I haven't read many posts on this topic yet, but I wanted to see if anyone has had the volume of issues I've experienced. For starters, I'm a 63 year young male, I learned to drive on manual transmissions in the 1960s and have NEVER rode a clutch pedal, ever. The reason I'm sure is the first thing I was taught was that if I'm not using the clutch, my left foot should be on the floor. Muscle memory kept that habit in later years. I worked farms in my youth, almost all with manual transmission vehicles. My truck has 287,000 Km on it and about 80% are highway kilometers. On to the issue:

I bought my 2008 Ford Ranger FX4 in late March 2010. No problems until the clutch slave cylinder failed in February of 2017. (Not sure if it was OEM or not, as I didn't own it for the first 51k and maybe the previous owner was a clutch rider). I went to a mechanic, who worked out of his personal garage and was recommended by a friend I've known for 40 years, and the mechanic replaced, with supposedly quality aftermarket parts, the clutch plate, pressure plate, slave cylinder (#1). He had the flywheel re-surfaced, also. It is worthy of note here, that when he installed the first slave cylinder and went to bleed it, it would not take (#2). He had to remove the transmission again to install a replacement. $1200.00 CDN. All good for another 8 to 10 years, right?

In the late fall of 2019, the slave cylinder massively failed (the throw-out bearing was bone dry and dynamited) and in the process, destroyed the clutch plate. This time I went to a business owned by a mechanic friend I had known personally for 35 years. When he took the flywheel in for re-surfacing, the machine shop noted that the flywheel had worn at approximately a 2 mm (+/-) angle. He surmised that was caused by either a bent pressure plate, or incorrect torquing procedure when it was installed. The fingers on the pressure plate were mis-aligned as a result. That was what caused the throw-out bearing to run dry and 'dynamite' So not technically the slave cylinder's fault. Replaced with aftermarket parts from a manufacturer he has used for years, the complete clutch ***'y and slave cylinder only, as the master cylinder wasn't contaminated and worked fine. $1800.00 CDN total and off I go.

Fast foward to May of 2021. Clutch slave cylinder alone fails (#3). It is over the warranty period by about 5 months or so (my friend's shop warranties parts and labor for 1 year) Also, it contaminated the clutch plate, so it was replaced along with the pressure plate. Flywheel surface was still good. Installed a new aftermarket slave cylinder, check master cylinder, no contamination. $1600.00 CDN and on the road again.

Now, onto December 22, 2022. The aftermarket slave cylinder fails, AGAIN, (#4) but thankfully not bad enough to contaminate the clutch plate, which was just replaced in May of 2021. I went to Ford and purchased a FOMOCO OEM slave cylinder. My friend's shop wasn't usually ok with installing customer supplied parts, but made an exception for me, given I have had it to him twice already for an issue that shouldn't have shown up again for about 8 - 10 years from 2019. (I've never blamed him for the slave cylinder failures, he didn't manufacture the damn things) He did call me and suggest a clutch master cylinder replacement as it was contaminated this time. Also tranny fluid was black, so he changed it and added a bottle of Lucas std tranny additive. I pick it up tomorrow, cough up another $1400.00+ CDN and pray the Ford OEM part outlasts by 7 or 8 years the aftermarket ones previously installed.

So, ignoring most of my word salad has anyone had a recurring issue with Ford Ranger clutch slave cylinders and/or thinks putting the slave cylinder AROUND the input shaft of the transmission was an epically stupid idea?

 

To answer your question(s),

I have been through 4 or 5 slave cylinders in the last 10 years, so yes they are absolute garbage. I replaced them myself each time, and I'm tired of it.

Also, wrapping them around the input shaft inside of the bellhousing is idiotic for a part that is very hard to replace and known to fail. But how else are they going to get people to take their cars to the mechanic and spend money?

Not to burst your bubble, but I've bought slave cylinders from the big three auto parts stores, and also straight from Ford. The Ford ones are made by FTE (Valeo), the same company that makes them for O'Reillys and Autozone. So I wouldn't count on the Ford one lasting either.

 

Thanks for rhe reply. I can only pray the FOMOCO OEM was built to closer tolerances even though it was built in Mexico. I have noticed that the bellows is black on OEM and blue on aftermarket. I have a friend who is an engineer. I'm going to strip, clean and send the parts to him and see what he says. If he finds a poor spec part (o-ring, etc.) that should be different, I may rebuild it and keep it for a spare. SMH over this design.....

 

I'm a long time ranger fam and a full time mechanic as well. These clutch slave and masters are junk. **** poor design on fords part. If you want them to last they need to come out of the truck when your changing the clutch. Bench bleed them. Reinstall them in the transmission so you can see that they are seeted proper. Use the clutch disk alignment.ment tool when installing the clutch disk and most important is when reinstalling the transmission. You have to lift the cab or remove the exhaust. If you don't install the trans dead on straight it seems like that plastic housing that the throw bearing is in gets stretched or mis aligned somehow. Not exactly sure what it is but just know that if you try and put the tyranny back in the way you would any other vehicle it will fail in short time. It has to be put together just like ford would. They assemble the.motor and trans before they are put.in the truck. So it all just is pushed together straight. And slave is pre bled outside of truck so the don't have any issues with the bubble thats niegh kn impossible to get out. You can do it motor in truck but the only way to get a straight shot with the input shaft is to drop the exhaust or lift the cab. The exhaust pipe that goes across right behind the crossmember behind the oil pan is in the way. That little bit of movement to get around it were the shift is halfway in to the disk is wher the damage occurs. Its just a little bump and you don't think nothing of it. Its a lot of extra work to lift the cab. Exhuast is usually even more work cuz the studs all break. And to lift the cab depending on how many miles and or rust you got aunt easy. Atleast with the cab and a big impact you aren't trying to drill heat hardened exhaust studs out of the manifold.