master and slave cylinder operation

[TwoTone IDI]

lately i have been tying up loose ends on my auto -> manual conversion and top of the list today is the clutch hydraulics.

the master and slave i have are second hand, meaning they came from a donor vehicle. i have no idea if they were properly bled when i picked them up or not. i followed the ford instructions for bench bleeding, which was disconnecting the slave, making sure the master was full, and setting the hose in the end of a bucket of brake fluid.

the slave i just held at an angle and filled with fluid, then rocked the pushrod back and forth to work out any bubbles.

the problem is that i still cannot get ANY pedal pressure... i mash the clutch in and it stays down, no funny sounds, no nothing. i have never serviced an external slave before but im pretty sure that is not correct operation.

any pointers to help me get pressure?

 

[TwoTone IDI]

well i can at least rule out one part.. went to pull the dust boot back from the slave and the fing thing snapped in two pieces.

 

[TwoTone IDI]

bought a new slave, got it bench bled along with the master... put the master on the pedal and pressed it once and got a "****" and a horribly misshapen slave cylinder. here's pics for reference. looks like the exact same thing happened to my first slave that happened to my BRAND NEW slave.

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the white ring broke from the white area down inside the slave cylinder. the retaining clip is the metal piece. i found them laying on the ground. i have no idea how halfway depressing the clutch pedal would destroy a slave cylinder like that.

the fluid you see is from me clumsily filling the slave and not wiping it all off... no fluid has pushed past anything yet.

 

[gonecrazyi]

I dont see any pictures?

 

[TwoTone IDI]

sorry you got to the post before i could upload. see above.

 

[icanfixall]

I don't have much experiance with these but this I do know. You need to adjust the slave cylinder so it has a full cylinder so it doesn't bottom out during the peddle stroke. I'm thinking you have yours at mid stroke before you push the peddle. Then it reaches the end of the cylinder and you continue pushing the peddle. That blows apart the slave cylinder.....

 

[TwoTone IDI]

yeah i was sort of thinking something similar to what you said on my drive into work this am. when i filled the master and slave the thing was slam full with both the slave extended (full stroke forward) and the master extended (full stroke backward because it wasnt attached to the pedal). that would mean pushing the master in would extend the slave beyond its capacity.

in the box for the slave they included a strap, im wondering if i could fill the slave, put the strap back on, then attach the pedal to master and get all the stroke i needed at that point.

 

[TwoTone IDI]

you were correct gary. the slave cylinder plunger MUST be all the way in and the slave installed on the vehicle before you pump the pedal. there is no way to check bench operation... nothing like an expensive lesson to make you an expert since 10:00 AM.