Clutch master

After heavy snow over the weekend, I had to drive my truck for work. The roads were impassible with the foot of snow that fell and without my truck, I would have been walking. The only problem was, the clutch master has seemed spongy over the last week or so. Now that I needed my truck, I worried a bit that the master cylinder might fail as I drove it.

I drove in town for nearly 100 miles as I worked and it worked flawlessly.

After the snow cleared, I decided to wash my truck after a day in the snow. As I got in it to drive to the car wash, the clutch pedal was completely soft. Thankfully, my truck put in a long day with me and returned home to the garage before it died. Amazing, really.

The clutch slave and master have never been replaced, and have worked for 37 years. I expected to replace the whole system soon, and years ago collected the parts I would need before they became discontinued.



The clutch slave cylinder was truly the most difficult OEM part to find. I always prefer OEM parts, but the after market slave cylinder does not include the push rod making finding a Toyota part all the more attractive. I was able to track down an OEM replacement along with the flexible and hard lines, bolts and spring clip.

After bench-bleeding the master, I installed the rest of the parts, bled the system and it all works as it should.

With the clutch master out, I took the opportunity to use carburetor cleaner to remove the black rattle-can spray paint from the brake booster. It looks great all shined up. I cleaned the check valve and installed a new clamp for the vacuum line. I have a reproduction decal for the top of the booster coming to me in the mail.

I'm not sure why the booster was painted, but the paint kept it from rusting over the years. For the first time I am thankful for one of the the many odd things that the previous owner did.