Hello all!! While at a light in Austin yesterday, I went to shift into neutral, and it seemed the clutch was mroe stiff than usual, almost had to force it to the floor. It did it this morning on startup, then it became smoother as the drive went on. Any ideas on what it could be? I am having no trouble shifting from gear to gear, just concerns from the clutch
How often should the clutch/tranny fluid be changed?

BTW, the truck has 48K and has been completely trouble free, just like a ford.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I've heard that there has been problems with the clutch slave cylinder. I believe that it needs to be bleed every so often. I haven't had to do this to my truck.

I will be changing my clutch soon and I picked up a new clutch slave cylinder, just to be on the safe side. My clutch isn't "worn" out but I believe that the friction material has melted, making it slippery at heavier throttle. I will be upgrading to a better clutch disk and stronger pressure plate.

This might be a good place to start.

 

Wittom,

Not wanting to intentionally steal the thread, but I see you had read and responded here. Have you had any rear end or tranny trouble with your forced induction 4.6? Just curious if you have dyno'ed your truck since you put on your supercharger and where you might be with power.
I'm trying to get a handle on how much power I might put to my '98 with the 4.6. I'm still naturally aspirated, but I suspect after Mike gets my custom tuning nailed down I should be near 250 rwh. I will need to dyno my truck here again after this next round of tuning.

Thank you

ENB

 

Peddler1000, so far I haven't had any problems with anything. Well, I shouldn't say anything. I will be replacing the clutch soon. I've got just under 50k on the truck but the increase in torque wore out the clutch disk friction material pretty fast.

As far as the dyno, I haven't been yet. Taking the manufacturers claimed numbers for the various bolt ons I have I should be in the 350hp, 400ft-lb range. There is one person here on the board, Flats Man, who has a truck that was once set up similarly to mine was getting something like 287-293hp to the wheels. He has an auto though so I think it's possible that with the manual transmission I might be able to get a full 300hp to the wheels. These numbers really mean nothing without a dyno run. Just guessing for now.

Regardless of what the numbers might be, this truck is awsome. I put the supercharger on 2 years/20k ago and it has been virtually trouble free. It's something I would highly reccomend doing.

As soon as I make it to the dyno I'll let people know. Good OR bad.

And to try to bring this thread back on topic: TexasMan, have you found anything yet?

 

Wittom

Thanks for the info, and sorry for getting off topic.

I am happy to say that at 70k: no clutch trouble yet.



ENB

 

To get back on topic........Clutch/Brake fluid absorbs moisture and clutch system should be flushed/bled annually (pressure bleed works best).

Try that first before looking into the master or slave cylinders. Also check for binding at the clutch pedal pivot.

Scott D.