On the way to the school where I teach this morning it seemed a little tough to get the truck into gear. When I put it into reverse to back into my space it made a grinding sound.Needless to say it's still parked there and I can't get it into gear. Clutch action seems to be lighter than usual so I'm thinking a clutch issue. I thought the clutch was fairly new when I bought the truck, but did I just lose my clutch?1995 F150 300 ci m5od tranny

 

First thing to do is check the fluid level in the clutch resevoir. If low on fluid look under the truck for any fluid leaks.
If the fluid level is low then try topping it up with brake fluid and pump the pedal and see if that helps.

 

I got the truck home by pumping the clutch several times (and doing that several times throughout the drive home).

There wasn't any fluid under the truck other than the normal couple of drips of oil.

The fluid resivoir was at about 2 inches below the very top of the resivoir (it's not supposed to be filled up to the top but I don't remember how high it's supposed to be).

I didn't see any leaks at all

Slave cylinder is toast??

 

If no fluid leaks under the truck it is very unlikely to be a bad slave cyl. More likely a bad master cyl., have a look at the firewall under the dash for a fluid leak where the clutch pedal rod goes through.
If you do replace the master cyl make sure you follow the instructions with the new one and bench bleed it.

 

LazyK x2... make sure you take a good look around the firewall some leaks can be tricky to spot especuially when they are not dripping on the ground for you. do you know when the last clutch was put in (record or reciept)? It's possible the slave could be bad but anyone worth their mechanicle grit should have known to replace the slave...

 

More than likely you've lost the slave cylinder, unless you are so lucky that its the master cylinder or an external leak. My slave went at 75K miles, as did a number of other people I know at about the same mileage. Its now leaking just a little bit at 185K miles.

There is a little groove in the master cylinder, about 1/2" down from the top, that indicates full. If the slave is leaking, it will be running out of the bell housing.

As you probably figured, its not a fun job to replace the slave cyl.