Has anybody else experienced problems with their clutch pedal?

The feel is terrible, very inconsistent, squeaky, clunky, and sometimes sticks just a little more than halfway up. I had the whole pedal assembly replaced about 10 months ago and I'm back to where I started!

The service advisor mentioned that Toyota changed the "ratchet" mechanism in '98 and it wasn't as good as previous designs? Anyone heard anything like that?

I also have about 2" of play when the pedal is all the way up... is there a way to adjust the pedal?

I realy need your help... this nagging problem is causing me to think about getting another vehicle and I don't want to... I've wanted a 4Runner forever!

Thanks,
~Dave

No other clutch problems, huh?

I think that I'm going to replace the entire system with some after-market components... master cylinder, braided line, and slave cylinder. Time to start some research.

~Dave

FYI... the lousy clutch problem that has bugged me for almost a year was solved by adding a little plastic bushing.

Last Friday I was basically fed up with the clutch and decided I would examine the system from top to bottom. Started at the clutch pedal, looking for the souce of the 2" of slop... the pin that goes through the pedal and connects the master cylinder's piston to the pedal seemed too small so I figured it I would modify the pedal to take up the slop. I thought that I would check with the dealer and have them pull up the exploded view of the pedal assembly... sure enough, there's supposed to be a bushing that goes into the hole through the pedal. $8.02 dealer price (it's worth about $0.03), but I would have paid $30 for it! My 4Runner feels brand new!

I bought the 4Runner almost 1 year ago and had it into the local dealer 4 times for this clutch thing and no one could figure it out. Glad I examined that pedal... I was getting close to test driving a new H3. Whew! That just save me $30k!

Now, I'll be comfortable putting money into the 4Runner... OME here I come!

~Dave

I have also heard that something to do with the mounting bracket can crack, causing some extra play in the pedal.

I am really glad you fixed that i mean an H3? honestly. You might as well get a chevy venture, i work at a GM dealership and i have driven a few, i will honestly say i like the GMC Safari courtesy van with 125000 miles 10X more.

you were going to get a hummer because of a $2 part? lol! now THAT is some funny stuff.

Well... considering that the lack of that $8.02 bushing created an insanely annoying condition that no one could seem to fix (my local dealer even had a conference call with Toyota Engineering in Japan!), I was ready to get rid of the 4Runner! I hated to think of that because I've wanted a gen 3 4Runner for several years!

Needless to say, I am thrilled that I can drive the vehicle normally and have moved forward with my upgrades! OME coils and shocks are ordered and on their way!!

~Dave

I know this thread is a little old, but I just joined today and wanted to add my experience with this part.

I've got a 97 SR5 4Runner that had this bushing replaced twice by two different dealers before 30K in mileage. It now has 126K and the third bushing just wore out today.

I've found a few sites explaining how to replace this bushing on a Tacoma and on a MR5 but nothing specific to the 4Runner yet.

I highly recommend that anyone experienceing a squeaking or grinding from the clutch pedal assembly get this bushing replaced ASAP. When the second bushing wore out (I don't think it had been installed right because it only lasted 2K miles) the clutch pedal bound up with the clutch partially disengaged and so it was slipping severly. Fortunately I was able to pull to the side of the road and stop safely. After about 10 minutes of playing with the pedal assembly it unbound and I was able to continue driving. The next morning I had it at a dealer getting replaced.

From what I have heard, the replacement is not overly complex and would probably make a good article in the 4Runner section.

Mike

The task of replacing the bushing is super easy... took me about 2 minutes in the dealer parking lot without tools. Remove a cotter pin, pull out the through-pin, slide the master cylinder piston bracket out of the way, pull out bushing, apply a little lube, and place new bushing into the pedal. Line up the holes in the bracket with the pedal's hole, insert pin, and replace cotter pin.

I'm thinking about buying another bushing and having a duplicate machined out of bronze for durability.

Don't forget to check your pedal height and free-play.

~Dave

The bushing on mine is where a torsion spring is mounted to the pedal assembly. In order to replace it you need to pull the entire clutch pedal assembly out of the vehicle and place it in a vise to release the tension on the mount.

Fortunately I found a thread on another forum that identified this torsion spring as a change that was implemented in the generation 3 4Runners. Apparently the older generations used a normal pedal return spring, but Toyota decided that the could use the torsion spring and make the clutch easier to depress. Unfortunately they used a small plastic bushing (horseshoe shaped ) where the pedal rotates on the spring. The other thread also identified that the mount points for the older style return spring are still in place and that it is a simple task to remove the torsion spring and replace it with the older style return spring.

So this weekend out comes the torsion spring and in goes the old style one. No more bushings.