2010 ford ranger hard shifting

@Rod-Knox I appreciate the feed back,
Could I not just remove the master cylinder and bleed it to achieve the same results as lifting the front and pressing the clutch?

I’d like to believe one of the three shops have done this correctly. I will be doing this myself tomorrow, thanks for the thought.

@Purebred I’ll inspect the mounts tomorrow and give everything a solid shake with a prybar.

I’ll keep you all posted and thank you all for the feedback

Maybe if I wanna fight for it. From what they said they believe it is an issue with the clutch and not the slave cylinder.
At this point Im willing to do it myself so I know first hand that the master cylinder has been bleed correctly.
If I can remove the line off the Slave cylinder I will bench bleed. If not I will pull the master out of the fire wall and bleed there.

I’ve never done this before. I’ve found many videos online. But I am open for feed back or recommended procedures.

You can attempt to do that but I can visualize your becoming frustrated when you need to call a wrecker to get your truck to a shop to put things back together. I have lost a lot of respect for Ford due to their use of Peugeot clutches and similar gimmicks.

How about some useful feedback as to what you think will be an issue while removing and reinstalling the clutch master cylinder?

That ,master cylinder is difficult to reach both under the dash and under the hood for anyone and for someone totally unfamiliar with the situation it is likely that getting it free would result in some component being damaged and/or getting things reassembled would overwhelm you. Not to mention that you must hold the cylinder with one hand and push the piston rod down with the other while working in a confined area.

All done. About 2.5h labour in my driveway. relatively easy other then awkward positions under the dash.

pulled the CMC threw the fire wall and as soon as I tilted it I saw bubbles in the reservior.
I disconnected from the slave and bench bleed the line. Reconnected and gravity bleed the slave cylinder.

First test drive feels good. Clutch pedal has 1/2 inch of slack at the top and engaging about 2/3rds in travel.
I’m hesitant to call this solved, so I will keep an eye on things.






I positioned the line so there was no high pocket for air to get trapped in.

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Congratulations @blair.jp_177478. You’re among the rare few DIYers who can successfully jump into a nightmare like that and come out the winner.

But of course now you know that there are some professional mechanics who paint a poor picture of all mechanics.

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this was my main resource for bench bleed

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Good for you for sticking w/it. My guess, problem is solved. That turned out to be an incredibly involved procedure. Bench bleeding the Corolla’s CMC just means putting it in a vice, and running a tube from the output back into the reservoir, then pressing on the actuator with a screwdriver. The tube and necessary connector come with the replacement part as I recall. Bleeding the slave after the CMC is back in place is even easier, nothing needs to be removed other than twisting open the bleeder valve.

The Corolla’s configuration (of that era) uses an external slave cylinder and a mechanical linkage from that to the release bearing. Many of the newer vehicle designs however place the slave cylinder inside the bell housing, next to the release bearing, and run a tube from there back outside the bell housing for bleeding purposes. Is that how it is configured on your 2010 truck? Or do you have the external slave arrangement?

The only tricky task for replacing the CMC on my Corolla is accessing the fasteners and hydraulic connections at the CMC, due to where it is located, in an inconvenient corner of the engine compartment. I discovered in my diyer’s way, that if I used some curved-tip long-handled needle nose pliers it made the job somewhat easier.

Yeah it was a bit of work and I wish I had done it before the truck got undercoated.
Slave is located within the bell housing on the Rangers.

Bad news, issue is not solved. Shifting into 2nd is occasionally difficult and sometime just won’t go with out force, very notchy when it goes.

I why would the pedal feel change so drastically
weeks after work was done, before I bleed the CMC? Did air that was in the system move or is air getting into the system somehow?

Should I demand shop A replace the slave months later, after the tell me everything felt fine to them or I could have the dealer drop the transmission and replace the slave and master at my expense.

A recent puzzler was very similar to your dilemma. You might get some more ideas by taking a look.

Rangers have a hydraulic clutch

At this point it appears the transmission is going to have to come back out for a look-see.

There used to be a photo somewhere on the CT website that showed Tom wrestling w/a transmission, transmission seemed to be winning … lol … . Can’t find it now though.

I called the deal today about replacing the CMC. The fact that there was air seems to have slowly gotten into it leads me to think that there is a faulty seal. And of that doesn’t help with the shifting issue my next step will be contacting the original mechanic and insisting he drops the transmission.

@George_San_Jose1 thank you for continuing to offer ideas and staying with this thread. I’d like to see the photo if you ever come across it.

Maybe our esteemed forum moderator @cdaquila has the link to that photo.

This? Must plead some ignorance … this doesn’t look like what I’ve seen of transmissions but this is why I stay out of car questions.

The brothers have an automatic transmission dismantled and the parts heaped up with no sign of a manual clutch component or manual transmission Carolyn.

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You were asked to find Tom with a Transmission. You did what you were asked, Good Job!! :grin: