F-150 Clutches

[SSChevyManiac]

Just made the deal to buy this:

Assuming all goes through with the deal as planned, it needs a clutch. Any advice on brands and the like?

[Barry Donovan]

that will probably get the ami/rhino pac/zoomie

I saw one fail on you tube, but it was a diesel that was n/a gone boosted beyond the norm.

the I-6 is a bitch, gentle clutch is a must have.

I just put in a stage 1 spec on a little subaru..wow. self balanced and still needing to be a race car driver to learn it well.

[SSChevyManiac]

My older brother has a '94 with the 6 and highway gears, I don't find it to be that bad getting rolling.

[min301]

A quality stock replacement or HD upgrade would be best in this case.

[SpiderGearsMan]

stock is SACHS

[SSChevyManiac]

Thanks guys, and good info Jim.

[JeffMcKC]

Make sure the fire wall is not broke out, and the ball on the clutch pedal pivot is not worn off

[milner351]

Jeff FTW - double check the firewall around the clutch master cylinder.... I reinforced my '88 and '97 diesel with some small angle iron bridging the mounting points. There 's a bunch of bushings in the pedal assembly that can be replaced as well - I took the whole pedal assembly out of the '97 and replaced all the bushings, cleaned and lubed everything - made a HUGE difference in pedal effort, no more squeaks either.

valeo, sachs, something other than a cheap autoparts store set up will be good - it may be cheap and have a lifetime warranty - but they still won't help you replace it when it goes out again..... especially in a 4x4 - put in a good clutch so you don't have to do it again.

Good idea to replace the throw out bearing and pilot bushing / bearing in the back of the crank if there is any doubt.

[JeffMcKC]

Yuup the Pressure plates would go bad in those trucks and pedal effort would go up it broke the fire walls out Ford make a reinforcment kit with 20 bizzillion rivits. They sucked putting in

[DanStokes]

My old F150 (now belongs to Redhotracing (Luke)) constantly eats clutches. It's a 5.0 and has the Mazda trans. All I could find are stock replacements. IIRC, the firewall looks OK but I haven't poked my head in there recently. I don't know if there's something better than the stock clutch. Is the clutch assy. common between the six and the 5.0?

Dan

[milner351]

If Luke would quit doing 5500rpm side steps with the clutch - it would last longer! HA!

I wish everybody had a Quality clutch rebuilder in town like we do - bring him what you had in your vehicle, tell him what you use it for - and a few days later he'll have you all rebuilt, resurfaced and set up for your application.

He built me a clutch for my '90 5.0 mustang which I beat relentlessly (lakewood bellhousing installed of course) and that thing held up to remarkable amounts of abuse without a single hiccup.

[ls7gto]

Yuup the Pressure plates would go bad in those trucks and pedal effort would go up it broke the fire walls out Ford make a reinforcment kit with 20 bizzillion rivits. They sucked putting in

That makes me Laugh, Damn I did lots of them! Got an Huck air riveter, mad it better than using the " big daddy" . Have had alot with the bushings worn out, and the pivot arm nut loose. worse case is when they have been driven so long with bad bushings that the aluminum cross mount is egged out. ( not bad to do if you like working under a dash! )

Jeff you still in a Ford shop?

[JeffMcKC]

When you say it eats clutches whats the Symptom ?

[JeffMcKC]

That makes me Laugh, Damn I did lots of them! Got an Huck air riveter, mad it better than using the " big daddy" . Have had alot with the bushings worn out, and the pivot arm nut loose. worse case is when they have been driven so long with bad bushings that the aluminum cross mount is egged out. ( not bad to do if you like working under a dash! )

Jeff you still in a Ford shop?

Nope thank God! I miss some of it, I was one of the Original 400 Sr. Master Techs.

[DanStokes]

When you say it eats clutches whats the Symptom ?

Jeff - It works OK when first put together but ANY stress (like backing a trailer) and it starts slipping. You kind of have to feather the clutch to back a trailer and I've done that operation many times with other manual trans cars and trucks w/o issue so I'm pretty sure I'm not TOTALLY incompetent. The one in the truck is slipping somewhat now and needs to be replaced to make the truck reliable so it would be nice to find a better piece. The current clutch was from CarQuest so shouldn't have been a real POJ (Piece Of Junk). After this clutch was installed I was sort of paraniod and drove it VERY gently so I'm not sure why it failed again except the truck sat for several years.

Thanks for any input
Dan