A friend of mine asked me to listen to a strange sound coming from, supposedly, the clutch in his 1996 Ford Ranger. It is sort of cross between a clacking and a grinding sound, and happens momentarily as he depresses the clutch. The noise is quite faint, but is happening with greater frequency as time goes on. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

problem will lie in a bad clutch disk or slave cylinder or both if the clutch is getting weak it will wear the throwout bearing rather quickly if the the slave cylinder is getting weak the throwout bearing will only be making contact with the pressure plate very lightly this will cause slight grinding noise and rangers are know to have problems with internal slave cylinders heat problem