I would think that this was a really rare problem, except that my
wife's Explorer had the exact same problem last year.

The truck is a 2000 Ford Ranger 4x4 with a 3.0L engine and a 5 speed
manual transmission. Total mileage: 155,000. Otherwise the truck is in
great shape with no history of serious repairs.

The problem: Yesterday the truck started making a scraping sound when
the clutch pedal was depressed. It was especially noticeable when
slowing down and downshifting. The noise appeared to get worse as I
downshifted from higher to lower gears. The clutch was still working
fine.

Later in the day there were times when it was nearly impossible to
shift gears. The nose got worse and I didn't think that the truck was
going to make it home. It appeared that despite the clutch petal being
fully depressed to the floor that the clutch was not totally
disengaging.

Then the noise spontaneously went away and I could shift the
transmission again. It shifted fine this morning too.

As I said, this would seem really odd except that it happened to my
wife's 2000 Ford Explorer last year. Over a period of months the noise
would come and go and it was hard to shift a few times. After we put
some fluid in the clutch master cylinder reservoir the noise and the
shifting problems went away and have not returned.

In my wife's case, our local mechanic didn't have a clue was to what
was making the scraping noise. It was not the clutch "chatter" that we
all have experienced at one time or another. And the clutch in both
vehicles has never shown any symptoms such as slipping.

Does anyone have any idea as to what this problem could be and how to
resolve it?

Thanks