Picking up a fixer-upper tomorrow. 1989 Ford Ranger 4x4 w/ 2.9 v6. Guy claims it has a bad slave cylinder (and he has a new one for it) but I'm not to sure now that I've seen it. With the motor off, you can change the gears and feel it fall in each gear. Clutch peddle has plenty of spring back in it. Hydrolic fluid is not low and he said he had not put any in. He said before it went out, the clutch felt weak, like it was not engaging in the right place with the peddle. He didn't say anything about it slipping though. He was on his way home and about 2/10ths of a mile from his house, he was downshifting to second and let out the clutch... all it did was coast. He coasted it home and put it on craigslist.

Most of my experience with slave cylinders has been on a 1999 Isuzu Rodeo and on my rodeo, when the slave cylinder went out... I lost fluid and the peddle went to the floor and didn't come back. I only wish the slave cylinder on the Ranger was as easy to replace as the one on my Rodeo. Any thoughts as to if this really is the slave cylinder, or could it be the clutch or the master cylinder? Is there a way to check for sure w/o just replacing each one until it works?

BTW... This is my first Ranger. Matter of fact... This is also my first Ford... and my first post here on the boards. I'm really looking forward to seeing what I can do with this truck.

Thanks for any help
Rodney

 

If you use the search button at the top of the pane for 'slave cylinder' you'll find enough past posts to keep you reading for days.
It is a very common failure part on these trucks.
They will fail without lose of fluid.
When you go to replace the clutch and slave , take the time to remove/replace the master and bench bleed the system before reinstalling.The master sits at an angle that makes removing all the air almost impossible.

 

it order for it to coast though, the slave would have to be stuck OUT...which is very possible i guess...

 

That is what I was thinking. Seems the pressure from the clutch would push it back. With the truck running I can push in the clutch pedal, put the truck in 1st, let out the clutch and nothing. It's like the clutch is stuck disengaged. That is the part that stumped me. That is why I posted here to see if anyone had run across it before. Yes, I did search the forums, and Google and everywhere else I have been able to think of the past 2 days. I just have not been able to find anything with the same symptoms that had been resolved so I know where to start first.

 

Go underneath, pull out the inspection plug and see what you find.

 

Well, I got the Ranger home this weekend and finally got time to get under it last night. I opened the inspection port and had my wife work the clutch pedal while I watched the slave cylinder. Slave seemed to have full range of motion so the only thing left that I figure it can be is the clutch is just totally gone.

My next question is this. Through reading quite a few of the posts here, and hearing how much people are paying for clutches I got curious about something. Advance Auto has a clutch kit for $99.99. It is a "Perfection New Clutch Set" that includes "Clutch Disc, Cover Assembly, Pilot Bushing/Bearing & Alignment Tool". My question is this... Is there anything wrong with getting this clutch kit? For now, the truck will be used mostly for hauling stuff to the dump, driving in fields at the farm and maybe a little slip and slide in the mud. This isn't a rock crawler or mud slinger... at least not yet. It currently has 31x10.5 15" tires and I don't plan on going any larger than that.

Strange thing about the clutch... no noise, no smell... guess I'll know more about it when I drop the transmission. Should be interesting... never dropped the transmission on a 4x4 before.

 

Any opinions on getting a clutch from Advance Auto? Hoping to pick something up this weekend and start the tear down.

 

while your in there replace the slave. I don't see anything wrong with the kit, although LUK is really the best you can get.

 

What is the advantage of getting LUK over a kit from Advance Auto? If there are no issues with getting a kit I will probably go with that to get it on the road, but are they that much better than a kit from Advance Auto to cost twice as much?

 

well, theres nothing wrong with it. But if you ever do make it a hardcore 4x4, it won't hold up. I'm sure it'll be fine for what you said your doing with it though. I have a SACHS in mine, and i use it for DD, hauling heavy farm loads, and i don't really mud that often, but its holding up fine.