manual trans intermittently getting stuck in gear

98 tacoma 4wd, V6, manual transmission

in the past two weeks this has happened 3 times now, once in first gear and twice in reverse:

i put the clutch pedal to the floor and engage shifter in gear, only instead of having the usual inch or two of pedal travel until the clutch engages, it grabs immediately once pressure is slightly reduced on the clutch pedal (releasing from the floor to move the vehicle). it jerks the truck quickly and noticed the idle rpms have bogged down from the usual 750rpm to about 400rpm while stopped with the clutch and brake pedals both pressed down. while this is happening i cannot force the shifter out of gear at all. have to make sure i have the brakes on tight and that i dont let the clutch out at all or the truck will scoot out so fast it'll either stall or smash into a parked vehicle behind me (this almost happened while parallel parking)

turn the engine off, shifter instantly can pop of out gear easy as normal, restart it and everything works all fine again as usual. its only happened at low speeds so far, no gears whining or grinding, no issues getting into or popping out of gears, just random intermittent getting stuck in first or reverse.

clutch and all associated bearings only have 9000kms on them, ALSO throwout bearing starting chirping intermittently when all this started too.

thoughts??? i was thinking possibly an internal leak in the hydraulic linkages/cylinders any insight to narrow the diagnosis down?

 

only so many possible issues. the clutch system is very simple.

1, the throwout bearing blew and isn't pushing the clutch down as far as it should. (most likely) you should be able to check by getting down there and trying to wiggle the fork. there shouldn't be any play.

2, the pivot bolt is gone so the clutch is sitting further out than it should (wait, do we have a pivot bolt?)

3, low on fluid, or air in the system.

4, slave cylinder is bad and isn't being pressed down all the way

5, master cylinder is bad and isnt pushing enough fluid through the system.

6, clutch pedal is out of adjustment (not sure if there is an adjustment btw).

clutch pedal may not be adjusted. there should be an adjustment screw pushing the master cylinder in.

 

Is the master full of fluid? If not, start w/#4.

If yes, start w/#5

 

I’m having almost the same exact issue. What did it end up being?

 

I get from Torque Bind are you in 4 wheel drive??

 

Step 1 is look in the clutch fluid reservior and see if it is empty