Doing The Clutch, Slave, And Flywheel on an 2.3L Duratec 4Cylinder Ford Ranger. 


Alright. This is for ANYONE who is doing this repair. Probably one of the hardest repairs you could do on a Ranger. 
I have the 2005 2.3L 4 Cylinder. 5 speed transmission in my truck. 
Now. There are probably a few “ways to do it” or better ways to do what I did. But this I what my boyfriend and I did. 
You'll need to drop the transmission out. There's no ifs, ands or buts. If you want to make this as “easy” as possible. Get that pig of a tranny out. 
Now. 
First step. Remove the gear shifter. Two Phillips head screws on the center console with the cup holders, pull that off. It'll give you access to this weird bolt that holds the shifter on. You'll need to tighten each side until it is able to be tapped out. The middle has this weird overgrown almost crush type thing on it. It should Be a 17mm socket. 
Next. Remove the second piece that's in the floor. Should be 4 Phillips head screws. 
Then. There's 3 T30 Torx Head bolts. Loosen those(BE CAREFUL. DO NOT DROP THESE. THEY ARE TINY)
Pull the bottom of the shaft out of the floor. Make sure the indent in it is facing toward the seat. (I'll post the pictures of it here:  http://i65.tinypic.com/2s7uzjc.jpg
Next. Pull the starter off the transmission. Some people leave the wires connected, I completely disconnected mine and put it in the tailgate so I didn't have to worry. There should be 3 bolts. Remove them. Remove the wires(or don't. Its preference and works either way)
Now. Crawl under. (My Truck is lifted 7” and has 35s. I didn't need to put it on a lift or on blocks. It's tall enough.) 
Unhook ALL THE LINES on the transmission. There's one to the slave cylinder inside the bell, there's a few electrical connectors. Ones a reverse light sensor, and one is some form of a fluid sensor(learned this from the fluid light coming on, once the line was plugged in, it turned off). 
Next, remove the drive shaft. It is 4 bolts on the back axle. It's a 12 point socket. Be careful. If you have an extra set of hands. Have them support the weight of the driveshaft as you loosen the last bolt. Pull it out of the back of the transmission, I also set this in my bed of my truck. 
Now. It's go time. This is the bolt pattern on the transmission: http://i68.tinypic.com/15xq2oz.png
So remove all the bolts. Have an extra hand as you remove the bolts. Once you have the bolts out, have someone hold the transmission up while you tilt the back end of it upwards to remove the transmission mount on the crossmember. You can just give it a good wiggle to remove it. My dad and boyfriend did this part, as my T-Rex arms are too short to reach. Push the transmission backwards, and let the front of it dip out and pull it out that way. The transmission is just small enough to pull out without removing the crossmember. 
Set it on the ground. Or on a big piece of plywood. Some fluid might leak out. It's okay. Just put sawdust or kitty litter on it to soak it up. 
GOOD JOB! THAT WAS THE EASIER PART! 
Now. To replace all the garbage you need to. I figured while I had this out, might as well do it all. (Plus my flywheel was warped. Which you can tell if you go to get out of first and the entire truck has a mini earthquake, almost like it's going to stall)
Remove the clutch. It was reasonably easy. Laugh at the fact your clutch looks like it was barbecued. Continue. 
Slave is 3 bolts. DO NOT REMOVE THE METAL C CLIP!! Put it in. Remove the protective plastic shipping cap in the golden/brass connector. Torque down till you can't tighten it. I blue loctited mine just to be safe. 
Next. Remove the flywheel. Now, to do this, there are two ways. I did it the easiest way I could. Put a socket and big ass breaker bar on the front crankshaft bolt. I wedged the breaker bar against the front bumper frame mounts. These are not reverse thread. Nor are they anything fancy. Ford puts some strong special epoxy/magic gorilla glue garbage on the bolts. 
So just send it and loosen them. Remove the flywheel. It is a bit heavy. So just be careful of dropping it. 
NOW! You have everything removed. You're ready to plug and play and drive your truck with this new fancy handy dandy clutch. It'll grab perfect. Won't be releasing at the top or be spongy or not grab. It'll be awesome!
This is where attention to detail is critical. 
Install the new flywheel(MAKE SURE TO NOT TOUCH THE SURFACE WITH YOUR GREASY ASS HANDS. USE LOTS OF BRAKECLEAN. IT HAS A CLOUDY FILM MUCH LIKE BRAKE ROTORS. Take a clean shop cloth to wash it.) Now Ford in their infinite knowledge. The flywheel only bolts in one way. One of the bolt holes is offset just for that reason. I loctited all the bolts. Torque spec I believe was 50 ft lbs.
So once you've got that. Put the clutch and pressure plate on. That I torqued to 20 ft lbs. and loctited the bolts. 

Now. You're ready to reassemble. Basically just do everything backwards as I explained. I loctited the driveshaft bolts, just to be safe. 

Transmission Fluid: The 2005 2.3L 5 speed rangers take Mercon ATF. 2.7 Qts of Fluid. I just poured mine through the hole in the floor in my cab and had the boyfriend crack the fill bolt to make sure it was full.

Now, the trickiest part of this whole operation. 
Bleeding the pesky master cylinder. 
Now being that this thing is a hydraulic(or considered sealed) system. It's a royal pain in the ass and took all 3 of us to bleed it. Along with about 2 hours of cursing. 
The ford ranger master cylinder is on the firewall in the engine bay opposite to the clutch pedal. 
Undo the rod that is attached to the clutch petal. A little 4 pin plastic sucker. You can break it(like it did. I suffered from this later) and then disconnect the clutch safety switch, along with the two bolts holding the cylinder in place. 
Now. To bleed this, remove the rubber condom
 type thing. Make sure the reservoir DOES NOT GO DRY!! Keep a flow of DOT 3/4/5.1 in it. (All these can mix or be used. The systems are compatible. DOT 3 is the recommended fluid.) 
Get a brake bleeder tool from Harbor Freight. $50. There's the specific one that says it works with hydraulic clutches. 
Tilt the master cylinder. And begin to bleed. The Ford Rangers are known to get air bubbles in their master cylinders. Because of the angle they are installed. 
Bleed until the pedal is stiff. 
Now. This is to prevent the clutch from going rock hard. 
When installing the hydraulic line from the Master to the Slave. Crack open the bleeder a quarter turn(8mm wrench), push the brass fitting in. And make sure it clicks. Then wiggle the crap out of it to ensure it is in there. 
CLOSE THE BLEEDER!

And now. You are ready to drive. 
If I forgot anything. Fill in the gaps. But this is what I remember and did. I probably did forget something but. Oh well. 

Last edited on Wed Jun 5th, 2019 01:09 pm by Ranger_Danger_