'04-ish Ranger clutch longevity?

[D60]

A client has an '04 Ranger with 4.0 and whatever 5 speed they put behind the 4.0 (I actually like the feel of whatever it is).

It has 210k and he told me today it's on its fourth clutch. That would seem to be a clutch every ~50k on average.

Did these have a known problem with durability, or has it just been driven by terrible drivers its whole life? FWIW the truck is pretty cherry and doesn't look like it's ever been used for hard work or pulling stumps etc

Even the present clutch seems to engage rather high, so I fear I may be asked to do a clutch job soon. Are there particular parts I should seek, like CenterForce or similar?

 

[oldhp]

OEM clutch for me. Make sure throw out bearing is releasing all the way and not sticking. Only other thing is driver error. I.E. riding clutch or too much slipping clutch to get going. I had a S-10 2.5 4cyl / 5 speed. I sold it with 184K miles with original clutch. So I would say 99% is driver error.

 

[demarpaint]

IIRC that truck uses the Mazda M5OD transmission. I have a feeling the short clutch life it is driver related, in fact I'd be willing to bet that's the case. I had good luck with the Centerforce series 2 clutches. Don't cut the flywheel replace it.

 

[Nukeman7]

I had a 2003 Flareside shortbed Ranger with the 2.3 Duratec motor and a 5-speed Mazda manual transmission. It went to 163,000 miles on the original clutch before failing. It was replaced with a standard LUK RepSet which "feels" better than the OEM clutch. I suspect the driver of that '04 Ranger has poor shifting technique.

 

[delaware74b]

I am the owner of an '04 Ranger, 3.0/M5OD 4x2. Currently, it has 360K on the engine. At 300K, I wore out the original transmission with 3rd synchros and excessive input shaft play. Slave cylinders are not good on these trucks, I've pulled the trans 4 times dealing with slave cylinders. I've installed Luk is the oem clutch vendor for Ford Rangers/F150's with the Mazda manuals.

The bleeding process of the hydraulics is horrible. The master cylinder traps air due to its angle through the firewall. The only real way to bleed is to remove the master, hang the reservoir high, rotate the master so the pushrod end is down, tap the line with a screwdriver handle (working from the quick-connect to the master. Plus, you have to keep turning the hard plastic line to move the air up. Gravity and pressure bleeding does not work on these trucks.

 

[Chris142]

You really have to slip the clutch on one of those to get it moving although every 50k seems excessive.

The original clutch in my jeep had 175k on it then the throw out bearing locked up..Clutch was still good. No I dont rest my foot on the clutch pedal.

 

[brages]

I think my 97 2.3 is on its original clutch at 315k miles. Last 50k miles were teenage boys learning to drive stick...!