Trying to bleed the clutch

[ToughOldFord]

I must have got lucky on mine. pushing the slave in WILL NOT help. just went rounds with a local shop on that one. It was late so we cut a 2x4 to hold the pedal down overnight, in the morning it was good to go. air rose and problem solved .

Pumping at the slave DOES work, although still not a quick way to do it. And you don't have to cut a 2x4 to hold the pedal down, it stays down on it's own when there is no pressure.

 

[ToughOldFord]

Required:
1. Your clutch slave must have a nipple style bleed screw. [Some of the new replacement clutch slaves only have a bleed screw with a hole in the side, I've had some luck replacing those bleed screws with new nipple style bleed screws from the "self help isle" at the local auto parts house, your mileage may vary on that trick]

I loves the internet, people post theory as working fact. I have yet to see a single slave for our trucks with a bleeder nipple on it. It may exist, but if it does it's rare. I've bought Motorcraft and aftermarket cheap-os and looked at many, many trucks at wrecking yards and never saw a one.

You will NOT get a bleeder nipple into one of these slaves with a bleeder screw, compare the thread/pitch/seat between the two. And even if you forced one into the slave, the slave is designed to bleed out the port in the body when the set screw is loosened so when you loosen the nipple you'll be opening this port and any fluid you push into the bleeder will simply blow out this port.

 

[G. Mann]

To answer that. I've never tried just putting a hole in the new style plug mess... What I've done with them is screw out the "stupid plug with no bleed nipple" and replace that with a regular bleed nipple off the rack at the self help isle at FLAPS.

The bottom of the "stupid plug" is cone shaped like the nipple style.. trick is finding what thread the chinese manufacturer used...

Up until 5 yrs ago all slave cylinders had a nipple type bleed screw... so for a while, when you got a new one, it could be either way. I haven't bought a new one for a while, but I've been told all new ones are the no nipple style.

Hope that helps.

 

[rhkcommander]

So to pull fluid up, do i just drill and install a barb and use the truck's vacuum pump?

I have an ac vac pump for ac work but id have to adapt it..

My slave has a drain on it, local cost for a new one is 22$ so might just get a new one to save time/hassle/mess. Already bought the master yesterday

 

[G. Mann]

Looks like I need to get out more often.. just went to O'riley automotive and had them pull up everything they have for slave cylinders so I could get a look.. no bleed screws and a design change that makes my system damn near impossible.

I'll check with Napa tomorrow. I bought the last one I got from them and they had both bleed screw with nipple and without at that time... perhaps a different supplier? Don't know.. it's been 5 yrs since I replaced the slave on my 87. My 92 has the no nipple style..

Sorry if I got anybody's knickers in a twist. The system works well.. I've been doing it that way for long time.

 

[typ4]

So I didnt figure anyone would hold down the pedal with a prop UNLESS it had pressure. These things are a pain when it goes right, so I just try a method that works for me, if that doesnt do it then I try another.

And if anyone really wants a treat , try to bleed a 94 ranger, by design it holds air in the top of the master , really dumb design.

 

[ToughOldFord]

So I didnt figure anyone would hold down the pedal with a prop UNLESS it had pressure. These things are a pain when it goes right, so I just try a method that works for me, if that doesnt do it then I try another.

And if anyone really wants a treat , try to bleed a 94 ranger, by design it holds air in the top of the master , really dumb design.

Yep, that's the way to do it.

Another dumb design is the whole internal slave cylinder, with the slave inside the bell riding on the throw out bearing. Some engineers should be shot. Or at least flogged.

 

[typ4]

They are cheap to build and easy to assemble. I went to a LUK clutch presentation a few years back, and that was the reason for that design. Flogged with leaky throwout bearings I say!!1

 

[rhkcommander]

so I used a weight to hold the clutch in overnight, that gave me a good amount of pedal back and fast pumping brought it back up slowly on its own. So i pumped more and let it sit pushed in another night.

Today it was good enough to drive, still didn't come up all the way quickly and sometimes would clunk after coming most of the way and then bounce up the rest but it was much better than the last time and drivable. This time I parked nose up and am t rying the weight again.

Thanks again. I'm gonna hold on to the new master and slave (which does have a bleeder screw) just in case. If it gets better I'll see about returning them