Clutch Fork Snapped

Pulled up to a 4-way stop last night, felt a little pop and my clutch pedal hit the floor w/ zero pressure. Got a tow home and swapped out the slave this morning. Bled the slave and still zero pressure, then noticed the slave piston was hitting the clutch fork as a weird angle (not straight), so I took the slave back off and took a closer look at the fork. After removing the rubber boot, realized the clutch fork was completely snapped off and had about 2 inches of play (up/down, not forward/back). This probably means I need a new throw out bearing too (I'm really just talking out of my ass b/c that's just something I just read somewhere online).

Dropping the transmission to remove bell housing is beyond my front-yard DIY capabilities, so the truck is being towed to the auto shop as I write this. Got a quote of 6 hrs labor + who-knows-what-other-damage once they get the transmission open to inspect the break. Hoping to get out the door under a grand but not betting on it. As for me, it's Modelo time now. Figured I'd share this experience in case anyone else with a high-milage first gen runs into this problem.

Too long; didn't read -- clutch fork broke off inside transmission. No clutch pressure. Drank a six pack and hired a real mechanic.

 

Haha. It happens often enough. Toyota reengineered the clutch fork around 2001, so you rarely if ever hear it happening on 2001+ trucks. You're going to want to do the clutch & pilot bearing, also resurface the flywheel if the tranny gets dropped.

 

The mechanic is going to check out the rest of the clutch for issues related to the fork break, but I'm hoping I can avoid that as I had my clutch replaced about two years ago and drive it like an old man.

 

In my youth I replaced quite a few clutches in the Yard .

The down side was losing hardware in the grass .

 

Man - Same here. I used to have a big magnet to go over the gravel and grass to try and find certain things that I lost. I don't miss rolling around on some gravel and having it stick to you. Those were the learning years for sure!

OP - You'll find that separating the trans on the 1st gen is somewhat of a nightmare. If you have a friend or know anybody with a lift that's your best bet. I had to use a come-a-long to pull mine apart. Not advised but it was necessary.

I would think $1000 to $1200 should cover you for a clutch replacement. Once you pull the trans out it's easy to access the shift fork. Good luck!