Hey all

I bought a beater 2003 Ranger (4.0L) to work on because while I have a theoretical knowledge of mechanics, I've never actually done any of this stuff myself. Truck was working fine when I bought it, but shortly after the clutch pedal stiffened to the point where it moves maybe 1/4th an inch and just stops solid.
So, I replaced the master cylinder with a prefilled FTE. Got the existing master out easy enough, got the new one installed easy enough.

Went to plug in the hose to the slave and no matter what I do I cannot get it click in. Thought that was weird, took the original under the truck and I couldn't get it to click in either. I assume I'm doing something fundamentally incorrectly, but I can't figure out what it is. I watched a video of a guy pop one in and off with one hand but that's definitely not the experience I'm having.

You can see the video shake as I'm straining and then see the hose slide back out (ignore the electrical tape, that was there to hold the plastic quick release piece back as a desperation move at one point in case I was accidentally pushing it in). I also took a picture into the port and I don't see anything in there obstructing it.


About the only thing I've not done yet is jack the truck up to try to get a different angle to push it in from (I'm a small guy, so had been doing this all at ground level).

Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. Thanks all!

 

It is possible that the previous owner installed an aluminum slave. From what I understand they don't work well with the OEM quick connect. There is some kind of inference that won't allow the locking mechanism to snap into place. I have never personally delt with it but wanted to install the aluminum slave and while I did some research on it that is what I found. I ended up using the plastic slave again.

I don't know if that is your problem, but you might try to see if you have an aluminum slave.

I just thought of something else that may be the problem. You could have a lot of pressure in the slave. When you pushed in on the clutch, the quick connect may have pooped out when the throw out bearing was pressed against the pressure plate leaving residual hydraulic pressure in the slave. If that is that the case, you will probably need to figure out how to release that pressure or use a lot of force when you insert the quick connect to overcome that pressure in the salve. This is also something that can happen when a transmission is installed without connecting the slave to the master if the slave position was out too far causing the pressure plate to be partially compressed or not allow the bell housing bolts to reach.

 

I finally found a different video of someone doing this and found the issue I was having. The external retaining clip I had off because the video I watched the guy had lost his and he had no issues doing this. This other video I found the guy stressed needing to leave the clip on. So I put it back on and gave it a sharp push and it locked right in, clutch now goes to floor no issues.

Unfortunately, the old battery gave out with all the door open etc going on while I was doing this, so I need to jump it or replace the battery before I can figure out if it'll start but I'm pretty optimistic.

Thanks all!