seniorFORDtech

as I remarked,the material in the clutches swells when the diff oil and modifier get absorbed into the friction material. over time and wear on the linings the material than is suspended in the oils also decreases the clearance of the clutches hense using the smaller shim. this is only my suggestion from fixing many of these not only in Fseries but explorers r even more common in the earlier models.
Good luck thought I would pass along some information to you..

ryguy

I appreciate the info. That's why I threw this question out there.

I also do a lot of wrenching and you say the swell up I believe and understand that, but so would the factory disks that were installed in the truck when it was new. See what I am getting at. Unless Ford redesigned the clutch disks or made them thicker, they would swell up the same as the ones did from factory thus only needing to use the same size shim that was installed from the factory.

seniorFORDtech

they did, that's why you replaced them ( regarless of your milage). sometime in 02 we ran into lots of these issues and the reply from the engineers was that the shim used was not right they did not take inconsideration for the swelling of the clutch material and the material that is suspended in the oil hense the package contaning 4-5 different size shims, I have tried using the oe shim and ran into issues such as yours I have learned through the process of trial and error that the smallest shim is the right shim and fixes the concern permenantly.

akakeester

Are there any vids, pics, or step by step instructions on the site or web for any of this fix?

ryguy

Ok now that makes sense if Ford put the wrong size shims in. I guess I will have to take it back apart and check it out.

I appreciate you chatting with me and getting it cleared up. I did not know Ford used the wrong size shims from the get go, you would think they would have that in a TBS somewhere, but I suppose if the did that they would soon have a recall on their hands