sae10w30

I'm replacing the clutch in a 4Runner 1998 2WD W59 transmission and I am stuck at the starter motor.

I "think" I found one of the two 14mm bolts that are supposed to come out (see photos below, circled in red).
But where is the second bolt?
I can't see or feel it no matter how much I look.

How do I find it?
(Which direction does it go for example?)

Also, does the cross member get removed or can we leave the cross member in?
Thanks. I'm stuck at this point.

akwheeler

If I remember right there is one bolt from the front (engine side) and one from the back (transmission side). look on top of your starter from the front of the truck (or feel).
You didn't mention what engine and being 2wd I wouldn't know about removing the cross member anyway.

sae10w30

I'm sorry. I thank you for asking for details. It's the 3RZFE engine with the W59 5-speed transmission.
It seems "almost" as if the crossmember can stay in place, since the bulk of the transmission is to each side (supported by the bell housing and by the cross member).
I've never removed a transmission before and I don't want to remove what I don't have to remove.
Thanks. I "think" the bolts are 14mm from what I've read but I haven't found a DIY for my particular year and model yet that says for sure.
I thought the bell housing bolts on top would be hardest, where I didn't expect the starter to be so hard to find the bolts.

Do you remember if the starter has to come out? Or can I just leave it there once I disconnect it from the bell housing (I never did a starter either).

akwheeler

I'm sure that both of the starter bolts have to come out, one goes through the bell housing and threads into the starter, the other goes through the starter and threads into the bell housing.
you may be able to just move the starter towards the front of the motor and may tie it up to support it so it isn't hanging on the wires.
I don't ever remember pulling the tranny on a 2wd or a 3RZ, so I can't help with cross member questions.

sae10w30

Thanks for helping me and giving me advice as I sure needed it!

I removed the upper starter bolt and the starter fell right out when I did that, where both 14mm bolts faced from the transmission forward.

The removal trick was two things that I didn't do before, which was to remove the driver side wheel and peel back the flexible cover to shine a flashlight in horizontally at the starter, where that top 14mm bolt was easily visible, and the second thing was to access the bolt from the engine, lying on top of the engine and looking straight down at that upper 14mm starter bolt.

All it took was a 14mm socket and a ratchet handle and that was it. There was only about 1/16th of a turn of room, but that was enough to get that upper starter bolt out.

The three 17mm bolts on the upper part of the bell housing were even more difficult, where the 9:30 17mm bolt was the easiest of the three since I could access it from underneath the transmission at about where the slave cylinder was. The 11:30 17mm bolt was a LOT harder in that it took almost 30 inches of extension to break it, and where I first tried 3/8" extensions to the socket but they failed because of too much twist in that 30 inches.

I switched to 1/2" extensions and that worked fine on the 11:30 bolt, but the 12:30 17mm bell housing bolt required a swivel near the beginning, so it's the hardest of all.
(The thirty inches of 3/8" extension are still useful for removing the bolt once it's cracked though, so you kind of want both.)

With the driveshaft out, and the transmission on a transmission jack, the only thing left is to decide which 4 bolts to remove to get the back end out.
It looks like I have three choices, where each choice is only 4 bolts.

I can remove the entire crossmember, or I can remove the center transmission mount to that crossmember, or I can remove the transmission from the transmission mount.
Which of those 3 choices do most people do?

sae10w30

I just want to give an update, which is that the job is done.
It took about 16 hours though, but it's my first clutch so, I guess that long time is to be expected.

Here are the torque figures I used:
. Starter bolts 30ft#
. Bellhousing bolts 54ft#
. Flywheel (19 ft lbs+1/4 turn for 3RZ which is said to equate to the 65 ft lbs for the 2RZ & 5VZ)
. It is said that the two torque methods above result in the same end torque.>
. Transmission mount 18 ft/lbs
. Crossmember to frame 48 ft/lbs.

The starter was the hardest part of the entire job!

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

glad you got it figured out.
Are you sure it's a 3RZ and not a 2RZ? the 2RZ was the 2.4 found in the 2wd's and 2.7 3rz's was in the 4wd's