Clutch Vibration

Im writing this for my brother who is ill and cant do it himself and I
know very little about automobiles so please bare with me.

Because of my bothers illness I helped him with the purchase of a 2002
Tacoma 4X4 w/manual transmission (74,400 miles). The day he test drove
the truck he wasn't feeling well and didn't notice the clutch wasn't
functioning correctly. When I drove the truck I could see the clutch
didn't feel right so I took it back to the dealership and because it's
a "Toyota Certified Vehicle" the dealership said everything but the
clutch would be covered and charged him $350.00. When I picked the
truck up the clutch felt a little better but the truck was still
shuddering when I would take off in first and again when I shifted
from 1st to 2nd. A week later when my brother was feeling better he
took the truck back and complained, the dealership concurred and
agreed to fix the truck at no charge. According to the receipt they
replaced the clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, throw out bearing and
pilot bearing, after all that the truck still has a slight shudder to
it. We've taken the truck back twice since than the dealership insists
there isnt a problem. I have a friend whose been an auto mechanic for
over 20 years who test drove the truck and says otherwise, the shop my
friend works for wants $1050.00 to fix the clutch

The other day I took my brother to his Dr's appointment I noticed that
when I press the clutch in or let it out the clutch pedal vibrates
pretty bad, if Im driving down the road and let off the accelerator
and press the clutch in about an inch the vibration is even worst This
is something that is new so Im pretty sure something else is wrong
with clutch .

My brother went down to the car dealership and talked to the used car
manager and told him about the problem, the used car manager said he'd
buy the truck back for what my brother paid for it BUT he'd have to
purchase a new truck from him which my brother said he'd do. When my
brother called me from the dealership I told him not to do or sign
anything till I looked at the deal, it appears the dealership is
taking advantage of my brother's illness, he wants to charge him
$23,900.00 for a truck that every other dealership in this area is
selling for $21,500.00. Had I not interceded the dealership would
taken him for all he had.

If anyone can possibly offer some advice on whats wrong with the truck
and how to go about getting it fixed it would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you

On Mar 14, 12:27 am, Mud Flap <md_f....DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Im writing this for my brother who is ill and cant do it himself and I
> know very little about automobiles so please bare with me.
>
> Because of my bothers illness I helped him with the purchase of a 2002
> Tacoma 4X4 w/manual transmission (74,400 miles). The day he test drove
> the truck he wasn't feeling well and didn't notice the clutch wasn't
> functioning correctly. When I drove the truck I could see the clutch
> didn't feel right so I took it back to the dealership and because it's
> a "Toyota Certified Vehicle" the dealership said everything but the
> clutch would be covered and charged him $350.00. When I picked the
> truck up the clutch felt a little better but the truck was still
> shuddering when I would take off in first and again when I shifted
> from 1st to 2nd. A week later when my brother was feeling better he
> took the truck back and complained, the dealership concurred and
> agreed to fix the truck at no charge. According to the receipt they
> replaced the clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, throw out bearing and
> pilot bearing, after all that the truck still has a slight shudder to
> it. We've taken the truck back twice since than the dealership insists
> there isnt a problem. I have a friend whose been an auto mechanic for
> over 20 years who test drove the truck and says otherwise, the shop my
> friend works for wants $1050.00 to fix the clutch
>
> The other day I took my brother to his Dr's appointment I noticed that
> when I press the clutch in or let it out the clutch pedal vibrates
> pretty bad, if Im driving down the road and let off the accelerator
> and press the clutch in about an inch the vibration is even worst This
> is something that is new so Im pretty sure something else is wrong
> with clutch .
>
> My brother went down to the car dealership and talked to the used car
> manager and told him about the problem, the used car manager said he'd
> buy the truck back for what my brother paid for it BUT he'd have to
> purchase a new truck from him which my brother said he'd do. When my
> brother called me from the dealership I told him not to do or sign
> anything till I looked at the deal, it appears the dealership is
> taking advantage of my brother's illness, he wants to charge him
> $23,900.00 for a truck that every other dealership in this area is
> selling for $21,500.00. Had I not interceded the dealership would
> taken him for all he had.
>
> If anyone can possibly offer some advice on whats wrong with the truck
> and how to go about getting it fixed it would greatly be appreciated.
>
> Thank you

Since you have replaced all of the clutch components and the flywheel
and pilot bearing, I'd theorize that the problem is likely not in the
clutch. It is possible that the clutch replacement was done badly but
I doubt that. Someone would have had to wring off one or two of the
pressure plate bolts or spill oil all over the clutch disc to get the
vibration you're experiencing. Not likely.
Instead I might suspect the transmission input shaft bearing. The
vibration you describe is caused by the clutch disc not smoothly
engaging the flywheel/pressure plate. The difference between the
rotation speed of the clutch disc and the rotation speed of the
flywheel/pressure plate is greatest when initially engaging the clutch
while stopped in first gear. The differential rotation speed lessens
as one progresses through the gears. Some vibration is expected and
the clutch plate has a number of short, stubby springs imbedded in it
to dampen this expected vibration. If one or more of these springs
break, a vibration can result during shifting. But all the clutch
components are new. So I'd suspect the transmission input shaft upon
which the clutch disc is splined. If the input shaft bearing is bad
or if the snap ring, spacer or bearing retainer plate that secure the
input shaft bearing are going bad, it could conceivably cause a slight
looseness in the shaft which in turn would cause the clutch disc to
vibrate. I've not seen this kind of failure so I'm strictly
theorizing, but it seems plausible. If anybody drops the transaxle
again in order to again replace the clutch, I'd very carefully examine
the transmission input shaft for play. Good luck. Al