Slave cylinder plastic thingy

[LOOSEWHEEL]

I wanted to bleed the clutch hydraulics by removing the slave from the bell housing. When I removed it, the plastic thingy on the push rod remained inside. I attempted to fish it out but it got away and fell out of reach.How bad is it to leave it in there???

[fordfan30]

Is there an inspection plate on the manual trannies?

[MrJohnWayne]

yeah you should be able to remove the dust cover and fish it out that way. It acts as a bushing and not having it could not cause the clutch to disengage properly, but I'm not 100 % sure. I'd try everything possible to fish it out and replace it.

[LOOSEWHEEL]

I've done some searching on this. Some say it's just used during the assembly process to keep the push rod in place when it is inserted. Can anyone confirm this?

Here is a pic of what it looks like....sorta. It's the wish bone looking thing the arrow is pointing to.

[MrJohnWayne]

yeah it is attached to the slave cylinder when you install it and the first time you push the clutch in it will snap the 2 ends. I still think it has some value being there instead of a metal to metal surface without it, but I'm still not 100% on that. Might be just fine without it

[LOOSEWHEEL]

Well I drove it and it seems fine. Right now the rod is just metal without the plastic thingy on the end of it. I don't suppose FORD would have just this part. They will probably make me by a whole new transmission to get it.