2nd Gen Clutch probs
 

Hey guys... this morning when I depressed my clutch pedal I heard a PING! Like a piece of metal breaking. At lunch I noticed it was harder to shift between gears and impossible (almost) to put it in reverse. What was that ping? Do you think whatever that was is what is causing this problem? Please help! :dunno:

It's clutch time. Hard telling what it is, but you're going to wind up cracking it open and installing a new clutch, pressure plate, and throwout bearing. Might as well buy the TRD heavy duty clutch with the heavier flywheel and you'll find city and trail takeoffs are much easier. Replace the rear engine seal while it's opened up.

Cool... Dang it... I'm gonna have to ride my gixxer for a while until I can afford it... sigh...

sounds like it could be something to do with your throwout bearing, or maybe something let loose in your pressure plate.

after pulling out the motor in my truck, i figured out why i had such little clutch travel...my pressure plate was flat!

hahaha... yeah, even when i have the pedal to the floor, it still grinds in reverse... like I said, i'll just have to ride my gixxer on these cold a$$ days.

My first thought was the pressure plate breaking also. Grinding going into reverse is a sign of either too high rpm's or pressure plate not fully engaging. Which could also be something wrong with the hydralic clutch system. Check your resivior for fluid loss.

I just checked it the other day...do you think there might be an air bubble??

Another possiblilty: My friends 89 clutch pedal assy. bracket cracked under the dash. As you pushed in the clutch, the bracket would bend, which in turn wouldn't let the clutch fully disengage. We kept adjusting the clutch pedal linkage under the dash, and each time the crack got bigger. Ended up removing the entire assembly and welding it.

You said there was a pop, thinking maybe a line let loose.

Get someone to press on the clutch while you watch the slave cylinder. You should be able to see the rod move. If it doesn't move, then either the clutch master or the slave cylinder needs to be replaced or rebuilt. But the ping you described doesn't sound good to me.

right when I heard that, i was like "oh crap... wtf!"...

poop. How hard would it be to replace the clutch/pressure plate/throwout bearing myself?

if you can drop the transmission you can do it...the hardest part besides getting the tranny out is getting the old pilot bearing out. i've heard the best way to do it is to fill up the hole with grease and whack a dowel in there, the hydraulic pressure is supposed to pop the bearing out. there's also pullers you can rent/buy, which are basically just a slide hammer with a hook on the end that grabs the inside lip of the bearing

after that, it's mainly just putting things on in the right order, which isn't all that hard to do. might want to get your flywheel resurfaced at the same time

I would check the pedal assembly where it attaches to the firewall. If you heard the ping inside the truck it was probably the bracket finally breaking. This happened to my brothers 4runner and it does act like it won't shift correctly because the clutch isn't disengaging all the way. This could also happen if the clutch release arm on the bell housing is bent or has come off of its fulcrum or if the slave cylinder is bad. Hope it is something simple.

Paul

I hope so too... I'll replace my clutch later on if it's just something I can fix easily... thanks for all the input, guys!

Yep...check the bracket, man. If it cracks (which they do), it flexes on depression of the pedal, just like these guys have said. It's then like trying to shift with your pedal only half-way pressed. It will grind in reverse, etc. Easy check, easy fix.

So, if it is cracked, I should pull it out and weld it? or should I just replace it?

Yep...that would work just fine. It doesn't have to be exact to the hundredth of an inch...just not flex when you step on the pedal :)

Heh heh... ok, it looks like the linkage assembly is flexing a bit now... but, it's going into reverse just fine now.. wtf?? I haven't driven it in a couple of days... dang it... this is confusing!