DFW Clutch Replacement

Hello,

2014 TRD Off Road.

I’ve been taking all of our Tacomas (‘98, ‘14 OR, ‘22 OR, already out of warranty) to Pratt Automotive in south Fort Worth for years and they’ve always been great. I’ve never needed a repair done, though, just maintenance. They were sold two years ago, and the new owners picked up where the old owners left off, as far as I can tell so far. But I’ve only needed recommended maintenance done.

My clutch started to feel loose this week. Like, no resistance at the top until about the last 25% at the floor. no issues shifting or slipping. So I took it in and they called and said total clutch replacement. I’ve never owned/regularly driven an automatic transmission. I’ve been driving for over 20 years. Never had a clutch go out over about 500,000 miles and several vehicles in my lifetime, but I’ve always heard it was a roughly $1-1,500 job. I was a little shocked when I heard a quote this evening for $3,700. Even with inflation and time, that seems extreme.

Any recommendations in the Fort Worth area? Willing to venture somewhat outside south Fort Worth for a quality, trusted shop that does good work for a fair price. If $3,700 is the going rate for this job these days, I’m fine with that. I just wanted to check.

I’ve got a call in to another shop, and they do a lot of off road work on Toyotas. I was quoted a much different price (roughly half, but not OEM parts) for the same job I was told needed to be done by the first place, but they said to bring it in so they can give their opinion on what needs to be done, and I appreciate that, so I’m going to do it.

TL;DR any recommendations for clutch repair/replacement for a 2014 Tacoma OR manual in the Fort Worth area? Or, roughly, what should parts/labor be for a total replacement? Is aisen a recommended clutch replacement clutch for this truck?

Many, many thanks ahead of time.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/texas.46/

You'll likely get more info over here

 

check out precision transmission, amarillo, i think they do manuals also, they have a you tube channel

 

thank you!

Amarillo is a little far. I’m not sure I’d want to drive that far on this clutch, honestly, but I appreciate you responding.

 

It might just be a hydraulic problem. Look at the slave cylinder throw and see if it's moving a normal distance. If it's not pushing far enough then you likely have a leaking master cylinder or slave cylinder

If the slave is moving a normal amount of distance then the problem has to be the clutch h unit in the bell housing

 

Depending on which clutch parts you chose, you can spend $600 pretty easy on parts alone (clutch disk, pressure plate and hardware). Quick ballpark on labor metric is to multiply parts by 3, so I could see a shop charging $2400. $3700 seems a little steep for an honest day of work IMHO.

 

Thank you both! Called a different place and they are checking parts, but he said labor would be less than $1,000 and he didn’t think the parts would be too crazy. I will take it there Monday so they can check it out, see if everything needs to be replaced and give me a quote.

just so I’m better informed, the second place mentioned an Asin clutch replacement kit. Can anyone recommend a clutch replacement kit for the TRD Off Roads? Is it the same clutch in the non-TRD manual Tacomas?

 

Aisin is fine
Exedy is fine

OR and regular have the same clutch

Only thing that makes a OffRoad is Bilstein shocks and the locking diff

 

Tandem off-road in Haltom City
Goode's off-road in Dallas area
Jeremi's Auto Repair in Mansfield


Call those and get comps.

 

Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll just need bled and adjusted.
Please keep us posted on what they say.

 

There's no adjustments on a hydraulic clutch. You really shouldn't be messing with the pushrod adjustment at the pedal to alleviate a problem.

The only reason to bleed would be if air was introduced to the hydraulic line. Like during replacement of a component or if there was a leak somewhere

 

The 6spd manual transmission in Tacomas is built for Toyota by Aisin so an Aisin clutch kit is what all manual Tacomas got from the factory. There's no difference between the Sport, SR5 and Off-Road there. That said, there are much more expensive options available but many argue the best bang for the buck is the Aisin. It's been my choice in a few different Toyota applications.

 

Great to know. Thank you both. I’ll probably stick with the Asin since it’s a 2014 and they were designed for the truck. I don’t do anything extreme.

 

Appreciate the reply. Tandem is the place I called after my first estimate. Spoke with Pablo and liked what he had to say right off the bat. Will look at Goode’s and Jeremy’s also.

 

Not trying to nag here, but anybody can quote a clutch over the phone. The question isn't who has the best price, but "does it even need one"

The symptoms you described in the first post sound like a bad master cylinder

 

X2

My truck had symptoms very much like OP about 2 years ago. Took too Toyota dealer and they found bad seal inside the master cylinder. Went ahead and had new master and slave cylinders installed, problem fixed.

Cost was around $900 with OEM parts and stealership rates. At the same time they quoteed me $1700 for a full clutch replacement should that have been needed as well. Again this was 2 years ago, may be little higher now but the $3700 you were quoted seems out of line.

 

I appreciate the responses.

The first place looked at my truck. I dropped it off Friday and they diagnosed it, then provided a quote. The second place provided a quote based on the diagnosis of the first place, but I’m also going to take my truck to them to get a second opinion, because the person I spoke with was also unsure if I actually needed a clutch replacement based on what I described.

 

Pablo/Tandem does good work; I've had my truck there several times over the years.

 

I had my clutch and flywheel done back a while back at Eagle Transmission in Watauga. No issues with me bringing in the clutch kit and flywheel from URD for them to install. I've also had good experience with Ratchet Brothers near Alliance Town Center and they work on all kinds of lifted trucks.

 

It was the master cylinder. When I dropped it off, one of the guys came out and drove it with me next to him. Wasn’t convinced it was a clutch issue, so I left it for them to check out. After looking at it, they called and said there was an issue with the master and his recommendation was to replace it and the slave, so that’s what we’re gonna do. Should be ready tomorrow afternoon (timing was another issue. My usual shop closes between Christmas and New Year’s Day and they didn’t have the part. I didn’t want to be without a truck for over two weeks, or worried about getting stranded).

I appreciate all of the replies and suggestions.