first off ill introduce myself, my name is jeremy, daily my 2004 ranger, 2wd, 3.0 motor, m5od r1 5spd, but when i bought it, i didn't know they were notorious for faulty slaves. i put a non adjustable clutch disc in about a year into driving it, didn't really need to be changed, but i figured it had 130k, and it was probably the factory clutch. replaced the master, line, and slave when i did it, drove down to carbondale, and the master took a crap on the return trip (literally at a stop light a mile from the highway) got it home and to a mechanic and he replaced it. when i got it back, truck wouldn't go into gear from a stop after it warmed up. when the master went, the slave mustve gone with it, had a slave put in, maybe a month later the line pops out of the slave when i hit the clutch. popped it back in and it would keep poppin out with pressure. there was wear on the fitting where the quick connect retainer clip seats, and it wasn't grabbing the line, so POP! brought it back to the tech that worked on it (had a warantee on the master and line) so he replaced it. that was about seven months ago, and about a week ago, i noticed my truck losing fluid in the clutch resevoir. no puddle inside, or out, line and connections were dry, bottom of bellhousing was wet, and pretty sure i saw a drop on the cat, my conclusion, this ******* slave went out.

NOW, if you're still with me, i'm trying to design a cable set up for my ranger based off the oem slave cyl and feed/bleed holes in the bellhousing, i have a crude design model and have completely disassembled a spare slave, and master that i had laying around to grasp an idea of how that steaming pile of plastic **** they call a part works. i think i've found one of (if not the biggest flaw) in the design, the "piston" of the clutch actuator( plastic **** that the throw out beaaring pops on) and the hydroulic cylinder on the base of the slave, are plastic on plastic with no seal in between. doesn't plastic wear under high friction/temp applications?

ANYWHO.. so far my idea is using an internal clutch fork with a pivot point that mounts to the slave base, and i need to figure out the psi or spring rate of the pressure plate fingers and how much ill need to engage/disengage the clutch, hopefully ill update this thread if i find another breakthrough but for now the next thing you'll see is a probably gonna be a prototype within the next couple months. until then, if anyone has any information or even an idea they think might help would be greatly appreciated. and to those that read the whole post, you're the real mvps...

 

i wonder how many people will say something along the lines of "dont beat on it" or "learn how to drive stick"...

 

Welcome to the forum

No, internal slaves are not really a problem, OEM anyway, 3rd party are what they are, less money.
Been driving Rangers for years, never had one fail, just replace them with the clutch.

Do they ever fail, of course they do, what part never fails, lol, and at the worst possible moment.
But out of the millions of manual rangers out there are very very few failed slaves.
Remember no one posts "its working", only "its not working", so the "it's working" no posts win on this one.

Externals were worse, mechanical and cable even more so, just easier to fix

No reason you can't converter to external slave or mechanical/cable.

No, you will need to cut the bell housing.

Idea here: Leans AX-15 External Slave Swap With Pics! - JeepForum.com

Having a non-detachable bellhousing makes it harder but certainly do able.

Pressure you will need at the cable will depend on the "length of the lever".
Generally clutch pedal pressure needed is about 25-30 lbs, so pressure plate about 60-70 lbs

 

thanks for the input, for now to fix it i will be getting a slave from ford to put in cause i need to drive it daily. i guess i've just had bad luck with aftermarket garbage. the bellhousing in my truck has two holes for a feed and bleed lines to the slave, and another for an inspection plug.

 

and the link helped a lot, but if anything i'd try to build something bolt in with little to no fab work to the truck or bellhousing, greatly appreciate the input tho

 

Well you want the system all external or there is no benefit for your reasons

The fork and throwout bearing have to be inside bell housing, no way around that, and outside of the throwout bearing they are fairly reliable

The the linkage, mechanical or hydraulic, needs to be external so it can be adjusted or repaired.
Which was why these systems were more prone to failure than internal hydraulic systems, weather and road debris, parts would get rusty especially with salted roads, and were vulnerable to being struck(not common but not 0 either, especially 4 wheeling), lol.

In any case you have to anchor the throwout bearing support so some modification is required.

