Replacing The Clutch In A 1997 Ford F-150

                                             Pneumatic tools are going to come in handy

Let's say for a moment that you drive a Ford F-150 with a manual transmission. Let's also say that said Ford 
F-150's clutch is just about to give up the ghost, as in it no longer functions as designed and in fact is going to leave you stranded if you keep driving the truck as it is.

Let's also say you look up on the good ol' Internet how difficult it would be to replace the clutch yourself. Wow! You find web sites littered with helpful advice and claims that, on a scale from 1 to 10, replacing the clutch on a Fold F-150 is a 5.5, tops.

Ehow states that it should take a moderately experienced person 2 hours to remove the old clutch and install the new one.

Those websites, and especially Ehow, are dirty filthy stinking liars.

Replacing a clutch on a Ford F-150 is about an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10, and will take at least 10 hours and 6 trips to the auto parts store. Trust me on this.

Just removing all the crap you have to remove to get to the damn clutch takes 3 hours. Start with the Shifter. The Chilton book tells you to pull up the accordion-like rubber gasket that covers where the shifter is connected to the coupling and pull out the bolt that is securing the shifter arm to the coupling.
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            That bolt, lower left corner...does not come out with the use of the fingers

You read that right. It states, in black and white, that you should pull out the bolt.

First things first: The truck should be up on ramps so you can crawl underneath it comfortably, and, after the tires are blocked securely, the transmission should be in neutral.

If your clutch is shot, that bit is probably a given.

Now back to the matter of pulling the bolt out. If you can bend quarters in half with your fingers, I suppose this is possible. However, for the rest of us, the best way to do this is to remove the nut that is on the bolt and place it on the opposite side of the bolt (the bolt is one of those headless affairs with threads on both ends). tighten the nut on the bolt and it pulls it out of the opposite side (the bolt is flattened in the middle and slots into the coupling when the nut is tightened from the side it was on when you first removed it).

Now that you have the shifter off, open the hood and disconnect the battery. Then you have to crawl under the truck and remove the driveshaft, the entire exhaust system, the starter, and of course the transmission.
That right there is going to take 3 hours. Bite me Ehow.

                   Place the driveshaft in the bed of the truck - you'll need it again later

I read all of that in the Chilton manual, but being as I had to get to work in an hour, I knew there was no way I could do all that. I only had one course of action available to me if I wanted my truck up and running by Monday (this was Sunday morning, btw).

Mechanic neighbor Josh.

I stated this in the blog I wrote about replacing the starter in a Ford F-150 - If you do not have a mechanic neighbor Josh, you are screwed.

I walked over to Josh's and negotiated a fee for his services to help replace the clutch.

Then I went upstairs and got ready for work.

While I was at work, Josh, Tom, Tim and Ron, but 93.7% Josh, worked on getting the clutch replaced. 

When I got home from work Josh was still under the truck, and Tom, Ron, Kelly and Tim were watching football in the garage. I asked Josh how things were going and he replied that he pretty much wanted to hit me in the head with a wrench.

Josh is a Chevy man...and working on this Ford F-150 only cemented his allegiance

The clutch was in, but Josh explained that it wasn't really the clutch that had been the problem.

Josh showed me the old pressure plate and explained it wasn't the clutch that was giving out, it was the hydraulic slave cylinder. Being as I'd purchased the whole clutch kit and the clutch had already been removed, the new clutch went in.

He described just how much of a pain in the ass it had been, including the 6 trips to the parts store and a very long rant about a pilot bearing that was trashed and had to be replaced, and how freaking difficult that was.

Josh finished up putting the starter back on, and after I changed from work clothes into grubbies we put the driveshaft on, then put the shifter back on the coupling. Then we had to refill the transmission - just about 5 quarts of transmission fluid, using the longest funnel I had (fortunately I have a large selection of funnels, all shapes and sizes - long story).

Tim, being by far the lightest of us, jumped in the cab of the truck to pump the clutch as we fiddled with the clutch fluid to achieve the optimal level.

After having reached a consensus on the clutch feeling right, Josh reconnected the battery and I started the truck up. I had to jam it into reverse in order to back it down the ramps, but it did slip back into 1st relatively easily when the ramps were cleared away.

The clutch is a self-adjusting clutch (that's why it has a hydraulic slave cylinder), and will maintain the proper spacing between the clutch release bearing and the clutch pressure plate automatically. However, before all the automatic stuff kicks in, it will have to be adjusted manually a bit via bleeding of the clutch.

And doesn't that just sound like fun?

The truck is up and running again, and I only need to refit the accordion-like rubber gasket over where the shifter and coupling meet, and clean up the garage, and all will be well in the valley.

Until something else goes.