Clutch/Transmission squeal sound - Video Included

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Joined
Mar 18, 2018
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Location
Crozet, VA
Hey Mud

I would appreciate some help finding a solution to this new sound my 60 is making. It starts around 1200 RPMs and stops at around 1500 RPMs.

It's coming from the transmission area and stops when I barely touch my foot to the clutch.




Input shaft?

Throw out Bearing?

Thanks
 
throw out bearing would make sense because you can make it go away by touching the clutch pedal. In an 87 the TO bearing is in contact with the fingers of the clutch pressure plate when the foot is off the pedal or basically always in contact and spinning. Unfortunately you have to pull the trans out to replace the TO bearing. Remove the dust cover at the bottom of the flywheel, watch what is happening. You can also reach up in there and put some grease on it, of course while it's not running. While your there check the fork for wear at the pivot point and where it contacts the clutch slave. Also grease those points. Use NLGI 2..the tacky stuff. If its worn too bad it can affect how much pressure is put on the TO bearing and clutch.
 
Thanks g man.
That's what I was afraid of. I am pretty sure I have a front seal leak as well, so all signs are starting to point to dropping the transmission.


Time to start learning and gathering tools!
 
That's the clutch throw out bearing losing contact with the pressure plate springs... and grinding. As g-man mentioned, on your '87 the bearing is held in constant contact with the pressure plate springs and is supposed to spin continuously whether the clutch pedal is depressed or not. If the bearing starts binding OR the clutch hydraulic the slave cylinder spring doesn't apply enough pressure, the contact surface on the bearing will lose its grip and start grinding the springs. The contact is only smooth metal on smooth metal, so it doesn't take much internal friction on the bearing to break the grip.

Usually that symptom (grinding throw out bearing) happens when the car is cold in the morning and the bearing's internal lube hasn't warmed up. Usually once it gets hot, the bearing loosens up and the bearing can then grip the clutch tangs without slipping.

What To Do:

DO NOT lubricate the contact surface interface of the TO bearing to clutch springs with anything. Don't spray anything up there. Lubricant will only make the symptoms worse. You want the bearing contact surface to grip the springs, not slide on them. It's the sliding right now that's causing that noise.

Replace the clutch hydraulic slave cylinder with a brand new TOYOTA slave cylinder. Don't use any other brand. Aftermarket slaves have been known to have weaker springs which can cause your problem.

When the T.O. bearing is making that noise, fully depress the clutch and just hold it down for several minutes while the engine is idling. The faster the idle the better. Then when you get bored of that, apply light pressure on the clutch pedal just enough to stop it, but not so much as to put pressure on the clutch. Keep your foot lightly in the pedal for as long as it takes until the sound eventually goes away after the bearing heats up. Applying light pressure on the bearing assures that it's spinning, and if it spins long enough (with the proper slave) it should ease up and spin more freely. The key word is "should"

You might have to drive around for a while with your clutch foot lightly resting on the clutch pedal (but not engaging the clutch) to allow enough time for the bearing to heat up and spin better.

This is usually a symptom of disuse and old bearing, but I've had a brand new Toyota T.O. bearing do the same thing for several weeks (not as loud as yours) until it finally loosened up.

If you can't get it to stop making that racket no matter what you try after a long period of time-- might as well just let it grind until you can eventually replace the clutch stuff. It doesn't matter if it grinds & grinds if you're going to replace it anyway. Because once the transmission is dropped all the clutch components get replaced anyway, so ground down spring tips won't make any difference anyway.
 
Wow. You guys are awesome.

It only starts making the noise when I get to about 1200 RPMs, and then it stops making a noise after I get to 1500 RPMs.

so it is just that sweet spot between 12 and 15 where loses grip with a bearing?
 
Its slipping at the RPM that triggers it.
 
So if it's not making the noise at 800 RPMsidle, that means the bearing should be catching and warming up even an idle, tight?
 
i did an H55 swap into my 62 last year...so my t/o bearing was brand new...but in the first week i was hearing something similar from my truck...check it out
My H55 swap thread

my stuff was brand new so it wasn't likely a bad t/o bearing - but you get the idea...that sound you're hearing might be the t/o bearing slipping against the fingers of the diaphragm spring on the pressure plate.

multiple tries at clutch pedal freeplay got it resolved.
 
@mwebfj60 you're right, I should check that. I'll measure pedal height and check the fsm. Maybe a quick pedal height adjustment will clear it up. Thanks
 
@OSS I don't think grease between front of the bearing and the fingers on the pressure plate is going to hurt anything. The Throwout bearing doesn't grab the fingers on the clutch plate ..only force them inward to make the flywheel and clutch material grab. So if it's greasy and spinning it will still move in and put pressure and do it's job. But if the TO bearing is failing because it's dried up or the internal bearings are worn then it needs replacing. If the fork or the clutch slave is worn and not pushing the TO bearing with enough force then It's possible that the bearing surface is slipping on the clutch fingers.

And this says to grease the front of the TO bearing and the fork points:

upload_2019-1-12_13-23-7.webp
 
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This truck has been an on again off again project for me please the last couple of years. I had a mechanic put a used engine into it no more than 500 miles ago. When we put the engine in, we also put a new clutch in it, so the clutch parts are essentially new. Unless of course he didn't do something probably and things have worn prematurely

The truck had either been sitting in my driveway, at a mechanic shop or at the body shop. I finally came to the conclusion that if I don't start doing as much as possible on my open, this thing is going to bankrupt me. But I've always liked working on vehicles and I have aa few tools, so hhereI am, becoming more and more active on here. Thank god for this resource.

Anyway, clutch stuff is pretty knew. I'm going to assist pedal height. If that doesn't help, I'm going to look into greasing the bearing then changing the clutch slave. Then go from there. Dropping tranny is last resort.

Thanks again
 
You've got a point there @g-man. Grease will ease the screech, but it won't solve the problem of a sticky bearing. That recommendation is only for a brand new bearing just installed. It's not a service or maintenance recommendation. Eventually any lube applied to the contact surface of the bearing will burn off pretty quickly anyway I guess, so it probably doesn't matter in the end.
 
Ha... Pedal height is 165mm and it's supposed to be 180mm. I don't think correcting pedal height will help. Probably make it worse.
 

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