder without removing the tranny. Had to do it on both my moms Ranger and my own. Can't see the F150 being much different. Is it squeaking or leaking?

 

Just had my 01 f150s done. Yes the trans, exhaust, and a crossmember need to come off and the cylinder is inside there. I got lucky I get a cylinder for 60 bucks and my dads friend who is a mechanic only charged 140 to put it in. I replaced the master cylinder right before this because I thought thats what it was. Well it worked for a few days and then the slave went.

 

That sucks. Lucky I got my F150 with an auto. Good luck to you, and leave the sledge in the toolbox

 

...Welcome 5speedford, to Ford Truck Enthusiasts!

Enjoy FTE....see you on the boards.

 

Yep, that's what I was afraid of, stripping half of the vehicle down because one little piece of rubber the size of this decided to just give up. Well, since I'm going through that much trouble I guess I may as well maybe replace the clutch also if it needs it.

Thanks everyone.

 

Riverstyx,

I just did my slave cylinder about a month ago, I too decided it was worth it to do the clutch while I was in there. Nothing that difficult, just takes time...

 

thank you tim its good to find guys like this in a town full of chevy people.
Anyways yes from what i was told the job was pretty extensive. I considered replacing the clutch but from what he told me the clutch looked brand new. My dad told me a story once about when he doing what he thought should be a clutch job. He took everything out thinking the clutch was worn and found the clutch looked brand new at 130k. it was just the slave cylinder in that case.

 

I did my wifes 97 clutch & Slave Cylinder a couple of months ago. The truck had 75K and the slave was leaking. The clutch had a couple of more years on it but I replaced it anyway, in addition to the starter.

The whole job took two guys about 10 hours over two days.

The biggest pain was that I could not get the shift lever off and it made the job alot harder dropping the trans.

In your position I would leave the clutch and try to get enough by pushing the tranny body back far enough. You will be able to do it if you can get your shift lever off. If you cannot get enough room, then you'll have to drop the tranny. To do this you'll need to remove the pressure plate, or the exhuast crossover pipe. If you do the PP then you'll need an alligment tool to put it back on.

If you go the whole route then you'll need to rent a slide hammer to pull the pilot bearing out.

Mark your drive shaft on the rear and front points to ensure you get it back to the same orientation.

The starter has to come off. Also don't forget to refill any lost fluid from the gear box, the refill port is at a tough angle but it takes time.

Other than the slide hammer I did the whole job with a combination of sockets and box end wrenches, I used the standard english on the body then had to use metric on the internal stuff.

You'll need to bleed the clutch when done.

good luck

 

God, what a screwed up design Ford made. A weak tranny, an impossible to get to slave cylinder, no half-easy way to fill the tranny with fluid... Ford lost me on this truck. I'll drive it for a good while, but Chevies are now an option again.

 

Dropping the transmission is going smoothly with only one glitch.

How do you get the shift lever off?

It has one threaded bolt going through it with a nut on it. Taking the nut off is no problem but how does one go about getting the threaded bolt out? Do you tighten two nuts together and then try to back it out or is there another solution or is there a pin that I cannot see?

 

I never did get the lever off, I could not figure out how the #$#% threaded stud could be removed. I left it on and worked around it. Ther only thing is that the lever got really scratched up. But i repainted it some time later.

Also watch that nasty black sealent that is on the bottom of the rubber boot. it gets over everything and is a pain to clean up.

 

Seems to me that I recall seeing instructions onhow to do it via this site. Check the 1987-1996 forum (search it). I think, andi'm goingback a long way here, that you do not remove a threaded pin, but instead there is some other push-pins that need pushed out? Anyway, there was a link or a post about it at one time. Guaranteed that the 1987-1996 guys (of which I used to be one) have gone through this a lot more due to the age of their trucks.

Best,
GD

 

I found the solution to the shift lever. I finally found the right manual that had the correct procedure to remove it.

It seems that you loosen and remove the nut off of one side of the threaded rod that runs through the shift lever and you put it back on the threaded rod on the other side of the shift lever. You then tighten it down until it drives the threaded rod out. Once it is remove you then see that it is not a "real" threaded rod but an odd shaped piece with threads on both ends.

Once I had that out the shift lever came out easy as could be.

 

Sweet - thanks for the lesson!