DIY Clutch Replacement

[Grisha]

Originally Posted by ermax

No you don't need to mess with the one in blue. I took this picture from another thread. The pins in red need to be flipped up and then pulled out. That whole aluminum part comes loose once those pins are removed.

Makes sense.. I had a feeling that I’m still attached to the shifter tower. Going back in the garage tonight, thanks man! I appreciate you so much.

[Grisha]

16 hours later, I'm finally driving my car. Man, this project was harder than doing a TOB on my A4 Audi. Not having a lift or heated garage really makes this worse. Thanks for OP for all the pictures, couldn't do it without them! Also thanks to ermax!

Couple questions though:
1. How concerned should I be about a ripped rubber boot on the shifter linkage? I DD in the Midwestern winter and there's a lot of salt here.
2. There was a cotter pin with a washer on the shifter linkage. I did not replace the washer. Should I be concerned?

[ermax]

The washer probably isn’t an issue but if you’re on salted roads then the boot may be worth replacing. I’m in Florida so I’m not at all concerned about mine. It’s a shame it’s so damn hard to get off and on. I was thinking maybe it would help to heat it up a little so it stretches more easily.

So 16 hours. I bet if you had to do it again it wouldn’t take anywhere near as long. Although I’ve said this about a lot of jobs but then years down the road when I have to do the same job I’ve completely forgotten what all the hang ups were on the first go around. I don’t even consider my self old yet. Hahaha

[H1C]

I tackled this job about six weeks ago. Thank you so much to the OP and to everyone who shared tips from their experience doing this job -- they were all very helpful.

I have to say that this job is not something I would want to do again. I have an auto-x buddy who's a Toyota tech who offered to do it for me for very cheap at his dealership, but he couldn't fit me in to his schedule right away, and my TOB was squealing so loudly that it seemed like it could go at any moment, so I decided to do it myself over a weekend.

Here are some things I learned while doing this job:

-- If you're going to support the engine at the oil pan, use a block of wood or something that spans the whole pan to distribute the load -- and not, say, a hockey puck on your jack pad -- otherwise you'll wind up putting a dent in your oil pan like I did to mine . Being OCD, I wound up replacing the oil pan, and that was almost as much of a pain as pulling the transmission. Toyota FIPG is a bitch to cut through.
-- If you replace your clutch disc with an OEM one, you'll need to get an alignment tool. I got this one: https://www.amazon.com/ACT-AT90-Clut...dp/B0058IEEEC/
-- You really have to carefully center the clutch disc, crouching up in the transmission tunnel to look at it square on. Otherwise the transmission will not slide back on.
-- Even doing that, and playing with the engine and trans angles with the jack under the engine and a tilting transmission jack, I had to torque the trans bolts to get it to slide back on the final couple of inches.
-- Toyota and Subaru really cheaped out on the original TOB. With 40,000 miles, my clutch disc had hardly any wear, and there was hardly any dust in the bell housing when I opened it up. The TOB, on the other hand, was completely dried out, crunchy, and was seizing a bit on the input shaft sleeve. I think the dried out TOB's sliding on the input shaft sleeve was the cause of the clutch honking noise I've had since the car had only a couple of thousand miles on it.
-- I followed Verus Eric and used Sil-glyde to lubricate the new TOB and clutch fork contact points: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zy4latxiIw[/ame]


-- That rubber boot: I spent about 15 minutes trying to stretch it over the linkage to get at the cotter pin and then gave up. I don't think the body of the boot serves much of a purpose, as its horizontal opening isn't tightly sealed at all. I left the top of it intact, as that seemed to be pressed up into where the linkage comes down out of the interior, presumably to seal moisture out of the interior of the shifter console.


I have my doubts about the updated TOB part too. I used the updated Toyota part number from the 2017 TSB. It was buttery smooth and completely silent for the first couple of weeks, but now I can hear it whirring when the clutch is engaged, and the pedal action has become very slightly 'grainy' already, like I can feel the bearings inside the TOB. When my original TOB started going bad, the pedal action was noticeably crunchy or grainy feeling.

Those of you who've had the new TOB for a while, how's it holding up?

[reeves]

Originally Posted by Grisha

16 hours later, I'm finally driving my car. Man, this project was harder than doing a TOB on my A4 Audi. Not having a lift or heated garage really makes this worse. Thanks for OP for all the pictures, couldn't do it without them! Also thanks to ermax!

Couple questions though:
1. How concerned should I be about a ripped rubber boot on the shifter linkage? I DD in the Midwestern winter and there's a lot of salt here.
2. There was a cotter pin with a washer on the shifter linkage. I did not replace the washer. Should I be concerned?

Glad you were able to get the job done! I hadn't been around here as much lately or I would've chimed in with some tips too. It took me a week to change my clutch so you did alot better than me lol

As much as I hated working on my car in 90 degree weather and 100% humidity, I'd take that over a freezing garage any day

I think I'm just gonna fork up the $1K and get a sane mechanic to do the job for me next time.

[reeves]

Originally Posted by H1C

I tackled this job about six weeks ago. Thank you so much to the OP and to everyone who shared tips from their experience doing this job -- they were all very helpful.

