Just picked up a truck from my brother in hopes of having a decent pickup for when my son turns 16 in a few months.
97 4x4 4.6L 5spd manual 145k
I'm not sure what originally happened when it broke. My brother only had the truck for maybe 2 months but hot roded it around the mountains and something broke. He had it towed to my parents house and there it sat for the last 6 months.

Here's what I know.
Not running it shifts/engages through all the gears and feels good. A little sloppy but nothing out of the ordinary.
Clutch pedal feels a little soft but seems normal.
Start the truck: Running: In neutral, depress the clutch and you hear a faint humming and can feel a wobble/vibration in the truck. Try to select any gear and it will grind/wont engage
Shut the truck off, put it in gear, depress the clutch and start the truck....truck starts and same noise and vibration....let the clutch out in gear and vibration is extremely more definitive and louder noise and no movement.
depress clutch and go back to neutral, wont go back into any gear.

Visual inspection at the bell housing shows hydraulic slave cylinder working properly with clutch depress. Can't see any broken clutch parts

My guess is possible broken pressure plate? But shouldn't you still be able to get the truck to move with a broken/no clutch by starting it in gear?
Possible broken input shaft?
Either way I'm assuming the trans needs to come out and that's just that. Not a lot of fun but needs done

Would the 4x4 have anything to do with it? Same thing, all 4x4 (manual) shifts seem normal and dash displays each setting properly

 

Well, If he was hotrodding it I'd bet the input shaft is toast. That's the weak link on a M5OD, there was a reason Ford didn't offer it on anything bigger than a 4.6. Could also be a stuck pilot bearing.

 

I'm with you on the input shaft. I'm gonna pick up a clutch kit and try to source a local trans and make sure it's available/on call when I drop this one.
It's my younger brother, the one that always brakes things. Every vehicle he's had ends up broke in short time.
We got him this deal through a friend who used the truck as a daily work truck. First day he had it, takes it up a 4x4 jeep trail and trashed the paint job.
And it broke down in an area known for offroading.

Any suggestions on a clutch?

 

OEM, which is Luk. Have a pilot bearing, rear main seal, and flywheel available, plus a master cylinder.

You may have a hard time finding a transmission. It has to be out of a 4x4 97 or 98 with a 4.6 unless you want to cut a new hole in the floor for the shifter, then you can use 99-03. It has to be 4.6 and 4x4.

 

Parts list is ordered. Couldnt find an LUK pilot bearing so went with Dorman bearing and felpro rear main seal kit.
Thanks for clearing that up.
I found one on ebay with 138k for 660 shipped. Seems steep, might be worth a call around to see what a rebuild would cost.
Fortunately we have 100s of wrecking/salvage yards near me and f150s were a big thing around the NW so fingers crossed I can find a local one.

 

Go to car-part.com and search junkyards. I just did for your zip code and there appear to be 3 of them at All Truck in Vancouver 360-693-9296, price is $550. 2 are out of a 97 and one is out of a 98. Looks like they have live chat. The rest of the listings are over 100 miles from you.

Remans run around $1000.

Personal experience - if you put a clutch kit in and don't get the flywheel resurfaced (bench ground) or replace it, the clutch WILL chatter.

 

Cool, thanks. I'll reach out to them. Not sure if they stock number is the mileage, if so.. that one looks like maybe only 65k but not sure on that.
I picked up an LUK flywheel. We have a machine shop here but I don't want the down time of dropping it off for re-surface.

 

Is there no way to check if I have a 6 bolt or 8 bolt flywheel

 

Romeo is 6 bolt, Windsor is 8 bolt. 8th VIN character "W" is Romeo and "6" is Windsor.

 

Ok. The 8 bolt I ordered is correct