WaTTS

I have a 4x4 3.4l tacoma and I recently burned up my clutch so i had to replace it. Everything went smooth and we put everything back together and now i cant put it into gear. When the truck in off i can shift to anygear, but when the engine is on it wont go in gear. Its acting like Im not pushing the clutch pedal in. If i put it in gear, push the clutch in, and start it, it lurches forward. I tried adjusting the pedal and i still have the same problem. Does any have any ideas what my problem might be? I tried searching forums and I could find any similar problems

rimpainter.com

Sounds to me like something is screwy with the slave cyl at the release fork. Have you checked the action of the piston? Is it working properly?

WaTTS

the piston moves properly, as far as i can tell. I dont know how far its supposed to travel. It seem to me like the pressure plate isnt working properly. I think i might have tightened the bolts on it too much. Would that cause this problem?

rimpainter.com

I really don't think so. You have a total loss of the release function, which is troubling.

You need to have someone push the clutch in and out while you are under there watching the fork. Let us know.

eric-the-red

Just thinking out loud here but maybe your clutch disc is in backwards. I know on my 4Runner the centre splined part of the disc has one longer side. If that was facing the pressure plate and shouldn't be maybe you wont get full release.
Unfortunately the only way to tell for sure is to take the tranny out again, so I would check everything else first.

WaTTS

Here's an update:
I took everything apart again and found nothing wrong. The T.O. bearing is in the right way the clutch disc is in the right way all parts are in working order(not warped or cracked) and all bolts are torqued to spec. The problem still remains, it wont go into gear when the engine is running. When I looked at the pressure plate i saw where the T.O. bearing was touching it. I would assume that the T.O. bearing is doing its job and pushing against the pressure plate. The next thing I can think of would be the pressure plate is bad, which is hard to believe since its brand new. I dont think i mentioned before that my new clutch is a centerforce dualfriction, incase anyone has had this problem or related problems with these clutches. Thanks

jimbo74

its a slave problem or master problem..... when off the tranny can be shifted with no clutch at all.....

TechWrench

I could very well be the slave cylinder. But, did you check the new parts to see if they matched what you took out. It is possible you were given the wrong clutch disk (too thick), the wrong pressure plate (not enough reach), or the throw out bearing, (wrong height). Also, are you sure the clutch fork is mounted on the pivot ball correctly. If the slave cylinder worked OK before the new parts, it is unlikely (but not impossible) that is just went bad. One last thought, did you have the flywheel resurfaced? I have seen some flywheels with a slight 'step' cut in the surface where the disk contacts which is lower that where the pressure plate mounts. If the machine shop that resurfaces the flywheel doesnt recreate this step when it cuts, the results would be just like what you are seeing.

WaTTS

I wanted to post the results of the problem incase anyone else happens to come across the same problem.

What happened was when I got the flywheel resurfaced they took too much off. The TO bearing wasnt able to fully depress the pressure plate and the result was my problem. They added washers to the back of the flywheel to give it the added distance need to allow the clutch to be released.

It was my mistake to go to the place I went to, to get the flywheel resurfaced. I hope this helps someone else.

jimbo74

yeah.... sounds liek they didnt have qualified techs to cut it in the frist place... there is a minimum spec listed somewhere on it, and they shouldnt have cut that much material off and gone below that minimum mark

rimpainter.com

Great to know, thanks for the update.

shiftless89

similar problem! When I put my new luk cutch in it had the exact same symptoms! What happened was my "helper" (son in law/new wrench) forgot to torque the pressure plate bolts after the plate was flush with the flywheel! so the new plate "felt" torqued because of the increased spring pressure of the heavy duty plate. any-way there was an 1/8 of an inch gap on one side of the plate and flush on the other. I have also seem clutches do the same when the disc is installed backwards..... Glad you got it fixed.... nothing is more frustrating...

Unhappy99

Perhaps I am misunderstanding what exactly cured your clutch problem, but I cannot see how adding washers anywhere would solve an overcut fly. Not to mention that an overcut fly would not result in your problem anyway, but would result in the problem of having no engagement, compared to your problem of no disengagement.

The cut surface is what the clutch disk contacts. The pressure plate bolts outside this surface, and is the only place to put a washer. If in fact that is where the washers were placed, then there is even more space resulting in less engagement.

There is only one solution to an overcut fly: replace fly.

Sounds to me like the disk was in backwards or that the pressure plate was improperly torqued, and your assembly boys ain't fessin' up.

TechWrench

I would have to agree somewhat with Unhappy99, I find it hard to believe that they could cut enough off a flywheel to cause it to not disengage without some other problem included in the mix. I can, in theory, understand that as the flywheel is reduced in thickness, the entire clutch/flywheel assy. is moved further away from the fork and throw out bearings. But am finding it hard to believe there isn't enough adjustment in the slave cylinder acutator rod to compensate for it. In any case, if that is actually what happened, I would suggest that their 'fix' could be worse than the cure. The flywheel is supposed to be mounted firmly to the end of the crankshaft, and usually centers on a raised hub on the end of the crank. By shimming the flywheel with washers, the contact area between the flywheel and the end of the crank has been reduced. In addition, most generic washers are not machined to exact tollerances, and may not all be the same thickness. This could cause the flywheel to not turn true, and maybe even loosen over time. This procedure will also change the depth that the starter gear engages the flywheel, and might cause a problem there eventually. I wish you luck with this, but if it were my truck, I would have that flywheel and washer setup removed ASAP.