I have to say that this job is not something I would want to do again.
......

Those of you who've had the new TOB for a while, how's it holding up?

I agree with both those sentiments. Members here have been really helpful with advice.. But I wouldn't want to do it again if I had a choice.

I only drove my car for about 3 months & 2K miles on the new TOB before my car was totaled, but I never experienced any issues you're describing.

if I get another 86, I'm definitely getting an '18 or newer to [hopefully] avoid the defective TOB.

[Grisha]

Originally Posted by reeves

Glad you were able to get the job done! I hadn't been around here as much lately or I would've chimed in with some tips too. It took me a week to change my clutch so you did alot better than me lol

As much as I hated working on my car in 90 degree weather and 100% humidity, I'd take that over a freezing garage any day

16 hours were broken down to 7 hours on a Sunday night (couldn't get the tranny out, had to go home, warm up and reach out for help), then another 5 on Monday night after work (10pm-3am), then another 4 on Tuesday night to bolt everything back up. I will take 90F weather over 12F any day
Thanks for your reply!

[H1C]

Originally Posted by reeves

I agree with both those sentiments. Members here have been really helpful with advice.. But I wouldn't want to do it again if I had a choice.

I only drove my car for about 3 months & 2K miles on the new TOB before my car was totaled, but I never experienced any issues you're describing.

if I get another 86, I'm definitely getting an '18 or newer to [hopefully] avoid the defective TOB.

Sorry that you lost your 86 -- especially after putting all that work into this job -- I hope you're ok!


I'm probably just being overly sensitive to noise. It's definitely a lot healthier sounding and feeling than when the original TOB went bad. That high-pitched whirring and squealing got progressively louder, and the pedal action was really noticeably crunchy. Time will tell how well this updated TOB holds up. I'm hoping it's a lot more than 40,000 miles.

[86league]

Thanks for the info in this thread - very helpful... Did mine this weekend with the expert assistance of @Joesurf79. Thanks Joe!

Old TOB was shot, but I caught it before it did a lot of damage. Puddle in the bell housing where it had lost all of it's grease. Little bit of play in the bearing, but it sounded dry and rough :

35k miles on the clutch and ~20 track weekends. 18k of those were by the first owner, so I didn't really know what to expect. Turns out things looked good. Old disk had 1.7mm of material left before the rivets. New one had 2.0mm. Service manual says to replace if it's below 0.3mm.

Pressure plate fingers were a little worn, but otherwise looked OK :

Replaced the disk, pressure plate, fork, fork pivot, and the TOB. Used the old flywheel. Nice quiet clutch again. Given the wear I should be able to go 150,000 miles on this clutch... or 35,000 until the TOB fails again...

[Joesurf79]

Originally Posted by 86league

... Given the wear I should be able to go 50,000 miles on this clutch... or 2 years until we're both tracking Cayman or C7s.

Fixed that quote for ya Fun times, glad to help! Got home, ate some gumbo, built a shelf, and took a huge nap lol!

[radon55]

I took a look through the thread, but couldn't find similar questions. It looks like the service manual says to not add any grease to the indicated section of the shaft. However in all the DIY's I have seen, everyone applies grease along both the spline and solid shaft area.

Anyone have any clarification?

[reeves]

Originally Posted by radon55

I took a look through the thread, but couldn't find similar questions. It looks like the service manual says to not add any grease to the indicated section of the shaft. However in all the DIY's I have seen, everyone applies grease along both the spline and solid shaft area.

Anyone have any clarification?

Yes, you are suppose to grease that portion. But you're only suppose to put a TINY bit on there. Reason is, when the TOB slides back & forth on it, if there's too much grease, the grease might fling off and get on the surface of the pressure plate... or something like that. It's been a while since I did it, but I read or saw that somewhere.

If the manual tells you to grease the inside part of the TOB, then maybe that's why it's saying not to grease the spline. But I grease both parts, the spline and the bearing. Just make sure you wipe off any excess grease, so you only have a very thin layer on there.

When you slide the bearing back & forth on the spline, any excess grease will build up in front of the bearing. Just wipe that off and you should be good.

[radon55]

Originally Posted by reeves

Yes, you are suppose to grease that portion. But you're only suppose to put a TINY bit on there. Reason is, when the TOB slides back & forth on it, if there's too much grease, the grease might fling off and get on the surface of the pressure plate... or something like that. It's been a while since I did it, but I read or saw that somewhere.

If the manual tells you to grease the inside part of the TOB, then maybe that's why it's saying not to grease the spline. But I grease both parts, the spline and the bearing. Just make sure you wipe off any excess grease, so you only have a very thin layer on there.

When you slide the bearing back & forth on the spline, any excess grease will build up in front of the bearing. Just wipe that off and you should be good.

Thanks for the clarification!

[Pwoods]

Has anyone checked out the video on YouTube where a guy drops the trans out of one of these cars in 20 min? There is no need to take the shifter out, everything can be done from underneath the car except removing the slave cylinder and a ground wire on top of the bell housing. This clutch, TOB, etc. replacement is pretty easy. I did mine a couple weeks ago in a total of 2 hrs.


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