How hard is it to replace a clutch in a 5-speed manual transmission?

How hard is it to replace a clutch in a 5-speed manual transmission?

I have never done it, but it's generally cheaper to buy the tools and do it yourself than to pay someone else. Plus you generally get better parts.

I've never done a clutch. This is a Toyota 4Runner 1998 2WD with the W59 5-speed.

Anyone have any idea what I'll need besides a transmission lift?

Have you done a clutch? How hard is it?

If you ask what work I've done, I've done cooling system overhauls, and alternator replacements and the like when needed.

Reply to
Chaya Eve
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Cut some. Look on Youtube. There are usually some videos showing stuff like clutch replacement.

Reply to
Dean Hoffman

Youtube is pretty Spartan when it comes to things that most people don't do. You'll NEVER find a DIY for your own vehicle, for example. Even if it's as common as a Toyota 4Runner.

Search term: "diy clutch replacement w59 transmission" at Youtube:

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The closest is the pickup truck DIY. Clutch replacement Toyota Tacoma Manual transmisson removal 1997
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There are ZERO 3rd-generation Toyota 4Runner clutch replacement DIYs on Youtube.

Reply to
Chaya Eve

I've never done a 4runner but it's not difficult in a F150. Disconnect the shift linkage and speedometer drive if it has one. Support the engine under the crankcase. Drop the drive shaft. Figure out what you need to do about the clutch/throwout bearing assembly. Remove a cross member as needed. Support the transmission on the jack, remove the bolts, and drop it out of the way. Figure out what you need to do about the bellhousing if anything. Remove the pressure plate bolts. You'll want to do that gradually and sequentially. You probably need to find a way to rotate the engine.

At that point, examine the clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, the pilot bushing, and the face of the flywheel for any problems. You'll need to check pricing but on a Ford the pressure plate assembly isn't that expensive so you might want to replace it while you're at it.

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You'll need one of these and should be able to find it locally. It keeps the clutch plate in alignment while you reinstall the pressure plate. A torque wrench would be real good to torque the pressure plate bolts. After you get back to the point where you removed the transmission, wheel it back in place and bolt it down. Theoretically the shaft just slides into the clutch splines like butter. In practice it sometimes requires jiggling and foul language. The jack makes it a lot easier. I've replace transmissions without one but eventually I saw the light and rented one when need be.

Put all the rest of the stuff back where you found it and you're good to go.

Pitfalls: Older truck in the rust belt, removing the universal cap screws and the cross member bolts can be a challenge. The rest usually isn't too bad. Check to see you have all the wrenches you'll need. The cross member bolts on the F150 are large, can't remember if they're in the usual wrench set range. Make sure nothing is connected to the tranny like a neutral switch, or you'll get it half way down and see something stretched out getting ready to snap.

Many times a particular make, model, and year will have two variants on the pressure plate and clutch. If so, invariably you'll but the wrong set. Have alternate transportation to go back and exchange them for the other size.

Sorry I can't be specific for a 4Runner but that's the generic drill for most vehicles.

You'll need

Reply to
rbowman

I've done hundreds of clutches. Being a RWD vehicle it is a lot easier than a FWD or AWD or 4WD. You will need a set of good metric sockets and wrenches and preferanly a hoist. Changing tansmissions on your back under a vehicle is a PAIN. You will also need a pilot alignment tool - and if you haven't done much of this kind of work a package of BandAids wouldn't hurt,

As for quality of parts??? You only get what you pay for and the OEM clutch on a Toyota is about as good as it gets, for general purpose use. If you go for the cheapest job, you could end up with junk

Reply to
clare

Because you REALLY need to abuse them to need to replace one.

Reply to
clare

I know the clutch was replaced only once on this 4Runner which has about

150K miles I think (I have to check).

Any idea of how long the clutch lasts?

I'm going to check the slave cylinder and master cylinder for leaks after checking on the youtube videos that were suggested.

I already replaced the patented and overly complex torsion spring assembly on the clutch pedal return mechanism, so it's not that.

The new Red Line MT-90 oil yesterday seems to have made a difference in allowing it to shift when it couldn't get into gear when cold. I already replaced the two bushings at the bottom of the shift lever (which were fine but they're known to go bad so I replaced them anyway).

Is there a way to remove a view plate to VIEW the clutch plate visually?

Reply to
Chaya Eve

This is good to know that the RWD (2wd) is easier than the rest, which has been my experience for most things, if not only because there is fewer stuff but the same amount of room, so more room in essence.

