So my GF's clutch went out on her 1991 4 Runner, so I'm replacing it. Just thought I'd post a few pix of what I found when I got it out? YIKES, she shredded that bad boy. I've never seen one quite that bad, although I haven't seen too many? No wonder it went out right away! We had a few warning signs, high load or high temp slipping but "usually" when you get that you can milk it along for a while and it will slowly over time just fade more and more until it finally just slips & spins. This time, it just went Kaput, catastrophic failure on the freeway. Anyway, just thought I'd post some pix of what a "rats nested" clutch looks like. You can see what's left of the disc (looks like the rats nest in the bell housing) and the bases of the fingers on the pressure plate are packed with clutch disc fibers and you can also see the "Spanish Moss" looking dangly thing hanging down from the clutch that is also clutch fiber? And boy can you smell it, SMOKED!

biGjOhn

 

yikes how was the flywheel?

 

Haven't pulled the Flywheel yet but will soon and will post more pix when I do. I don't know what / how she did it but she also chewed up the auto trans in her 2001 Ford Escape... I'm gonna have to put a "gubnor" on for her!

 

i helped a buddy change his rubicon clutch that looked a lot like that! never did figure out why it grenaded that way. make sure you get rid of all the 'rats nest' material, no sense in having to pull it apart after to get any fibres that surely will cause you grief.

lee

 

LMAO! you dont know how many clutches i have seen this way! i want to say over 20 in the last 5 years of working on toyota. it smells awful and be careful not to breath that crap in. i would call clutch man or someone like that to have your flywheel resurfaced, cause it's more than likely goin to need it, you may even need a new one, if so check out LC engineering, just put the 35 pounder in my rig, and holy crap what a difference!

 

What does going to a 35lb flywheel do for you?

 

More torque, less accelleration

It'll help leave the light more solidly w/ less bog, but will be slower overall


Check out Marlin Crawler's clutch. IMHO it's the best bang for the buck.

 

I oddly have found it does well on the highway as well. I have 33" tires on my rig as well, with a 22re, so I need every bit I can to get that thing able to get out of its own way. I can acctuly hit 70 on the highway now ;p and crawin through rutted trails is nothing now

 

So here?s the pix of the Flywheel & disc etc. Not as much carnage as I would have thought, considering the mess inside the bell housing and the stench! Only one side of the friction plate had material left on it, the other side is completely disintegrated. The flywheel is in surprisingly good shape, considering? Of course I will still get it resurfaced though. There is a crack in the Pressure plate though and it was clearly overheated as evidenced from the pretty blue hue...
biGjOhn

 

It looks like a bird flew in there