Hello, I am going to be doing a slave cylinder replacement on my 1998 B2500. All the fluid in the clutch actuation system has drained, I believe because the lack of fluid in the clutch reservoir. When refilling the entire clutch actuation system, how do I avoid having air in the lines? My best thought would be to take out the master cylinder and reservoir to fill and burp then them separately, put back the master and reservoir, and then bleed the slave cylinder via the bleeder valve on the transmission. Any input?

 

I suggest to
1. Install new clutch master cylinder and clutch slave cylinder
2. Bench-bleed the new slave cylinder
3. Bleed out ALL the old clutch fluid so just new in the system

 

Just to follow Cusser’s advice, I found it extremely difficult to fully bleed the system while it was still in my B2200. When I finally bench bled the entire system as one unit, the difference was huge. It really wasn’t that hard - just had to be a bit creative with sliding the hard metal line back into the truck once it was all properly bled. If it’s possible on the B2500, the small extra hassle ended up being a huge improvement for my outcome.

 

I've had my 1988 B2200 (233K) for 29 years now, and I've had to replace the clutch slave cylinder exactly 6 times and the clutch master 5 times. Each time I flushed out the entire clutch hydraulic system with new fluid.

My 2004 Frontier (116K miles) is still on its factory clutch fluid and cylinders.
My 1998 Frontier (273K) is on its second clutch master and clutch slave cylinders, I replaced them a few years ago because the pedal "feel" sometimes felt funny.

Both those Frontiers are still on factory brake master cylinders, calipers, wheel cylinders, rotors, drums, and factory brake fluid. My B2200 is on its second set of calipers, second replacement brake booster, factory rotors and drums.