I cannot get my truck into gear using the clutch. I can, however, start it in gear and shift without using the clutch. Once I depress the clutch, it does not return to the upright position on its own. Does this mean that I need a new clutch, or is there possibly something else that I should look at?

grifster

 

I'd look for a broken clutch return spring or the linkage between the pedal and the bellhousing. Have someone depress the clutch while your under the truck and see if it is moving the all of the linkage without any binding. Your truck should have all mechanical linkage like my 82 F100 has. There's pushrods, springs, z-bars, in this system. Not a bad system, but if one part is broke then it won't work.

 

Will this keep me from being able to put her in gear as well? Or does that just bring the pedal back?

 

What year is your truck?

You might have a hydraulic clutch.

 

You might have a frozen throwout bearing that has eaten away the fingers on the clutch presure plate and the clutch is now dead (no fingers to push on to raise the presure plare off the clutch disk). If it is hydraulic you may have a bad slave or clutch cyl or no fluid in the system.

stractor

 

It's an '89 with the straight six. I think that it is hydraulic. I was having problems with my throwout--it was squeeking when clutch was engaged. But I never had problems while in gear. I have just arrived in the snowy mountains after she spent the last 17 years in sunny Florida.

 

From your reply, the clutch fingers are gone due to a frozen throwout bearing.
Yes ,an 89 is hydraulic.
stractor

 

It could just be that the hydraulic line sprung a leak. I believe the whole system relies on the spring that is on the slave cylinder. I am not sure if the master cylinder has a spring in it or not.

I just bought a new clutch kit and slave cylinder from CarQuest for my 1995. Its been on the way out for some time now, i'm pretty sure due to the slave cylinder. 135k miles on it. I really wish ford just used an external slave cylinder and a clutch fork like everyone else...

 

Thanks all. It was a major leak in the (internal...arrghh) slave. So, I took her to a shop since I am a long way from home and tools and a place to lay her up for a few.

Again, thanks for the help...it's nice to know there's a place we can go for advice.

Grifster

 

grifster-

Sorry to hear that. If i were in Ford's shoes i would have made sure that if it needed to be wrapped around the tranny shaft, it would be absolutely bullet proof. These slave cylinders aren't very good, have a bit of a bad record.

I guess for my truck Ford just made a clutch/slave/tranny combo that would just completely crap out all together by 150,000 anyhow. I think my slave has been crappy, probably glazed the clutch pretty well by now. I just have to find time to get it in!

We did a 99 F-150 v6, new clutch kit and slave, i think the bill was about $2100. The 99 sucks because it has torsion bars, had to completely remove the transfer case and transmission. On yours, they may be able to just disconnect the driveshafts and slide both of them together back on the tranny jack, saving a lot of time and back aches. Although if she's coming from florida, i'm guessing its 4x2, making this job a breeze.