T-5 questions

Drove a friend of a friend's 2.5 5 speed square body S10 today. Have to double clutch to shift into first or reverse, clutch seems to only fully disengage at very bottom of peddle travel. Seems to shift okay going into 2nd and higher. Guy that owns said he just bought it, and the guy he bought from claims he just replaced the clutch. Not familiar with a T-5 (I assume that's what it is), the truck's owner is thinking this is this a need to bleed something. My guess is the clutch needs adjusted so it disengages a little higher up in the clutch pedal travel.

An internet T-5 search turns up a lot of fox-body sites, which not sure if its the same adjustment. S10 trans search turns up a lot of 94+ w/ the 2.2 engine, would the procedure be the same? Or maybe some has a better site they can point me too?

Shifting into reverse on a T5 can sometimes result in grinding.  On some GM versions they installed a "Reverse brake" to fix this. Not having ever driven a car with this model T5 I can't say if it worked. 

On the clutch, all of the T5's in the Fox bodies were cable clutches and were "self adjusting". Only later did Ford install a slave cylinder to actuate the clutch.

Not sure on the S10. On the GM V6 installs they used a hydro release bearing but the S10 could use a slave cylinder?

Paging Gearheadotaku..........he'll know this one.

I'm reasonably sure that the S10 uses a hydraulic release bearing and it probably has to be shimmed to function properly. If it wasn't then the clutch won't fully release. 

If it is like the t5 in the early 90s v6 camaro, it is a slave cylinder.  Not a hydraulic throw out bearing.

Sound like the clutch is not fully releasing.  

I would agree that a good bleed may solve this issue.  These can be difficult to bleed properly.  A motive power bleeder or a reverse bleeder usually help when bleeding a clutch.

What size are the clutch cylinders? The Molvo  with a T5 needed a 7/8" master to move a 3/4" slave far enough to fully disengage. Initially I was driving with the exact same situation you describe. Pedal travel and linkage geometry of course will also figure into the equation.

It sounds like fairly typical GM T5 hardship to me. A tick 7/8" master cylinder solved all my problems, but I'm also running a non-stock pressure plate. I don't know if a bolt in solution for the S10 is available. Bleeding might help if you got air in it, but if this randomly started happening I'd say it's time to replace your hydraulic components. I try to replace it all at once because if a master fails, the slave shouldn't be too far behind.

That gen of S-10 used an external slave cylinder, it's the later 2.2 that has the hydraulic bearing. What you have is much easier to service. Yes, bleed the system as a step 1. Also make sure the rod is installed right. Once you're bled and can see the fork moving, look into the bell housing through the fork hole, (not easy) and make sure everything is is moving as it should. A bent or cracked fork can cause problems. Finally that "new" clutch could be put in wrong or be a cheapy that won't work right.

All, thanks for the ideas and things to check.

Truck is a 91, per the internet that makes it a T5. No idea of the diameter of the master cylinder. Sounds like things to check first is bleeding the MC, and I was reading online that adjusting the clutch is done by pulling up on the clutch pedal (3 times I think?). Might be something to try, has anyone tried that before?