Broken clutch pedal pivot point

Hey everybody,

My truck went down the other day because of a poorly engineered plastic piece. I’m certain other people have had this problem, but I didn’t see any articles related directly to this so I just wanted to help out as well as warn people who still have this part on their truck, to save time, effort, and worry.

If you have a second gen Tacoma with a manual trans, under your clutch pedal is the pushrod going into the clutch master cylinder. On the end of the push rod is this pedal free-play adjustment setup, plus a little metal ball style pivot point on the very end that sinks into a socket under the pedal.

From the factory, the main body of this piece (sorry, I’ve forgotten the correct terminology) is made of plastic and has a metal part stuck into it on each end (I.e. the pivot ball, as well as the adjustment nut) and each of those has a slight shank on it going into a bore through the plastic body. Then right in the middle of that bore, is a space of hollow nothingness. Which is of course where mine broke.

So I called a mechanic in town looking for this specific piece, he couldn’t help. I called the closest Toyota dealer, and was told they discontinued the entire clutch master cylinder.. that worried me a minute. But after checking rock auto, I saw that the aftermarket ones come with an all metal pivot point.

So anyway, hopefully that will save you a few steps if you are reading this. Whether yours broke or you are curious, I definitely would recommend replacing this or having a spare with you. I had to buy a whole clutch master cylinder for the piece, but I’ll just stick it away for later.

Moving on to changing the part out; with your back to the floor of the cab, push the clutch pedal in a little and pop the spring off the top of the pedal. Right at the very tip, you’ll see a gap that the spring leg pops through, don’t overthink it. Be careful not to lose the plastic piece attached to where the spring pivots. The spring isn’t too strong so I just did this bare handed. Next, unbolt the clutch pedal from its bracket and waggle it out of there. When you do, some pieces may fall. The clutch pedal parts you’re dealing with include: 1 bolt with washer and nut, and then the falling pieces will be two plastic flangey things and the metal tube that the bolt goes through (all pictured).

So, now you just screw the new piece on the end of the push rod. Clean and grease everything, practice putting the pivot point into the pedal before putting it back together so you know what it feels like. Screw the pedal adjuster on as far as you can. Re-insert pedal with all it’s extra bits in it. Forewarning: this will be very difficult to line back up. There’s kinda two brackets coming together right where that clutch pedal bolt goes and if their holes aren’t lined up, you’ll know real quick. You kinda just have to hurt and cuss and move stuff until it decides to sink. Now the nut was originally facing the transmission, but I saw it impossible to put the bolt back and I had a better time putting it in the other way. That’s up to you. After you have the pedal back in, gently pull up on it unscrew the adjuster as much as you can until sits tightly in its socket. That put my clutch about where I wanted it, however, I’ve replaced my clutch assembly, so if you have the original clutch you might need to adjust it differently than mine. Also note that the new pushrod adjuster is slightly longer than the original, and my clutch feel now has a whole different dynamic going. (Check your shop manual/favorite forum for more adjustment procedure info and always check for clutch slip on your test ride by getting into a mid range gear and hammering the throttle.) Now all that’s left is to replace the pedal-assist spring. Take extra care to make sure that the plastic spring pivot goes on correctly and pop the other end back into the pedal. All done, you can relax your neck now.

I hope this helps someone and even if your piece hasn’t broken, I strongly advise having an extra one when traveling. I will take questions/give further advice but your vehicle is your own responsibility if you mess with this.

Thanks for reading and being a part of this amazing resource.

 

I once saw a guy's build list claim he had metal pedals from a manual FJ Cruiser, suggesting that stock Tacoma parts are plastic.
Not sure if that's the same thing as this, and if the affected part is also metal on the FJ.
I wonder why they'd use metal over plastic on an FJ but not Tacoma. As if the FJ is some dedicated off-road vehicle and no other Toyota is. Even though Toyota trucks have been off road for over 30 years.
As anything with a 4x4 low range transfer case system is designed to do, really...

 

That is weird if they wouldn’t put them the same, they’re basically the same truck underneath.

The actual pedals themselves in this tacoma are plastic, yes. I don’t really have a problem with that, they are built ok. Probably would suit me better in an accident because my giant feet barely fit down there anyway, metal ones could likely do more damage to your ankles maybe?

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/daves-drivers-truck.659667/#post-23055719