The infamous 1997 F250 with the 7 lug wheels is back! This time it is a hydraulic clutch issue.
The clutch had basically been smoked when I got the truck over 10 years ago now and it was replaced by a shade tree mechanic. I seem to recall him replacing the slave cylinder at the pressure plate but not the primary cylinder up on the firewall. The kit didn’t include this and it was working so why not just leave it?
Anyway, a year or two ago I had to add some brake fluid to the tiny reservoir when I couldn’t get the truck in gear. The clutch wouldn’t release. All seemed well until I had to do this again.
With the recent cold, the clutch behavior has gotten more erratic. It seems to act up if even a DROP of fluid is missing from the reservoir. A small amount of fluid is being lost somewhere but I don’t see it. Also, I get the feeling the internal seal is leaking internally. Sometimes the clutch is fine and sometimes it is a tad hard to engage. I can also tell it feels like it isn’t releasing 100% which is just putting more wear on the sychros trying to make up for this so that isn’t good. This truck has always had issues with intermittently grinding going into reverse so wonder if this has been going on a while. The clutch seems to work better if the truck is driven more frequently and acts up if it has been sitting, especially in the cold. I think a seal is hardening up and not performing as it should.
It seems something is definitely up with one of the hydraulic cylinders. It was an Oreilly kit that went into the truck so the second cylinder was new 10+ years ago. I was thinking about trying to replace the primary/master cylinder and leave the rest alone as replacement of the secondary/slave involves separating the engine from the transmission but I understand this can be a pain with bleeding and all.
How complicated of a job is this and what are the odds it is just the primary cylinder? How about bleeding vs. using the suggested complete and prefilled kit that requires the separation of the transmission?
