Clutch won't disengage. Clutch or hydraulics failure? '04 2WD

A few days ago I drove into work with nothing out of the ordinary. When I went to leave, the pedal initially felt normal, but over about 15mi it progressively released lower and lower until it stopped releasing entirely and the pedal felt softer by then. I figured the MC failed, so I replaced it first(and I have a new slave on-hand too). I'm not confident that I got all the air out, but the slave does move the fork about an inch. However, I can push the pedal to the floor easily with my hand and the clutch still doesn't disengage(the pedal always had a rather heavy feel). The end of the fork is also not aligned with the slave push rod; it's about 1/2" lower so the rod is angled.

I'm going to replace the slave today, thoroughly rebleed, and double-check the pedal adjustments. I don't know if the clutch is original. If it is, it has about 230,000mi. I also have a new clutch and flywheel if it comes to that. I'm just trying to avoid dropping the trans right now.

Does this sound more like a clutch/fork failure or a problem with the hydraulics?

 

Sounds exactly what happened to mine.

I replaced the slave first because it was cheapest.

My issue ended up being the master. Once replaced it was fixed.

 

Sounds like the fork pivot pin broke/fell out/wore through or the fork cracked/broke if the slave rod won't align on fork.

 

Definitely something I'll check. If that's the case, hopefully it didn't break the pivot post ear off of the bellhousing.

 

Annnnd....the fork is broken in half. Guess I'm dropping the trans.

 

I was gonna say check the fork for cracks. Had that happen to me about 2 weeks after I put a new clutch in so I had to drop the trans again. At least your 2wd. That should be a cake walk.

 

Once you said the slave cylinder was not lined up I knew it was the clutch fork.

one way or another .

 

I have my R150F 4WD tranny out for rebuild now. It is well worth the extra money to put a new 31204-35031 clutch release arm (fork) in now ($29 shipped on EBAY). I sure don't want to pull and reinstall this tranny more than once especially in the summer heat. Thanks for the heads-up!

 

wish I would have known it was fairly common on these trucks at the time, I would have swapped it with the clutch as well, but I had to learn the hard way, halfway to Moab. I’ve been meaning to get another for a spare just in case

 

$29 shipped is the best price I saw for a new OEM Toyota clutch fork for my '97 V6 Taco 4WD with R150F tranny: GENUINE TOYOTA / LEXUS 3120435031 MANY MODELS CLUTCH RELEASE FORK 31204-35031! | eBay

EDIT: Just degreased and checked my original OEM clutch fork. There was significant wear on all the contact points. It was definitely time to replace it.

 

Well, I already ordered a

$27 31204-20071 Clutch Fork Sub-Assembly

31204-20071 fork. What's different about the -35031? It looks like its indicated for 2.7 and 3.4 Tacomas whereas the -20071 is for those and 2.4s. In any case, if the new one breaks even 100K from now, it will likely be someone else's problem. I'm also replacing the pivot stud and rear main seal since it's apart. $30 for that seal stung a bit.

 

Well, the -20071 fork looks just like the old one. Minus the cracks, of course.



All done and buttoned-up. New clutch feels much lighter than the old (apparently aftermarket LUK) one, so I suspect that either there was chronic binding in the release system or the pressure plate was unusually stiff, leading to increased stresses that caused the old fork to fail. It had been cracking for a long time before it failed completely. Pivot stud was in decent shape, but replaced it anyway.

Parts tally:
Clutch kit
Flywheel
Rear main seal ($30, ouch.)
Clutch fork
Fork pivot stud
Pilot bearing (Autozone Duralast clutch kit was supposed to come with one, but didn't . Luckily I already had two.) FYI: It's just an industry-standard 6201-2RS ball bearing.
Clutch master cylinder
Clutch slave cylinder
Slave cylinder hard line (old one was damaged)
Marlin Crawler shifter bushings.(Planned to replace them anyway. Good thing too; the original big one fell to bits in my hand.)

I also learned that it's a PITA to pull the transmission on a five-lug truck. It has to be rotated 90° onto the fork side and stuffed back into the tunnel, then the clutch has to come off before there's enough space to pull it out. I guess the FSM says to pull the engine too. Yeah....no.