Hey guys,

Last night when I got off the freeway my clutch was gone. The pedal had nothing but the resistance from the spring. I'm so glad our trucks have the clutch start cancel switch. After stalling out at the end of the off ramp, I drove home without a clutch, about 30 miles.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure the clutch is still fine. The truck still has full power. I looked at the master cylinder and it still has fluid. It's just above the MIN line. The push rod attached to the pedal looks to have good movement in and out through the firewall. I didn't see any fluid anywhere.

Does anyone know a way to test the master cylinder? Or a way to test the slave? Right now I'm leaning towards the slave cylinder being bad.

Anyone know a way to check either component to be sure? Or have any other ideas?

Thanks,

Brian

 

mine did the exact same thing and it was my master cylinder i replaced the slave first also but the problem didnt go away until i replaced the master cylinder i would also try topping up the fluid and bleeding it first...

 

Odds are it is the cluch master. I have never seen a slave give out. However, the rebuild kits should be pretty cheap and the slave is much easier to get to. So, rebuild the slave and try it out. If it is fixed you are good to go. If not, you got a nice clean rebuilt slave and you had to do the master anyway.

jrohland

 

x2 on the master it happened on both my 82 and my 86 the rebuild kit wasn't that much
more time than money

 

Thanks for the advice guys. A local shop has a cheap slave so I'm going to put that on tomorrow morning and give it a bleed and see what happens. I'll pick up a master too if they have one since that seems to be the common problem. I'll post up some results in a day or so.

Thanks again.

 

I took off the slave and cleaned it up. It looked fine but I put the new one on since is was cheap and I had it. I swapped the master next. The new one feels much smoother, but it didn't turn out to be the problem either. Judging by the way it felt though, I think it was ready to give up the ghost.

After bleeding it out it still only had half a pedal, but it was moving the shift fork back and forth. So I fired it up and tried it out. Pushing the clutch pedal to the floor, I could feel a pretty strong vibe. Some good guys who were helping me out said it feels like the pressure plate or the throwout bearing came apart. I guess it's new clutch time.

 

Ordered up a Marlin Crawler clutch. I was thinking of doing the replacement myself, but the exhaust is welded with the crossover right under the trans, and I lack welding skills.