Matthew Burr

Hi, i've got an 86 f150 inline 6, recently had the clutch replaced in it, and a month later the throw out bearing started squealing in it. I took it back to the mechanic and after replacing some bushings etc he finally put another clutch in and noticed that my firewall was giving when the clutch is pressed. I ordered the repair kit for the clutch master/firewall, and welded a small piece of L beam to the firewall under the hood to hold the firewall in place temporarily (it still flexes but not nearly as much).

so a week after the second clutch, the firewall still flexes, the pedal still doesnt retract all the way back out and the bearing started squealing again. i've done a bit of reading on this but i havent been able to clarify if that flexing firewall is the root cause of all the symptoms or if i may have an issue with the slave or master cylinders that could be happening as well.

mainly i'd like opinions as to if i should replace the slave or master at the same time as when i finally get that bracket to install. thanks for your time!

Matthew Burr

well, i know there have been a lot of posts about issues like this. i just finally figured it out. the spring that holds the clutch fork in position when the clutch pedal is not being pressed has weakened. so i attached a couple springs on the outside section of this fork that holds it against the clutch slave. i got underneath the truck while it was running and in neutral and could actually see the fork vibrating in tune with the engine running and the resulting squealing sounds while the fork vibrated.