I have a 1997 4.0 4x4 Ranger. Clutch pedal is soft, but after driving for 10-15 minutes it gets difficult to shift into first gear. Eventually the clutch does not fully disengage the drivetrain: if moving and in 2nd gear, I can push in the clutch and give it gas, and the truck accelerates. If I shut off the truck, I can shift into any gear easily.
I pulled the master cylinder and bled the line, reinstalled and bled the slave cylinder. Still the same problem.
Is this a bad slave cylinder? Bad clutch? Any suggestions are appreciated!
Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum


I would say bad Master, the piston is not sealing so you are losing full travel in the slave

The slave is just an empty cylinder that expands when you apply fluid pressure to it, no valves or anything that can go bad, it can leak but you didn't mention any fluid leaking out of bell housing

The Master has a piston inside with a couple of o-ring seals, when you press piston down the seals stop the flow of fluid up to the reservoir and stops the flow of fluid up past the piston, so all fluid should flow out and down to the slave to get full travel and full disengagement, top of master should be dry
"Easy to push" pedal description would also fit non-sealing piston, piston has less resistance because piston is moving thru the fluid not pushing it all out to slave

Take the top off reservoir and remove the air seal cup(if its still there), have someone pump the clutch pedal, there should be NO movement of fluid in the reservoir
Reservoir allows fluid to flow into the Master, when pedal is all the way up, to replace any leaked fluid, so reservoir level should remain stable for years

Quick Connect/Disconnect is on the Master's hose connection to the slave, these rarely fail but not never, they can block full flow, but description would be a "hard to press" clutch pedal, so can't see that being the problem.

 

Thanks for the response!
After I bled the master cylinder and it was reinstalled, I tried to push down on the clutch before I connected to the slave cylinder. The clutch barely moved, so the quick connect on the hose is functioning.

John

 

Good test, but it shouldn't have moved at all, repeat same test and keep pressure on the pedal, if it seems to be going down then master/piston is allowing fluid to flow into reservoir or past its own seals

 

OK, I replaced the clutch master cylinder this weekend (slowed down by knee surgery a few weeks ago), still the same thing. I have to push the clutch to the floor to shift, and after the truck warms up difficult to shift, then impossible. I can shift into gear at that point if I shut off the truck.
Is my next step a new clutch?