I have a '97 F 150 Super Cab 4x4 with the 4.6 engine and the 5 speed. The truck has 53000 miles on it and I believe the tranny is fine. I don't drive the heck out of it. I love my truck so I take care of it. I also pull a 25 foot travel trailer all over Colorados' 11,000' passes with no problem. I just keep the RPM's up there for power and torque. If you want to rip and slam the tranny, get a Viper or a Vette or something like that. It's a TRUCK people....Remember that!!!

 

I thought I might update with my clutch squeak.I brought it in last thursday.I call friday afternoon and I am told they didnot find anything wrong with it , but that the guy in charge of the shop wants to go for a drive with me . I drive down to the dealer and he agrees with me that there is squeak when depressing or releasing the clutch. He says leave the truck with him and he will look into it.I tell him the pushout bearing was already changed and it did cure the problem for about 6 weeks. He has another idea what it might be so I decide to leave the truck there over the weekend. Monday afternoon comes around and Icall the service dept and they say it is ready. I ask about the clutch and am told nothing was done as per a service bulletin that a gear meshing sound is normal with the clutch disengaged.I tell the guy this is not my problem. I speak the shop forman and ask what's up.He states the same thing the other guy just told me. Ikindly remind him out the squeaking noise both him and I heard. I ask what he is going to do about it.He hums and haws and I tell to have a look again and call me. 5:00 pm today there is a message for me from him stating the problem is the flywheel and it will take a week to get. Iwill give them one more chance to fix it. If not Iam going to the owner of the dealer.S orry for the long post but this is getting frustrating

 

The flywheel?......Huh...

I mean I can't imagine what is squeaking. The entire clutch assembly is bolted to the flywheel and revolves with it, the only time the flywheel comes into play is when the clutch plate friction material grabs hold or releases it....I can't really think of why it would make a squeaking noise....Squeaking noise says to me hydraulic system, shifter fork, throw-out bearing, diaphragm spring, etc....anything but the flywheel...

Maybe the pilot bushing in the flywheel???!? Hell I don't know, just trying to think of something that would squeak in the flywheel...

Sorry to hear of your woes..

 

Hmmm Im not sure it's the flywheel.
When they replaced my clutch and rebuilt the tranny the squeak was gone for a while. If it was the flywheel I probably would have heard the squeak driving out of the dealership. Just a thought.
My clutch doesn't squeak for the first 3 to 5 times i press it in the morning. Then after that it squeaks for the rest of the day. It doesn't matter if the engine is on or off.

 

Sorry ,it is they said it was the pressure plate. OOPS

 

Now that sounds more like it...Heck, if they are going to lie about something being wrong, it at least should make sense mechanically right?

 

I have mixed feelings about the 5 speed. Mine is very notchy when shifting between 1st and 2nd. The tranny and clutch have about 280,000 kilometers on them. I replaced the clutch slave cylinder at about 190,000 Km (one three day weekend spent on my back under my truck in my driveway -- the things I'll do to save $600 ). I'm hoping that the clutch will make it through till spring.

Aside from the 1-2 shift problem, I really like this tranny. Even when I load the truck up with 30 or 40 bags of water softener salt (about 1300 to 1750 lbs) it pulls very strong.

 

Covington

Maybe I'm confused, but with that load in your bed, aren't you coming close to or exceeding your GVWR? I worry when I get to about 1k worth of gravel in my bed....

 

I can’t believe how many responses this thread has gotten.

 

5-speed is a good tranny in my opinion... however i got 1400 miles on my truck and 4th is gone totally... sychro problem or something, i have no idea. but ford is seeing me monday

 

Mine squeaks too. It started after I had the brake system flushed and I had them do the hydrolic clutch fluid too. Worst mistake of my life. Had to go back to the dealer 3 times to get the air out. He told me to go out and pump the clutch peddel and the air would work itself out. Bingo...squeaky clutch. I think it might be something in the slave cylinder but I'm not sure.

 

That sqeeking is normal. My 95 did it also and I didn't have any problems with it.

 

After 10,000 miles my manual transmission is still working great. The only problem so far is that my dam shifter **** keeps slowly spinning around on it’s own, yet I can’t seem to budge it when I try. I still love this truck.

 

22,500 miles on my 5 speed, no problems at all.

 

Mine has crunched on an upshift to third since new. Only when warm. This tranny sucks for a manual in a full size truck. Ford needs to engineer their own trannys. Rest of the truck is great.