3.0l Vulcan engine has unique bell house bolt pattern, but...........
You may want to look at older manuals that had detachable bell housings and external clutch activation

I think the mid to late 1980's Camaros used the T5 with external slaves
Adapter plate and driveline change might be less work

 

i'm not sure how true it is, but i've heard that a t5 from an 05 to 08 mustang will bolt up the the 3.0, haven't done enough research to prove it to be true, but i would still have an internal slave. but the t5 has more aftermarket options for the slave. that and i fell in love with the t5 in my 94 s10, which was a wc t5.
i don't really want to convert to an external slave because i know it would need a complete redesign of the whole bellhousing pretty much, but instead, take an oem slave, and convert it to be actuated by a cable. mainly because i like the old way of doing things, when **** was built to last. and i like a heavy pedal lmao,

if anything, im trying to find a way to fit a lever into the bellhousing with enough leverage to move the throwout bearing into the pressure plate. if it all works out the only thing coming out of the bellhousing will be the cable going to the clutch pedal.

for now i'm just gonna put a slave from ford in cause i don't wanna drive around with a leaky slave. as far as the cable ****, i'm just gonna have to make a crude prototype to test the math of the pivot point, spring tension, and pressure plate tension.

if i was gonna put an older t5 in, it'd probably be getting a built 5.0 to match,
really appreciate the advice and will take everything into consideration. you've definately helped me with a lot of my questions

 

Ford bellhousing patterns here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...using_patterns

You have a 3.0l Vulcan engine/pattern

 

well, i bought a master, line and slave from ford to fix the leaky slave, and after a week i noticed it was sucking in air, i'm starting to think a defective part, or the non adjustable clutch is too heavy for the slave, but i called the company i got the clutch kit from and they said it shouldn't be any harder than the stock self adjusting clutch. so might even be a defective disc or pressure plate, i've put over 1000 bucks into getting this problem fixed over a year and i'm still in the same spot. so.. does anyone wanna buy my 04 ranger?

 

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I've pretty much had it with this concentric slave BS. I'd rather swap to a different trans, than pull it only to replace a crappy plastic slave that's prone to leaking and then put the same setup back in wondering when I get to pull it all back out and do it again. Has anyone successfully converted their concentric slave to either mechanical or an external slave? Anyone? anyone... Bueller?
Barring that, is there a way to fit the big block or diesel ZF S542 or S547 trans to the SBF and maintain their external slave? Are there other decent options I'm missing besides having a completely custom trans made to fit or something equally cost prohibitive? Anybody been there, done that? Maybe even have a couple pointers to share?
If you think it's because I don't know how to drive a stick, well that's all I've ever owned aside from a couple temporary AT's that followed me home occasional times. I will continue to avoid automatics until it's the only option on new vehicles (and even then I'll be trying to put in an old 5spd and defeat the computer or import a manual version from overseas). So no sense in trying to convince me to swap to the sploder AT.
If you think its cuz I didn't use a genuwine Motorcraft concentric slave, guess again, bought it from the dealer a few months ago. Need to replace all a once? Did it, new clutch and master all at once. Bled carefully. Didn't install properly? Did it with help from my neighbor who used to run his own transmission shop.
Less clutch effort is nice but that can be accomplished with an external if needed. The only good thing about the concentric is it saves room for swaps but I think there's enough room for an arm on the left. Now if you're gonna tell me a cable will end up with increased clutch effort, that's fine, I hardly notice and it's a truck anyway. I'm gonna drive it like one and use it like one. Might be easier if its all on the driver side but I can search for room on the right if necessary.
I need to maintain the 4wd and I don't really want to run a divorced case. I need it to bolt up to, or at least be able to be made to bolt up to the 302 pattern. Be nice if it fit the current driveshaft and I didn't have to cut too many more holes in the floor for the shifter but neither is the deal breaker. It's kind of a bitch to pull it all and that NP 205 is heavy so I would rather do this once (more) than repeatedly swap that stupid slave. I only made it a few months over the winter and less than 5k miles until I started getting the current hard shifting and occasionally hafting to shut her down to get into gear and take off from the light. Not the kind of deja vu I'm wanting all over again.
Any ideas? I mean besides repeatedly banging my head into the wall, or bagging it all and buying a chevy?

Thanks,
Dave

 

I didn't have any issues with the slave failing on my truck when I replaced it. I had a defective slave out of the box that was cracked at the base, but other than that, I've gotten 75k miles from an aftermarket unit.

I did, however, have problems with the Quick Disconnect line as he did. I just replaced the whole thing with a braided AN line, and I've never had an issue since. You have to bleed the system as one unit, but I've gotten it down so well that it takes less than 5 mins to bleed it, from bone dry to shifting while running. When you have to pull your trans 5 times in one year "fixing" these problems, you tend to get good at it. If I had access to a lift, I could pull the trans out in my truck in under an hour.

 

Can you please refer to as "secondary" slave is a trigger word and I am literally shaking right now.