Howdy y’all. Just need some advice. I believe the clutch release bearing on my Tacoma is making noise. On start up there is a chirping sound which goes away with the lightest touch on the clutch pedal. (It does not require me to press it in, just a small touch and the chirping stops.) it is a new clutch I installed a marlin crawler clutch about a year before this started. (I emailed their tech support, by the way, and heard nothing back just crickets.)

first, do y’all agree that this sound is likely the release bearing? Secondly, how long do y’all think I can get away with it chirping before it messes something up. Do I need to change this right away, or is it something I can just live with for awhile. Thirdly, I’ve done a few clutches in the past on other Toyotas and never had any issues, but is there anything I could have done wrong on the install? Like did I grease the shaft too much or too little?

thanks. I don’t want to mess up this truck, it’s my baby!

The application of even the slightest pressure causing the sound to go away is pretty much the textbook symptom of a bad throw-out bearing.

How long do you have? Maybe 1000 miles, maybe 100,000 miles there’s really no way to gauge it. If the sound gets worse, the bearing is getting worse.

Thanks. I have been gambling with it for a bit and hope it hasn’t done much, it hasn’t been getting worse at least. I guess I will change it out next time I get a few days off. I hated doing this one, that transmisssion plus xfer case is heavy as heck and I don’t have any fancy tools. Muscling that thing into place is a pain...

It is only on start up and goes away after a couple of minutes... bad luck is my middle name...

Don’t know about pulling up? I will give that a try and see what happens. What does that mean if it goes away with a pull on the clutch?

Yes. It does quiet down when warmed up and pretty much goes away. Takes longer when it is cold outside. Will try it and see what happens when I get home Saturday.

I’ll try that out. Did you use two jacks, one for the tranny and one to keep the engine from sagging?

I like to make a sling around the frame rails with ratchet straps. Then you can crank up or control going down and swing and twist it to get it lined up with the motor.