Ok, well I think my slave bit the dust. Let me tell yall what happened, and pick yall's brain a little bit.

First, my truck. 96 Dodge 2500 ctd 4x4 5spd single cab long bed.

Met up with my friend to check out his new (to him) black 01 Dodge 1500 extended cab 2x4 auto with the 5.9L V8. It's pretty clean. Anyhoo, after I pulled up into his driveway, I was trying to put it into reverse, and was like "Hmm. That's wierd. I have no clutch." Felt like nothing was happening when I depressed the clutch.

So we popped the hood and saw that my clutch reservoir was bone dry. Was like ok, well there's the problem. We filled er up and gravity bled it for a good hour and a half.

So we did that, and I got back in and depressed the clutch and still nothing. So we looked at the reservoir had dropped a good 1/8th inch just from having pressed in the clutch a couple times. So I had my friend press the clutch while I was under the beast, and then I saw (and smelt) the brake fluid dripping down pretty fast from in between the bell housing and the back of the engine.

So we came to the conclusion that my slave cylinder gave up the ghost.

Now I've never had anything to do with slave cylinders other than on my ol' 85 toyota 4runner, so I really didn't know what to look for when figuring out whether or not it's an internal or external slave cylinder.

The line from the reservoir run straight to this little black plastic cigar shaped looking thing held on by two nuts on a stud it looks like, into the driver side of the bell housing. I dunno if that's the actual slave cylinder, or something else. My old 4runner's slave looked completely different. Is my truck an internal or external slave cylinder, and was this black plastic cigar looking thing the actual slave?

Anyhoo, I ordered a new one from advanced auto parts for $58.88, and have to wait till tomorrow before I can go get it. How hard are these slaves to do, and is there any special tools I need, or anything else in particular I should know?

Thanks for any help yall!

 

To my knowledge, u can't successfully bleed them if u buy a replacement slave. You have to buy them in a one piece unit like through Southbend to get a long term reliable system. The slave itself is very easy to replace. Just unbolt those two stud bolts u saw on the bellhousing, and the salve just comes out in one piece. When u install the new one, just make sure the slave rod goes into the indent in the clutch fork, and bolt it up.

 

I was told by my local diesel mech that to bleed it you had to remove both the master and slave cylinder from the truck put it on the bench then work the slave cylinder back and forth till it quits bubbiling. He said it was a pain but it could be done.

 

Yeah, think that's called bench bleeding. I'm just going to gravity bleed it as soon as I pick up the part and put it in. Gonna go do that in a few minutes.

 

advance parts usually come with bleeder screws on them. i work at advance. not saying urs will but most ive seen do.

 

We bench bleed them all the time.

The units that come w/ all the lines pre-bleed are really nice tho.

 

Same thing happened to my 2004 F150 at 49k miles. Same thing you're describing, no clutch pressure, refilling the resevoir doesn't help. Ford decided the best place for the slave cylinder was inside the transmission, so I let a professional handle it. No sense in me making things worse by dropping my trans on the garage floor. Sucks when a $50 part cost $400 to put in.
BTW - Last Ford I'll be buying. When I get back from overseas it'll be either a Chevy or Dodge 4x4 with a diesel.

 

Got it in and it runs great.

It didn't have a bleeder screw. Was kind of scared for a second, once I hooked it all back up, filled the cup, and still had no pressure when I depressed the clutch.

So I took off the two nuts that held it to the tranny, and manually pumped the piston, with the line still connected mind you, a few times and blup blup blup, out came a ton of bubbles, and the clutch then felt absolutely perfect.

Little heads up for yall who may have to do this. After you hook up the line to the slave, but before you hook it up to the tranny, just fill the reservoir and hand pump the piston a few times, and you'll be golden.