Originally Posted by
the godfather
In most cases this will be your thrust bearing mate. If it is mildly worn it makes a noise. Touch the pedal and you take up the slack, noise stops. It is no biggie other than being a pain in the but.
In this case it would have started softly and then got gradually louder.
Now that being said, if you got bogged (not that Patrols get bogged), and you hammered the hell out of it getting out, like I did 80 north of Eucla towing a camper trailer up as sand dune, and the noise started from that point on, you have another issue.
The GU 2003 came out with a Dual mass clutch. Great clutch if you want your beast to feel smoother than the proverbial baby's bottom to drive. But pretty crap if you are towing a camper trailer across the Nullabor and using every dirt / sand road you can find. The guts of the clutch plate has a series of heavy springs that absorb the vibrations, hence smoothing the ride. Eventually, the springs wear and break, or the inner ring that they are attached to snap. If only one breaks you can still drive. I broke 2 and managed to do another 1200km of hard 4WDing to get home. It will however make a louder noise than the thrust bearing, and it will eventually snap and leave you stranded.
So, my advice is change the clutch plate before you do your next long of road drive, thus avoiding being towed home by some smart arse Toyota driver, or even worse, a Vajero or Pagina (Pajero). Hope that makes sense and helps.
Reply With Quote