The clutch linkage on my '91 2wd collapsed. What happened was that the push rod rusted through and broke off. I made a new push rod, but then I discovered that the slave cylinder had blown out, presumably because it no longer had the rod to restrain it.

The cylinder has a plastic body with a steel liner held in by a rather odd-looking snap ring. The ring has 3 projections that fit into notches in the body. One of the notches had torn out. Since the truck is now used only on-farm, and since the liner and piston (including the rubber cup) looked ok, I decided to try a field-expedient repair, cutting new notches between the original ones with my trusty Dremel.

So far, so good, but when I tried to reassemble the cylinder, the liner wouldn't go in far enough to allow the snap ring to be inserted. I can't see any obstruction, and the liner is a loose fit as far as it goes. It can't happen, of course, but it just seems to have suddenly become too long for the body.

OK, time to give up and replace the slave cylinder as I probably should have done in the first place. The manual treats the entire linkage (master cylinder, reservoir, tubing, and slave cylinder) as a single part that must be replaced as a unit. So my question is: does anybody sell the slave cylinder as a separate piece, or is there a universal slave cylinder that can be adapted? I'm reluctant to pay for parts I don't need. Almost as important is the fact that taking the master cylinder out will involve some impossible contortions behind the dashboard. If I do have to buy the whole assembly, I'd be tempted to see if a coupling exists for the tubing, so I can cut the tubing and splice in the slave cylinder, leaving the old master cylinder in place.

 

Napa sells the slave cylinder. You'll also need a new high pressure hose. There is a clip that you push down to remove the hose.. quick connect.

 

I bought mine off of amazon. Swapped the line, bled the system via the new slave and reinstalled. Took about 45 minutes.

 

Ok, I bought the slave cylinder (NAPA) and installing it was pretty straightforward. It doesn't have a quick-connect. The tube has a grooved steel end that pushes into the cylinder. It's sealed by an o-ring and retained by a roll pin. The kit included a new o-ring and pin, but no instructions. Everything fits, so I presume I got the right parts.

Now the problem. There's no resistance at all when I push the pedal. When I filled the reservoir, a few bubbles rose to the surface. It looked like air was being displaced from the master cylinder as it filled by gravity. I loosened what appeared to be a bleed screw on the slave cylinder and pumped the pedal, but no fluid came out. If it is a bleed screw, it's just a screw, with no nipple on the end, so there's no place to attach a hose for vacuum bleeding or reverse bleeding.

The master cylinder was working, even after the slave cylinder blew. It worked well enough to pump all the fluid out through the slave. The system almost looks like it should self-bleed. The reservoir is above the master, the master is above the slave, and the connecting tube is almost vertical, with no high spots to trap air. So why won't it bleed?

Or am I on the wrong track? Is the problem something other than air in the system?

 

Pull the slave off the bell housing while connected to master and actuate it 10-15 times by hand. Push it in as far as possible and listen for air escaping through the master then slowly release. Do this until it gets difficult to move by hand. Reinstall on bell housing and resume using the clutch pedal. It might take a little while but eventually it will build enough pressure to start releasing. Check for leaks and you should be good to go.

 

When I bought mine. I got it pre bled. Pretty handy to just out it on and go

 

So the screw I thought was a bleed screw really isn't? It's a recessed Allen head screw right beside the tube connection. The original cylinder has something in the same position, but it's so corroded I can't tell whether it's a screw or not.

 

My slave cylinder came apart on me several years ago on my way to Mexico. I was able to shove it all back together and glue the cap on with JB weld, I am still driving on that repair, with a new cylinder in my tool box. I bled the system kind of like you say, but I did not remove the cylinder, I pumped it with my foot, 15 minutes later, no more air, like I said, still driving on it ...Mark

 

There is no bleed screw in the system.

The reason I said initially actuate it by hand a few times is so you can get full piston travel in the slave. With it installed it will not travel all the way in either direction. Any trapped air will not completely evacuate and the pedal will never feel right. You'll have a tough time getting into gear as half the work the master is doing is compressing and moving air in the system. It makes for a quicker job too.