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

Yes, you are of course correct, I made an error about spline on the flywheel. Brainfart.

You need something to hold the clutch plate in the correct position as you bolt on the pressure plate.

The small end inserts into the pilot bushing/bearing on the end of the crankshaft and the splines engage the clutch splines. The pressure plate has the screws and often dowels to position it, but the clutch plate itself is free floating at that point in the assemble. If the splines and the pilot bushing aren't concentric the transmission shaft isn't going to slide into place.

For $3 you want one rather than trying to eyeball the alignment as you hold the pressure plate in position and get the screws started.

btw, I think my terminology has been sloppy at times; bolts have a matching nut, screws go into a threaded hole. Somehow 'bolt up the pressure plate' sounds better than 'screw up the pressure plate'.

And if you're taking blood thinners or even common aspirin, band-aids, plenty of band-aids....

I don't know exactly what HF's bike jack looks like but while mine would work and has plenty of support for a transmission you'd need at least

14" under any part of the undercarriage to get it in place.

No, there are a number of them. Both removing and replacing them, you want to work your way around evenly rather than removing them one by one. The default position for a clutch is engaged so there will be considerable spring pressure. The screws themselves aren't big, usually in the 1/4 - 5/16 range so it won't be a lot of torque.

From you description the clutch probably has quite a bit of life left and hasn't started tear things up yet.The flywheel surface may not be as smooth as a baby's but but don't get too excited by minor wear.

Unless Toyota did something really strange, the throwout bearing is a loose fit on the transmission nose and it held in place by the fork on the lever. The pilot bushing usually requires a puller and driver to seat the new one. I've seated bushings with old pipe fittings or whatever else was laying around but sometimes it isn't too pretty if it's a tight press fit.

Don't worry about the rear seal unless you see obvious leakage. With some engines that can turn into a whole other project.

My pickup is 30 years old and had close to 200K miles when I replaced the clutch. My real task was replacing the throwout bearing. The OEM design was cast iron and would start to hang up; the latest one is polymer and seems to work better. Anyway I did the clutch and pressure plate while I was there and iirc it was only about $50 for the pair. They didn't need replacing.

otoh, I had a Dodge pickup that had had a hard life. The clutch was slipping, no question but it came by the wear honestly hauling more than a 1/2 ton truck should. A couple of my cars suffered from my driving style when I was a kid. As my father told me "If you're going to drive like that you'd better get good at fixing stuff."

Anyway, there's no 'due' for clutches in general. After I grew up, or at least got older, I stopped having clutch problems :)

This video seems to have a lot of hints about what to look for:

For example, at time 282 seconds, they cover cleaning the friction surface:

Is this very first second of this video showing the alignment tool in action?

It seems to take a split second, but the video is artificially sped up.

Most DIYs seem to gloss over this step.

As an example, this DIY at time 331 seconds, simply shows the bright red centering tool already in place! :(

That same video, shows at time 352 seconds, a *different* centering tool.

This video, at time 92 seconds, says what you say, which is that the "crankshaft and topshaft" must be aligned "along the same axis".

They show that procedure of aligning the two shafts at time 409 seconds:

This video, at time 62 seconds, shows a guy wrestling a Toyota transmission up but then using a regular floor jack to hold it there (but he has to adjust it a lot).

I *really* wish your definition of bolts and screws was true but the standard naming convention is "screwed" up.  ;-)

Thanks for that information where I noticed that this video, at time 213 seconds, shows me what I think you're trying to tell me about the "release bearing" play:

The videos are instrumental for me to visualize what you're saying, as this one, for example, at time 195 seconds, shows that throwout bearing (aka release bearing) in action.

Some videos are titled "toyota versus mechanic, round 2".

I see the bolt holes in this pressure plate at time 91 seconds:

This seems to show exactly what you're talking about at time 142 seconds:

Personally, I use bolt when it's threaded into something that has matching threads (these are generally relatively shallow angle threads).

I use screws for when it's a steeper-angled thread that "bites" into the material (often with a sharp point).

Bolts generally have hex heads (for sockets) but not always. Screws generally have screwdriver notches but not always.

The difference is, to me, in two things mainly: . The angle of the threads (screw threads are steeper) . The mating material (screws make their own mating threads)

I might be wrong though as I don't follow the McMaster definition exactly.

Maybe brutal but Fiat vs Mechanic is a death match.

I did a search on "using clutch alignment tool" and came up with this video:

Here is a nice, step by step procedure for clutch replacement, including one exploded diagram.

Note, in the diagram, they label what I call a "throw-out bearing" as a "release bearing". I am sure their terminology is accurate.

Video's are nice but still-image, annotated, step by step instructions can be invaluable.