Bleeding clutch slave cylinder

[atarijake]

Hello all, I've been attempting to diagnose a non-existent clutch for a couple days now. I went out to start the truck one morning and the clutch was on the floor with no resistance...

I went to bleed the system when I noticed some fluid leaking out of the slave cylinder boot. So I figured I'd just go ahead and replace it, thinking that was the most likely cause of the initial clutch failure.

So... I've read around on the forum that the best way to bleed them is to use the vacuum hand tool to draw all the air out of the system. So I borrowed the tool from a buddy.

However, the Haynes manual says to tip the slave cyclinder at a 45 degree angle with the bleed valve pointed up. This makes sense and all, allowing any trapped air to float up to the highest point and get sucked out, but I'm a little worried about breaking the clutch line. It's a metal hose and it's pretty cold outside. Is this line pretty tough? Can I bend it around and have it not break off on me? I had to bend it a little in order to get the slave cylinder off. There's an oil cooler assembly in the way. Is the clutch line way tougher than I think it is?

Thanks!

[Corts60]

I would be very careful not to bend that line. They can be quite brittle. I have never used a vacuum tool replacing slave cylinders and I have never had a problem bleeding them. As long as you have someone to work with you, it is easy peezy.

[atarijake]

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. I just checked o'reilly's to see what it would be for a new clutch hose and it's $82 bucks! Yikes...

But the new one has a rubber end and a solid metal end, the one that's on the truck right now is all metal. So I guess if it ever breaks I'll get the one that's part rubber so I can bend it around if I need to. Then again, I guess it's part rubber to absorb vibration from the engine too? The master is mounted on the firewall and obviously the slave is on the transmission so there's bound to be plenty of movement on that line whenever the engine starts up or what have you.

I'll try not tilting the slave cylinder at first and bleeding it, failing that I'll just jack the whole front right side of truck up as far as I can to get that bleed valve on top. If that doesn't work I guess I'll do my best not to break the line.... But I might need to wait a while, it's 19 degrees outside right now and of course the truck never breaks down in the garage. So it's sitting at the bottom of the driveway in a ditch...



Thanks!