Hey all, this is my first post to Ranger Forums. I've gotten a lot out of the information posted here and was wondering if anyone could help out.

Last April I replaced the clutch in my 2001 2.5l @ 111K miles. It was my first clutch job ever with the help of my brother who is a decent mechanic. About a month after new clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, pilot bearing and slave cylinder were replaced, I started noticing a rattling sound coming from the bellhousing area at idle. It only happens when the clutch pedal is not engaged and the a/c is not running (sometimes makes some noise when a/c is off too). When I push the clutch in, the rattle/knock goes away. It'll stop rattling at idle with the clutch pedal disengaged if I turn the a/c off. The sounds is definitely more pronounced after I've driving 10-20 miles.

I've done some searching and this appears to happen now and then, but no one ever says "hey I found out exactly what the problem was..." My question is - do you think it is something as simple as the throwout bearing went bad right away, the pilot bearing isn't seated right or the pressure plate is 'off'? Or am I looking at something engine side or internal to the transmission? I'd like to be able to fix it myself but would probably take it in to a shop if necessary.
Again, the rattle goes away if I push the clutch pedal in or turn the a/c off. Thanks guys!

Video uploaded w/ sound

 

Welcome to the forum

Sounds like there is an exhaust leak as well as the "tick"
Have someone put their gloved hand over the tail pipe, engine running, to see if noise changes

Pilot bearing is not being used when clutch pedal is up, input shaft and crank shaft are spinning at the same RPMs
Throw out bearing, maybe, its under no pressure with clutch pedal up so free spinning, when pedal is pressed down even a little and the noise stops then maybe throwout bearing

When clutch pedal is down all the way the input shaft(clutch disc slows down to 0 RPMs, so you can put trans "in gear", so if the noise is only when input shaft is spinning then noise is coming from input shaft or something on the input shaft

It's a long shot but possible, that the input shaft bearing in the transmission is getting worn out, not common but have seen it happen on the 2.3l/2.5l Limas more often, could be cause by trans/engine alignment issue
Input shaft and crank shaft have to be aligned perfectly or input shaft(the lighter part) will wobble slightly, and over time the bearing will wear out

AC on and off changes the Load on the engine so would cause any "engine" noise to change a bit

 

Thanks for the welcome Ron and for your thoughts on this. I

tried slowly depressing the clutch pedal and it didn't really change the sound of the rattle until it stopped cause the clutch was disengaged. It really only rattles when the AC clutch snaps on for about 6 seconds, then it stops. Strangest thing. I pretty sure I can rule out any pilot bearing or throwout bearing. It's probably the input shaft bearing or just neutral gear rollover/lash. I spent a good amount of time looking for videos with the same sound, and apparently this is somewhat common in several car brands and many models with manual transmissions. Most people seem to think it's harmless, and I'm going to have to let that reassure me for the time being. If I had the time I'd pull the tranny and do some work on it, but I just ain't got it.

Doing my valve cover gasket, timing belt, drive belt and installing an e-fan this weekend (and probably into next week).