On Saturday I started the clutch job on my 02 Ranger. I have been getting a rattling sound when engaging the clutch. I plan to put it back together this coming Friday.

I found the rattling noise was coming from the throw out bearing but not what I would normally expect. The bearing part of it was still in good condition but the inside diameter of it that rides on the slave cylinder was worn and was wobbling around on the slave. The disc was still in good condition and looks to have another 100,000 miles left in it. The pressure plate also still looks good too. Of course, I am replacing everything while I am in there.

One thing to note is the starter is not much fun taking out. I ended up just leaving the electrical connections hooked up (except the ground) and just tied it up in place to keep it out of the way.

A strange thing I came across was the bell housing bolts. The Ford manual indicates it is suppose to have 9 bolts. My bell housing has 9 holes but the block only has 8 threaded holes. On top of that when the Ford dealer did some warranty work early in the warranty period, the technician must have decided it only needed 7 bolts because that is all that was in there. How many bell housing bolts are actually suppose to be in there?

Then there is the flywheel bolts. The Ford repair manual shows there are six of them but does not actually say how many there are. Mine has 8 flywheel bolts. The manual indicated the are suppose to be torqued to 60 ft-lbs. I hope that is right. Does anyone know for what is right?

 

i had a feeling it was the throw out bearing.. the one in my s15 is shot too and it makes a horrible loud screaming noise when the clutch is pushed in.

 

on my truck there were 8 bolts on the bellhousing and 6 on the flywheel.

 

The bellhousing on the 4.0 SOHC trans have an extra hole that's not filled. The hole that's not used, IS used on the 4.0L OHV. I'm pretty sure mine has 8 bellhousing bolts + the starter bolt/stud for the ground.

Yeah, that starter is a PAIN. I've never actually had mine totally out(except the motor swap it was totally out). After all the trans drops I've done, I've let it dangle. I don't know if it's possible to remove the starter without dropping the front axle!!

My flywheel(01 4.0) and my buddy's '98 4.0 bolt have 8 bolts. But mine has those external torx heads and his had regular flanged hex heads.

 

When my pedal was pushed in all the way it made no noise. It only made noise when the pressure plate was starting to load the disc and went away as soon as there was full pressure. It was not a screaming noise, it was a rattling noise the sounded like thin metal on thin metal not plastic on plastic.

 

Then it seems the 3.0 has 6 flywheel bolts and the 4.0 has 8 flywheel bolts. I guess the Ford repair manual just shows the 3.0 flywheel and leaves it up to the mechanic to figure out the 4.0. I guess the 60 ft-lb spec is correct.

I have the external Torx drive bolts also but fortunately I found out about that before hand due to information I got here at RF. I was able to get the Torx socket ahead of time so I would not have to go out and buy them in the middle of the project. It turned out I had to go out and by tools anyway, I didn't have a 15 mm deep socket for part of the exhaust removal. Fortunately, I got the disassembly done in the time I alloted anyway.

It looks like I don't have some freak bell housing hole pattern in my 4.0 SOHC and the 8 bolts is typical. I just need to buy another bell housing bolt to replace the one the Ford technician left out.

 

Lol....when i did my engine swap, I found out(again) that I left out a bell housing bolt like 2-3 years ago. Then when the tcase and trans output shaft failed, I FINALLY scored a full set of bolts off a C4C explorer. I now have all bolts on the truck accounted for and in use. lol.

Those flywheel bolts are what screwed me the first time I dropped it. Destroyed like 4 varying socket sizes(hex, 12pt)...got all of 'em out too except one which I cut out. You can see where I knicked the die grinder on the recessed portion of the flywheel. No biggie....but what a biggie, was the price for a new set of bolts. $3 ea from Ford. outch. I now have two or three complete sets(from wrecked trucks or my new engine) and the proper sockets. lol.