Bad clutch cylinder?

Hey guys,

Not really sure whats going on with my truck but lately its been having some issues shifting. From a stop it is EXTREMELY hard to get into first with the clutch fully depressed. When moving its easier to get into second but it still puts up a bit of a fuss. When shifting into reverse, its kind of slams into gear. Other forward moving gears don't have that problem. I've had a problem in the past where the clutch pedal would get stuck to the floor and I couldn't shift, but luckily I could pull the pedal back with my foot and it would shift no problem. That has happened maybe 10 times in the year I have owned my vehicle. The problem of difficult shifting arised very suddenly a few days ago. Other then getting into gear, drivability is as it was before this started.

With that information I have deduced that it could be a clutch master slave cylinder but I am far from educated in this field. Would anybody be able to diagnose the issue based on the symptoms? It would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Have you checked your fluid level. Maybe the master / slave has started to leak. Can you get under the vehicle to see if the slave is wet on the outside with brake fluid?

Sounds like one or the other (or both) have started to fail.

You can try to bleed the system but what you have described sounds like hydraulic failure.

Yeah, I was just looking. I'm not exactly sure of the location for both but I was basically looking for any fluid leaks. Everything looked dry surrounding the transmission. Where would I check the fluid level?

The master cylinder for the clutch is on the firewall next to the brake master cylinder. It has a screw type lid where you can add fluid if needed. If the fluid is high in the master, you have an internal leak and that won't show to the outside.

Check the clutch master cylinder reservoir (but this can leak internally too and not to the outside).

Check the rear of the clutch master cylinder, that means get under the dash and look up at the pushrod area around the mounting area of the clutch cylinder, the boot should be bone-dry. If you don't see any leaks, that's good unless you look up on the passenger side.

You can typically see and feel for leaks around the clutch slave cylinder by opening the hood and looking down at the side of the transmission on the passenger side.

Of course, these trucks are old now, so check the two flexible lines for the clutch fluid between master and slave.

I've had my truck 19.5 years now, and changed these both quite a few times.