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Help! Clutch pedal wont move!

8K views 26 replies 6 participants last post by  87SLbronco 
#1 ·
I just replaced the clutch and flywheel in my bronco. PO had the wrong flywheel (300 flywheel on a 302) so I decided to swap the clutch as well when I changed the flywheel. After a few long fought hours with getting the flywheel bolted up I got everything back together and buttoned up.

However when I got in the truck and went to push the clutch pedal down to start the truck, it didn't move. Felt like it was stuck with very very minimal play (maybe a half inch).

Finally it did move but it made a decent POP noise and the pedal went straight to the floor and wouldn't come back up unless I pulled it up by hand. When I climbed back under the truck the fork that pushes the throwout bearing didn't feel like it was seated right but I didn't have time to screw around with it anymore today.

Is it possible that while putting things back together, that the fork moved off that throwout bearing or the little clip that it pivots on inside the bellhousing?

I'm just hoping I didn't screw something up bad and have to pull everything back apart. :whiteflag

By the way I have the NP435 trans with hydro clutch.
 
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#6 ·
Heard a pop while messing around with the pedal (trying to push it down) and it sank to the floor. Talked to a buddy today and he thinks I blew the seal out of it and it just needs to be replaced and start over again. I really should have known from putting the transmission back in the truck when i bought it but then again that was almost 2 years ago.

Learning experience from doing my first clutch change. At least a slave isn't horribly expensive.
 
#8 ·
Hmm Ok.

Now I just thought of something else, why would my slave feel wet or look like it had been leaking while I was doing the swap? If it was leaking or some part of the system was/is leaking, would that have caused my symptoms?

I really wish I could go out and work on the dang thing right now and test some of this new to me information but Miss Mother Nature decided that MI finally needed a winter!
 
#9 ·
Well be glad your slave is extenal. If it was internal you would be pulling the trans back out which isnt fun. If it was leaking before reassembly it would still be leaking. Clean it off best you can and wrap a rag or paper towels around it and leave it overnight. If they are somed in brake fluid the next day you have a leak.
 
#14 ·
:duh
Guess I have to read things a little slower. And thank you for the correction hah I thought I didn't spell that right. But either way I just wish it would have been even that nice the last couple days!
 
#15 ·
I just got done doing this job on my hydro clutch NP-435. Just glad I got to it before the temps got like they are right now! It's been lows of -5° and highs of 15°. I'm okay outside under and around the truck as long as it's in the 20s or above. :toothless

I haven't bled my clutch yet, and I just have a squishy clutch pedal. The clutch fully works and I can drive it, but there's no real firm return on the pedal. It just kinda eases back up when I let off. But it freely moves, and works.

When you put your transmission and engine together, what order did you do it in? Did you have the bellhousing on the engine or the transmission? Was the input shaft from the transmission already through the throwout bearing before it went together? Or was the bellhousing on the engine and you tried to "stab" the transmission shaft through the throwout bearing and into the engine?

The first option would look like this: (Granted, this picture was taken before I repaired the seized throwout bearing)




If it was the latter, I wonder if you knocked the throwout bearing off of the clutch fork, or to where it wasn't fully seated on the fork and is now binding.

Hopefully you don't have to pull them apart, but from having just looked everything over in there myself, I'm not sure how you could line stuff inside back up without doing so.
 
#16 ·
I pulled the trans out with the bell housing still attached and put it back together that way. When I first bought the truck and had to replace the bell housing I installed the bell housing first then slid the transmission up to it that way. However I didn't have the clutch fork in place when I did that. With the external slave and the way the fork goes in I decided to do that after the transmission was in. Worked for me that time so I don't see why I couldn't pull the rubber boot off again to make sure the clutch fork isn't binding up.

This time when I reinstalled the transmission I put the throwout bearing on and lined the clutch fork up and had everything in place but that doesn't mean it didn't move while shifting things around to get the bell housing to line up properly.

SO now once it warms up a bit my to do list consists of : removing the rubber boot, checking the throwout bearing/ clutch fork, and bleeding the slave cylinder and or replacing it if I did screw it up.
 
#17 ·
Hey steve, quick tailgate question, been reading through your tailgate tech stuff there in your links. My tailgate wont open but the handle does move. I have the access panel pulled off because I have to run jumpers to the rear window to get it to move right now (no dash switch and didn't have a key for the tg yet) I see that the rod that is supposed to be moved by the window acts like it is stuck down so the handle can move with the window up or down. However with the window all the way down the two rods running out the to latches themselves don't even budge when I move the handle. Also I can not get them to move by hand, I'm assuming that is do to needing to be lubed but haven't gotten that far. My real question is what should I be looking for at with the latch mechanism in the middle that would be causing the handle to not move the latch rods?
 
#18 ·
I pulled the trans out with the bell housing still attached and put it back together that way.
:rolleyes: Attached to WHAT??? :shrug The trans, or the block? :scratchhe
...what should I be looking for at with the latch mechanism in the middle that would be causing the handle to not move the latch rods?
Exactly what all the pics of it show: the bent lever.
 
#21 ·
Ok, hate reviving old threads but there really isn't a reason to start a new one when I'm still dealing with the same issue...

I climbed under the bko today for the first time since doing all this work and started messing around with the slave cylinder, and I noticed that it looked "wet" up around were the line attaches to the body of the slave cylinder (the one that comes from the master cylinder).

I didn't have anyone to help me so I couldn't bleed it the way it should be done using the bleeder valve but I took the cap off the master cylinder reservoir and pushed the rod back into the slave to try and push the air back up that way, and it seemed to work. I recorded what happened at the reservoir with my phone while I was under the truck and noticed air bubbles while I was pushing on the slave cylinder rod.

However I didn't notice it right away but I think when I stopped putting pressure on the rod that I saw fluid coming from up around where the hose connects to the slave cylinder. Could that "pop" or snap that I heard originally be that line breaking or coming lose? I didn't notice anything different about it when I inspected that area but obviously if it's broken and leaking I will never get the clutch bleed right.
 
#22 ·
These concentric slave cylinders are a pain! I would suggest getting a new line for it from your parts store. Should be about $35. Or better yet, get the braided stainless one from JBG. I believe you just pull the roll pins out and remove the old line and install in reverse order.
 
#25 ·
I will have to try that, and I also need to top off the fluid.

Forgot to mention that even after everything I did today the clutch pedal still just drops to the floor and needs to be pulled back up by hand.
 
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