Around a month ago i changed my clutch from the stock DMF to a Southbend SMF.

I havnt even put 1000kms on the truck since i did the clutch due to the gear rattle from the SMF.

Well today on my way home i went to push the clutch in and the first half of the pedal was nothing...so i went to let the clutch out and it only came up about half way. I immediately went to pull over and as i was coming to a stop i went to put the clutch in and when i released the pedal it didnt come back up. So i pull over shut the truck off and go right to the master cylinder which has the fluid right where it should be. I then go back into the truck and push the clutch in and about half way through the travel i felt a slight resistance and then it shot right to the floor. So i pull the clutch back up and check the master cylinder again. Now the fluid is like half of what it should be. So i think maybe the fluid is leaking somewhere under the truck and i climb under to take a look and what do i see....well my slave cylinder is just hanging there under the truck. Im wondering if there is someway i can check the slave to make sure its alright or do i just have to put it back in place? Im thinking the slave probably took a dump on me.

 

Unless there is damage on the outside or it leaked fluid, I think you can put it back in. Do you know why it came loose in the first place? Did it actually leak anything?

 

I dont think there is any damage on the outiside and i didnt see any fluid. It was dark so i couldnt see much though. And i have no idea what would cause it to come loose. Luckily the truck is about a 2 minute walk from my house so im going to go take a better look at it in the morning.

The one thing i noticed was i tried to push the pushrod back into the slave so i could see if i could put the slave back in place and it took a long of pushing for me to get the pushrod to move the slightest amount. Is this any indiaction of anything? or should it be that hard to push back in.

 

No that sounds normal. I did some work on a 95' diesel and it took some grunt to get the slave cylinder in position. Same is true for disc break slave cylinders hence the need to use a C clamp when replacing pads. The slave is held in with a steel clip, Just guessing at this point, but maybe it rusted away or popped off for some other reason.

 

Well i just got back from looking at the truck. The steel clip that holds the slave cylinder to the tranny is still on the slave clylinder. It looks like the slave and clip just slid off of the mount. What cause it to slide off i dont know.

Other strange thing is i checked the master cylinder reservoir and its empty. Unfortunately its been poring rain here all night and i cant see anywhere on the ground that the fluid is leaking. Chances are it all leaked out last night and has since been washed away. Everywhere around the master cylinder is dry and all the lines down to the slave are dry. I did notice that the rubber boot on the slave seemed a little moist. Maybe thats where the brake fluid leaked out.

Does anybody know if the push rod on the slave cylinder should be solid in the rubber boot of the slave? Cause right now i can move it around in the boot...i didnt try to pull it right out of the boot cause i didnt want to break something if it isnt already broke.

When i replaced my clutch i was reading a haynes manual and it says its important to make sure the clutch pedal doesnt get pressed when the slave is hanging under the truck and not against the fork. It says it will cause damage to the slave. Has anybody else heard of this? Cause im pretty sure last night when i pushed the clutch pedal in the last time the slave was already hanging under my truck. So if the haynes manual is right i probably killed the slave.

 

With nothing in front of the piston, the slave piston will come out of the cylinder far enough for all the fluid to drain out.

 

So seeing as my slave was hanging under my truck over night. your saying that all the fluid leaked past the piston since there was no pressure on it.

Well im going to get my brother to go over to my truck with me tomorrow and ill try to put the slave back in place and refill the reservoir. I can just imagine the fun im going to have bleeding the air out of this thing since the reservoir ran completely dry the line right down to the slave is going to be full of air too.

Luckily i had just turned into my neighbourhood when i had to pull over. I was coming home from a buddys house that is like 30 minutes away and this thing could have died anywhere on the way home...but it waits untill im not even 2 minutes from home. That saved me from a pretty expensive tow bill.

 

The hydro clutch on my sister's ranger self purged without having to bleed the line. I repleatedly depressed the pedal and rapidly released for few minutes and it was ready to go after that. Not sure if the same is possible on other transmissions, but I think its worth a try. If its working, you will start to feel it push back starting at the bottom of the pedal travel, then gradually the resistance of the clutch will be felt higher and higher up until performance is back to normal.

Clutch fluid should leave some sort of visible mark even on wet pavement, similar to an oil slick if any leaking has happened.

 

Yeah i agree about the fluid leaving some sort of oil slick on the ground. Today it was absolutely pouring here all day so i didnt get much time to investigate. But tomorrow im going with my brother to the truck and im not even going to mess with the slave. We are just going to use his truck to tow my truck not even half a mile to our house.

Then im going to park the truck and pull the insurance from it and im going tomorrow to buy a small car for $1500 that i can use to get back and forth to school for the next 3 months.

The last 8 months has just been constant break downs with this truck. Ive thrown thousands of dollars into this truck and have had to get it towed home 3 times in the last 8 months.

Ive been thinking today about all the money ive thrown at this truck and i could have bought something way nicer if i would have just given up on this truck. Everybody tells me im crazy but theres something about this truck and the motor that i just cant let it go. But since im a student working part time i just cant afford to throw money at the truck right now.

Once i get out of school and start my apprenticeship im either going to get my truck back on the road. Or im going to part it out and buy myself a newer powerstroke. I havnt really decided yet. I just cant afford to keep my truck on the road right now. It really sucks and it isnt really something i want to do...but i need too.