1993, MT 2WD
I swear once I fix something, I am back on here asking for more advice on how to fix the next issue, but I guess what do you expect for a 30 year old truck.

Recently it was almost impossible to put the car in gear. Added DOT3 and bled the clutch master cylinder. I was pretty low, but not empty (hopefully no air in the lines). Then changed the ATF in the transmission. Decent amount of glitter and some flakes on the drain plug, but not chunks.

After those two maintenance tasks were done, I can get the truck to drive, but I would not call it smooth shifting.

Clutch, pressure plate, clutch master cylinder, throw out bearing, and flywheel were changed about 5,000 miles ago.

Any advice? Thanks in advance.

 

This video helped a lot with getting all the air out of the lines.

 

OK, so this worked for about a day and now it is back to how it was previously operating, hard to get into 1st and grinding to get into reverse. Any suggestions?

 

It reads like the clutch disc is still rubbing on the flywheel or pressure plate when clutch pedal is all the way down, I know, duh, but if that is the issue then you still have air in the system

Ranger's clutch Master sits at an upward angle, so if reservoir does run dry or air gets in then it can go to the upper end of master and its hard to get out
Only way to get it out is to pull the Master out, put pedal end at downward angle to get the air to exit via the reservoir

Master has a piston and spring and a seal/c-clip at the pedal end
The reservoir hose is connected to a hole in the Master housing just behind the piston when piston is up all the way
When you press the pedal down the piston slides down and immediately seals that hole so reservoir is cut off, as piston goes farther down fluid is force out and down to the slave
Pretty simple setup
But because of the angle of the master any air in master can travel up the sides of the piston and get trapped at top behind the seal

You can get pre-bled Masters, if you don't know the age of your Master then 1993 would be a pretty old Master, old one could allow air in at upper end

Just for future reference always use SAC(self adjusting) Pressure plate in any year Ranger, they are more tolerant of air in the system, usually, and pedal engage/disengage stays at the same place throughout the life of the clutch disc, they do cost a few dollars more but worth it in my opinion since clutch is used many times daily and is there for years and years, so less than pennies a day, lol

 

Thanks, are you suggesting I need to this method in the video below? The master is only a couple of years old. The brake fluid just got too low and apparently added air in the system.

 

Yes, bench bleed

If reservoir got low then you have a leak, so...................air WILL come back

 

Master cylinder was bad. Was leaking when I tried to bend bleed. Bought a new one from Advanced. Working better now. Hopefully this one lasts more than 2 years!

 

Can I ask a question here, please? I have close to the same symptoms, sometimes my transmission shifts smooth as can be, other times, the clutch doesn't seem to be completely disengaged. Is it most likely the master cylinder not functioning as it should? I have no leakage from the slave cylinder and am not losing fluid. The truck is always garaged so I'd notice even one drip and the reservoir stays full. My research shows a non-OEM replacement to be metal. Is the OEM master cylinder metal or plastic? TIA!

 

I would think after the mid-1990's The Ford clutch masters would be plastic but never really researched that
Don't think one would be better than the other

If you are not losing fluid then Pilot bearing may be the issue
Pilot bearing along with clutch disc allow the input shaft to slow down to 0rpms while the engine stays at 800rpms
This allows driver to shift into a gear while vehicle is stopped

The gears in a transmissions are always hooked up to rear wheels, no disconnect for that, so the gears spin and rear wheel rpms
Clutch system disconnects engine from transmission
So when moving the clutch allows RPM Matching between engine RPM and gear/rear wheel RPMs

When clutch pedal is down the input shaft is now free to RPM Match a gear, to either slow down or speed up RPMs to match, synchros are thinner and softer metal "rings" that make RPM matching easier, less grinding noises, lol

If the clutch disc is rubbing or the Pilot bearing is "stiff" the input shaft can't easily RPM Match the selected gear so hard to shift while moving or while stopped

 

Getting to the pilot bearing is a lot harder than replacing the clutch master cylinder, so that will be my first attempt. These do wear out(300,000.plus miles) so total .clutch replacement also is may be needed. 4.0 5 speed R5 diff,

 

Yes, good call