I have 6-ton jack stands which give me a decent amount of room, but no hoist. I don't have a transmission jack so I would expect to need one. I have a bunch of bottle jacks and of course a few normal floor jacks. I should have most if not all the wrenches needed but you never know when there is a hard-to-see bolt - but I have extensions and u-joints galore.

Good to know on the alignment bar.

I would get decent parts, just as I put in Red Line MT-90 yesterday. I could have gone cheaper but it's supposed to be the best so that's what I put in there. It made a difference on the ability of cold shifting into gear but the clutch pedal feel is still horrid.

Reply to
Chaya Eve

It would be a good idea to not change the clutch until you're sure that it needs to be replaced. The symptoms for that would be the clutch slipping. M ake sure that the clutch clearance on the arm is properly set and your slav e and master cylinders are working properly. If your clutch is slipping und er those conditions you need to replace it. Typically, you're going to get a lot of warning if your clutch or pressure plate are worn and tired.

If your problem is difficulty shifting into gear, it's probably not your cl utch but your linkage to the clutch lever.

Reply to
dsi1

My Ford Ranger had 307,000km when I bought it with a bad release cyl (inside bell housing). The clutch was only about 1/4 worn, but with all the labour already charged, the new clutch went in at the same tome. My old Tercel had it changed at almost 500,000km just because I had the engine out - it was only about half worn but I couldn't justify not changing it while it was apart.

Nope

Reply to
clare

I once changed a cast iron Powerglide working on my back under the car. Darn near killed me. If you don't have a hoist, at least put the truck up on ramps - I'd put it up on both ends - front on ramps and rear on stands. Get a transmission saddle for the floor jack and chain the trans on firmly.

Reply to
clare

I wouldn't include diy. All the videos are for diy. Even if they are intended for auto mechanics, how different would they be from what's intened for you?

I wouldn't include W59. Or at least if I didn't find what I wanted I'd take it out and put in 4runner. I don't know if a 4runner has more possible manual transmissions, but a good part of the instructions will be the same even if it does. I don't known if other Toyota cars use the same transmission, but they might, so I'd also try it with Toyota instead of 4runner. I might well specify the year -- youtube is good about also returning hits with nearby years, and iirc will also return a video with the title 2008 - 2012 even if you only specify 2010.

I don't think I'd even put in replacement. If it's a video about clutches, it's going to be either replacement or inspection or ...?

If you get too many hits, then you can put in more terms (but that doesn't seem to be your problem).

Just last night I was searching youtube and I learned a lot from videos that didn't really meet my search terms. For one thing, one that doesn't fit will be followed by something related, maybe something that fits better. In theory you would have found it in the search list, but my experience is that it often works better by letting the sequence find it for you, (until of course the sequence goes way off topic). That doesn't mean it won't get totally misled by terms like diy.

Reply to
micky

This might be more true because the poster included tags for each year. And most of them probably do, so whether youtube makes it easy to find or the posters do, it's still good for you.

I don't know how many tags a poster is allowed to list.

Reply to
micky

Did the same with a bus gearbox. The first one I did had an alloy case gearbox, very light, and it was a breeze to handle. The next one in the same type of bus had the same gearbox but with a cast iron case. Now that brute was damn heavy to handle under a bus. At 65, I now leave those to the younger chaps whose backs are stronger than their brains. My most recent clutch effort was one of these a couple of months back;

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Not a difficult job but the tractor needs to be separated. ;-)

I'm thinking if he doesn't know *anything* about the job, including what he needs in the way of equipment, it will be *cheaper* for him to pay someone who does have a clue and, of course, all the requisite equipment.

Reply to
Xeno

I had a '49 Chrysler New Yorker with the straight 8 and a Fluidmatic transmission. That was the worst of all world, a torque converter and a clutch, paired with a behemoth cast iron 4 speed with additional solenoids to make it semi-automatic.

I was used to manuals and the '60s era aluminum Torqueflites and never used a jack. Laying under the Chrysler I realized my mistake as soon as I took the weight of the tranny in one of those classic Oh Shit! moments. Somehow I slithered out from under it without doing damage to the transmission or myself. I rented a jack to install it.

They don't make cars like that anymore -- thank you sweet Jeezus.

Reply to
rbowman

Depends on the driver.

Not particularly. Sometimes there is a shield on the bottom of the bellhousing that you can remove. You can't really see much but if a lot of dust and pieces of lining are present it isn't good news.

What are the symptoms? Is it slipping when you floor the engine at 50 mph or so? Or just hard to engage and shift. My F150 had a appetite for throwout bearings that gave the latter symptoms. They were good for about 75k miles. By the time you're to the throwout you're almost to the clutch do the last time around I replaced it and the pressure plate. I think it was about $50 for both. Neither were in bad shape but while you're there it's not much more work.

