Clutch question

[buss66]

My son has a 1996 F250 Powerstroke with a manual transmission.

When you press the clutch all the way in you can not get it in gear without some grinding. If you kill the truck and put it in gear and mash the clutch hard to the floor you can start it but if you move your foot up the least bit it will engage.

Any ideas or Help would be appreciated. I am hoping i dont have to replace the clutch.

thank you!

[Njstroker91]

First I would check the clutch master cylinder resovoir to be sure it's full and the fluid looks clean and not cloudy that's a good place to start.

[buss66]

Yea i looked there first, it was full and looked ok

[Njstroker91]

How bout where the master cylinder rod attaches to the pedal assembly I know they use a pretty cheep plastic bushing in there to attach it make sure that's not egged out. Also I believe there is a updated clutch fork these trucks cause there known to crack or bend check that also. Just some small things to check first.

[buss66]

Thanks for the ideas!
So does it sound like the clutch to you?

[Njstroker91]

I really am not sure I know I had a 93 that my slave cylinder was leaking causing low pedal I didn't realize till I went to do the clutch and I kicked myself in the *** for it cause the clutch was still good (the throwout bearing was making noise though) so i replaced it anyways. I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction. I'm pretty sure there is an inspection plate on the bottom of the bell housing with four bolts holding it on maybe pop that off and see how the friction material looks if it looks low it could be time for a new clutch. It could also be that the pressure plate is getting worn out or a couple fingers got busted. I'm just a shade tree mechanic so I don't want to give you a incorrect diagnoses ya know.

[Patrick Feeley]

As mentioned, check the Bushing where the clutch master cylinder rod attaches to the clutch pedal linkage under the dash. If the rod's eye has ovaled out, you can get a Heim Joint "kit" commonly found on ebay to fix it. If the rod end is still good, you can replace the bushing with another plastic one. I had good success using a common modification to it. You trim the locking tabs off the bushing and use a 7/16" shaft collar (drill stop) to hold it on the pedal linkage (with just a bit of grease). It was still working great with over 175k on the same bushing. Other issues to look for would be slop in the clutch/brake pedal mainshaft bushings and firewall flex (the clutch master rod bushing is usually it however). Cheers!

[buss66]

Thank you both for the input, i will take a look tomorrow. The truck has 250K on it so i just figured it was the clutch going out. but then i remembered a mechanic told me if the clutch was bad it wouldn't engage until the top of the pedal and this is engaging at the very bottom.

Thanks again!

[Njstroker91]

No problem good luck with the repair.

[madpogue]

Pic of the drill stop collar fix:

Another option - ditch the plastic bushing and use a short piece of 1/2"OD x 7/16"ID brass tubing.