Hi y'all new to here but I'm in a bind and I need to figure this out. I have a '02 F150, 4.2, 2 wheel drive standard cab. Decided to do a trans swap to a low mileage unit. LONG BACK STORY. The donor came out a '03 F150 Harlery Heritige edition claiming 48,000 miles from a salvage yard out of Indiana. Blocked up the truck, pulled everything out, slid the new one in place carefully lined it all up bolted it together, new fuild in so on. The usual things one would do. Took ,my time, didnt rush anything. Go to work the shifter thru the gears a bit before I start it and its stuck, wont shift. Pulled it back out. Sat it on the ground, pulled the top plate off to do a visual inspection.Nothing obvious, everythings crisp m clean just wont shift. Look down see the long rod on the drivers side that controls I believe the shifter arms. So I flip it on its nose, pop off the tail housing and check there. Rod is definitely stuck. So I take a punch and a hammer and lightly tap on the end of the rod. It drops down, now evything is freed up. When she's all buttoned up I try shifting and she glides thru the gears. Figure Im good to go. Put it all back together, stick it back inthe truck. That was an ordeal cause I crushed the pilot bearing and had to replace that one. SO, bleed the clutch n slave cylinder, get good firm pedal pressure. Go to start it n it wont go into gear. I gravity bleed it. Vacuum bleed it with a hand operated vacuum pump from below. vacuum bled it witjh the hand pump from above sucking fluid from a brand new quart bottle from below. Took the master assy back out and bled it separately then reinstalled and did the whole mess all over again. Still wont shift when the engines running.
Thought maybe I just bought the wrong clutch assy (self adjusting unit) went back out bought another new clutch assy, called the manufacture hotline to verify it was the correct unit for my aplication. Also bought another slave cylinder as well. Separate everything again and install the new clucth and slave cylinder. Put it all back togther. Gravity bled then pulled a vacuum from above with the hand pump unit. Pulled a vacuum several times. Clutch pressure is good n solid. Start the truck up and same damn thing. Wont go into gear when engine is running. Works fine when the engine is shut off, just not when running. So now I'm stuck. Truck has been down for a month as I go back n forth fighting with it between rainstorms n such. I'm at the point of re-installing the old trans and calling the vendor up and asking to return the trans and for my money back. But before i do that. Have I done anything wrong? Did I miss a step. Is there something I can try one more time? One person even suggested a shim kit for the slave cylinder as apparently this is something that is done to the slave in mustangs with a manual trans. What have I done wrong or did I miss a step? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sounds like a stuck pilot bearing to me.

 

Could you expound on that please for me?

 

If the pilot bearing is stuck, the transmission input shaft continues to spin when the clutch is disengaged. It's just like trying to put it in gear with the clutch engaged.

Pull the inspection plug on the bellhousing (with the engine off) - have someone depress the clutch and see if you can see the clutch disengage. I don't know if you can see it, but give it a try. If it does disengage, that points to the pilot bearing. If it doesn't disengage, you have a mechanical or hydraulic issue with the clutch itself.

 

Okay thankyou. I'll do that first thing in the morning.