I'm currently searching around the forum and haven't found anything exactly like this yet, so I wanted to post a thread and get some answers directly as well. THANK YOU in advance to anyone who posts! Here's what's going on:

When I attempt to put the truck into drive or reverse, the clutch does not come out far enough to engage (the clutch pedal itself is NOT physically stuck but the truck is behaving as if it is). I have tried popping the clutch by depressing it and releasing it (rather violently) but it doesn't seem to do the trick. If I rev the engine to higher rpms I can get it to move, but just barely. I started noticing the issue about 36 hours before the truck was at the point where I could no longer drive it. This same thing happened once on the trip from Florida (800 miles to my current location) about 8 months ago, but seemed to fix itself without any apparent reason and has not acted up at all since. I have checked all fluids and they appear to be in good shape.

My lowest quote locally for parts + service (not including the price of the slave cylinder, for some reason) is $396 and some change. Does this sound fair? (I know this may be a question without an answer but I'm not well versed in what a clutch costs to fix typically.) Does this sound like a relatively simple issue that could perhaps be corrected myself without having my entire clutch assembly replaced?

Thank you once again for any help, it is GREATLY appreciated! Gotta get back on the road!

Mike

 

We had a 01 F550 Flatdeck in here a couple of months back (I know, not a ranger, not even close to your year)

But, they had a problem where you could not ENGAGE the gears, meaning no matter how hard your pushed the clutch down, it would not let you engage 1st or reverse.

What we replaced at that time was the clutch master cylinder & the slave cylinder, and now, its awesome.

Thats the best info i have

Hopefully it helps you

 

Thank you for the post. That doesn't seem to be the issue here (at least, not yet) as I can move in reverse and forward motion, just not very quickly. I'm hoping that I won't need to totally replace everything, I'm not exactly looking forward to a hefty mechanic bill in these rough times.

 

New day, anyone have any suggestions? Thanks again folks...

 

Sounds like your clutch is worn and needs to be replaced.

 

Is that the entire clutch assembly you're referring to which needs to be replaced? I had the truck towed to a local shop, I should know by tomorrow what all needs to be done...at least according to them. I've had enough people give me the thumbs up on this shop that I'm not too worried about their trying to squeeze blood out of the turnip as it were, but I'd like some second (and third, and fourth...) opinions from here as well before I drop the ~$500 they want to charge to have everything replaced.

Thanks again!
Mike

 

Sounds like a good price. Around here it is closer to $800 to get a shop to do it. (I'll be trying it myself when the time comes).

*Honestly I did not understand your description of the problem, never heard of it sticking on the reverse(for a better word). Whenever I have had clutch assemblies go out.....driving down the road, stomp on the gas and the motor revs faster without you going any faster. Or if the slave/master cyclinder go out.....push on the clutch and you can't quit push it far enough to get it into gear.

either way, i wouldn't be able to help if you could explain it better, just hoping someone else will.

 

i have replaced the whole clutch assembly, master cylinder and had the flywheel finshed for about $450
did all the work myself. its very easy, not complicated at all. its sounds like a master cylinder to me. i got the clutch kit from a ford dealership included the cylinder.

 

i just did a clutch job in my 87 ranger pretty easy is the peddel hard to push or is it real easy it sounds like the master cylinder or air in the line

 

I have a 94 2.3L 5speed. It was many years ago, but if I remember right I had similar symptoms. Ran fine all the way to work in the morning. Got in to leave and it would not go anywhere. This is were the memory is foggy. I'm pretty sure it would move a little, but that's it. Found the fluid was low and topped it off. This was enough to get it to a friends house to replace the clutch components.

 

How many miles on your clutch? I think my original had around 125k when it went out.