Reply to
rbowman

I would agree 100%. But some people NEED to do it themselves. More time than money, or just plain more "stubborn-ness"

When the clutch on my Ranger needed replacement I paid my brother's shop to do the job even though I'd done hundreds of clutch replacements in my younger years. At 60 I wasn't going to roll around under the truck on a creaper to replace it.

Reply to
clare

My '91 Regal was a PITA to change oil. Did it twice. For the few bucks saved, that was the last time I crawled under a car.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

I am not yet on Yaris so I should try them. Mostly I just want DIYs. If I could find a DIY for the clutch, that would tell me almost everything.

I did watch a few youtube DIYs and it looks like the general procedure is something like the following - but the real problem with watching a DIY for the wrong vehicle is that sometimes little things matter a lot.

For example, if you have to support the engine but you don't think that you do, or if you have to have a certain sized tool but you don't have it, then you're stuck at the worst time and place.

Anyway, the "general" procedure seems to be this: . While it's on the ground, remove the cabin gear shift mechanism . If possible, unbolt the "conning tower" for the shift mechanism . Then jackstand the car as high as you can get it (I have 6 ton stands). . Remove the drive shaft . Remove the slave cylinder . Remove the speedometer cable . Remove any speed sensors . Remove anything else in the way . Then support the transmission with a transmission jack . Then unbolt the front bell housing

I think that's it. Did I miss a major step?

One question I have is "will the fluid leak out"? I think not - but I know that the gearshift lever is open to the fluid. So if you tip it over, the fluid will certainly come out.

The second question is whether a transmission lift is really needed when you're in a jackstand situation (so you don't need ten feet of lift).

Can't a floor jack hold the transmission? I watched one video where a guy wrestled the transmission out by hand.

Must I have a transmission jack? If I need it I'll get it - but it will only be used once so I'd rather not.

Reply to
Chaya Eve

There *is* a semicircular shield plate on the bell housing. I don't know what is behind it though.

Two different things, one of which was fixed yesterday:

  1. The clutch pedal feels like crap (more about that below)
  2. It wouldn't shift into gear when cold.

The cold-shift issue somehow, magically, went away when I replaced the original fluid yesterday with Red Line MT-90 "miracle fluid". I didn't believe in the miracle fluid, but the driver (who isn't me) reported that it works just fine now for shifting into gear when cold. Huh? How can that be? What on earth is so magical about that fluid that it makes shifting into gear when cold possible when the only thing that changed was the fluid?

I don't understand it but I'm not complaining.

There is no indication of slipping of the clutch. I can stall the engine easily when I put it in the wrong gear. I can slip the clutch to get it to go in the wrong gear. I can start on a hill in the right gear.

So there is no indication that the clutch itself is slipping. But ...

The pedal feels like crap.

It was impossible to engage just two days ago. For months, the wife has been complaining (it's actually her car) that it wouldn't go into gear. So she shifted into reverse to get out of the garage. Then she turned the engine off and back on. Then she shifted into first to make her K turn. Then she turned the engine off and back on. Then she repeated this for as long as it took her (something like five more steps than it takes me) to complete her K turn and be on her way.

Yesterday and today, she was able to shift into the first and reverse gears without turning off the engine! Can a simple oil change do that?

I don't understand it. I really don't.

BTW, I don't know if turning the engine off was necessary. I suspect not. I suspect she could have gotten it into neutral and just activated the clutch pedal a few times. The problem was it wouldn't get OUT of gear to go into neutral. So she shut the engine down. When I tried it, I just held the brake and pressed the clutch pedal a few times so I think the engine didn't need to be turned off as I see nothing that turning off the engine should do to the transmission. Do you?

This is my problem. I know *nothing* about "forks" and "throwout bearings" and "pilot bearings" etc.

Sure I watched that great video on how transmissions work but that doesn't give me any *practical* knowledge about how to diagnose why the clutch pedal feels like crap.

It's so hard to explain that even when I try, it's not the same as feeling it.

When I step on the pedal, and then release it while in gear, it just doesn't feel right.

The pedal goes down ok, but then when I lift it up, the first couple of inches are like floating in air, while the next inch it seems to fully engage, where the next four or five inches of release travel is wasted as the clutch is already engaged.

Assume the whole pedal travel is, oh I don't know, let's say 12 inches. The engagement travel is something like an inch it seems. The rest of the 11 inches aren't doing anything.

Does that make any sense?

Reply to
Chaya Eve

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