Bizarre clutch fail 200 + miles from home - thoughts??

Hi, folks - proud original owner of a 2001 Tacoma here, first post. I need opinions!

I have a 145,000 miles on my 2001 Tacoma 4x4 Xtra Cab, manual transmission. Up until about 2 years ago, my truck has been THE most reliable vehicle I've ever had; I've always been on top of the maintenance, and sought out mechanics who use the the best parts (not the cheapest cr@p they can find). A little over a year ago, I had a total mechanical clutch rebuild done, and it's been nothing but weirdo problems ever since. The latest 'event' cost me a $$$ tow and an unexpected rental car cost and I am none too happy. I'm trying to assess what the Hey happened.

I had the truck out, alone, in a fairly remote area of Arizona, but I was not off road or anything 'special'. I had driven down a simple dirt road for a stretch that day, but I hadn't even bothered to engage 4WD. The truck was 'fine' Saturday. Sunday morning, I got ready to depart the 'historical' (read: run down) motel I was at, and suddenly to my shock, found I could NOT, no way, no how, normally engage the gear lever to shift into first - or any other gear - after starting the engine. The lever was was locked physically in neutral. Interestingly? enough, if I had the ignition OFF, pressed the clutch all the way in, *then* and only then, could i move the lever into a gear position, and turning on the ignition, I could move the truck. But the instant I tried then to shift gears - no joy. During all this I don't recall the clutch pedal feeling odd - just the lever.

Being some 200 miles from home at that point - and Sunday morning, too boot - I had to have the truck towed some 20 plus miles away to the nearest town with a shop. Waaay too many hours later, Glossing over some 'attitude problems' of the shop, they told me they could not reproduce my problem nor find anything significantly wrong with my clutch or my hydraulics! Now, obviously (based on what the charged me) they didn't take apart my clutch or anything, but sure enough, when I got her back, she drove 'just like normal', although I swear the clutch feels a bit.. different. Tighter? I dunno. I could be imagining that. All I know is, I want to know, what the flip happened, as, after 15 years, I kinda know how to get my truck into gear!

I'd seen this post:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/taco-stuck-n-neutral.304972/

And this is what scares me - that I have some more significant mechanical breakdown going on like this. I recall when my clutch was rebuilt, the mechanic I was using then had to mount the flywheel twice, as in, replace it twice, as the first replacement would not balance and he deemed it out of round. So I'm wondering if my 1 year old clutch parts are aftermarket cheap junk.

I spoke to two mechanics in town I trust, one says he thinks I have a mechanical clutch component going; the other thinks it had to be hydraulic (because of how sudden this happened and no other symptoms). But if it is indeed hydraulic, why are all my fluid levels fine? I don't know what to think, other than I don't want to get stranded like that again.

Suggestions? Theories? Similar experiences?

 

i had a jeep do something similar, all of the sudden wouldnt go into gear when running, had a leaking slave cylinder, some trucks have them intergrated in with the brake master cylinder so some fluid could have sloshed over to the side with the fluid for the clutch. some hjave a small resevoir for the clutch master cylinder. might wanna keep an eye on that. im not sure which one yours has. my dad had problems with a shifter bushing in his 1st gen but not like your describing, his would randomly fall out of gear, still might be something to look at.

i also put a cheap parts store clutch kit in the jeep whe the slave cylinder started leaking and it failed a year later.