3.4 V6 Clutch Orientation - Important!

Just wanted to put this out there...clutch disc plate orientation on the 3.4 V6 - the raised center housing side MUST go towards the flywheel. This is the metal housing that contains the springs. It actually sinks into the flywheel and will sit in place by itself while you put the pressure plate on. On most vehicles, the raised center housing is orientated towards the pressure plate. NOT ON THE 3.4!

The clutch disc will install either way...but will only work and shift correctly as stated!

I have probably done this operation 15 times but last time I was having a brain fart from a million other things with a motor swap and messed this up! Do not listen to other forums or Mustang guys or even most mechanics...they are all wrong lol. YouTube videos suck too, they never actually show the orientation happening "real time".

Hope this helps everyone from making a huge time consuming mistake!

 

i made sure a triple checked this when i put my clutch in. i also did it during a motor swap lol

 

I wonder if this is what accounted for the time over summer that this local transmission shop installed my performance clutch in backwards...thing was toast within a week. At least thats how Toyota explained their mistake to me when I had to have them fix it.

 

What happens if you put it in backwards?

 

It works for a little while, then all the symptoms of a failing clutch start to show up within a few days. Basically drastically shortens its lifespan.

First thing I noticed right off the bat was that my shifter was getting extremely hot on long drives, something it never did before and hasn't done since I got a new clutch put in.

 

Great heads up on this issue! This is why it's always important to make note of how things came apart. Taking pictures helps, too.

 

Good to know!

 

With mine in backwards, it wouldn't even shift into gear. So I knew right away it was wrong. I literally tried for 20 minutes to get the stick to go in the slots. Nope. factory Toyota OEM disc.

 

Nice. Thanks for putting this out there. Good to know type of stuff.

 

Thanks from me too, in my case in the clutch and pressure plate removed from the vehicle would not actually go back together the wrong way, however the new parts would, and to make it worse the instructions with the new clutch specifically had a picture and a caption telling you to put it back together incorrectly per this thread. No wonder there are loads out there wrong.

Neil,

04 Tacoma V6 4WD.

 

Subbed for future reference!

 

from the manual.

 

I just replaced my clutch on a 2002 with 255K on it. I had to make sure the mechanic knew the orientation of the clutch disc. He argued a little bit, then I showed him the FSM. Anyway the original spring side seemed to be much more pronounced than the one in the Aisin kit I bought. Why is that?