Upon a fairly hard upshift to 4th gear on an on ramp my clutch pedal went to the floor and stayed there. I knew immediately that this retarded TOB design had again victimized another EVO owner.

I know the tranny has to be dropped but I don't ever want to have to deal with this again. Its no fun starting the car in 1st gear and then attempting to rev match shifts without the assistance of the clutch just to get home and then theres that not so much fun labor involved.

I did my fair share of searching and come up with the usual responses such as a clutch fork stopper and using three rings instead of one or two. One response mentioned bending some grabbers on the retaining ring but I'd like to see a picture of the modification. Also mentioned was a return spring to held reduce the unloading during a shift though it may add load when not shifting. More explaining is needed to clear that solution up.

Also mentioned was a push conversion but it is my understanding that you need a special flywheel for this and for the most part it will require a multiplate clutch. My current clutch has about 1000 miles on it but not a single launch so I don't really want to ditch it. Is there a push conversion available for a single disk clutch?

I guess I'm willing to do whatever it takes because I don't want to go through this again ... ever. If I have to get another expensive clutch so be it but there must be another way. Is there a way to forcibly ensure the darn thing will not come off again? Can we bend something, glue something or even shoot the mother full of JB weld?

Any info or additional clarity would be greatly appreciated. If you know a source for the wavy rings and new clips please provide that info as well because I was told not to reuse any of the parts that already failed.

Thanks in advance!

clutch fork stop on exedy twin: issue free for me

Did it previously happen to you?

there are many, many, popped clip threads. but not a single one from car with original clutch. WHY? certainly not because the stock clutch was never shifted quickly.

second I have seen broken bell housings from amateur mechanics trying to pry tanny from engine cause they didnt know hoe to release the clip.


clip popping off is most likely a result of average mechanics damaging the clip during install. extremely easy to do given the difficulty of reinstalling trans in these cars. you can easily bent fingers of clip with fingers. how hard would be for throw out to bent clip with weight of trans behind it.?

there is no sure fix other than pull to push conversion clutch.

You know I don't want to blame anyone but that thought had gone through my head. But then I have to wonder why it stayed put for 1000 miles of pretty aggressive driving including one track day.

To keep me from getting even more lit-up I'm gonna blame it on this clutch being significantly more grabby than my OEM clutch. I suspect the violent slamming and locking of parts rather than the soft spongy shift from the OEM unit knocked something loose.

Two questions:
1. Are there any single plate push style conversion kits out there?
2. Where can one buy additional wavy springs and TOB clips?

The STM version of the clutch fork stop finally cured my ailments from TOB issues. Pretty straight forward stuff.

Its really not rocket science to install the trans in these cars so I'm not buying your theory. I could see the clip getting damaged on the way out but most people are installing new clutches which come with new clips. If your bending the clip when installing your trans then you probably shouldnt be doing a clutch job on the first place. Its been explained in the threads as to why the clip pops out. On the heaver pressure plates when you quickly kick the clutch it causes the TOB to push back against the fingers, this is when the clip pops out. When you use a bunch of washers it helps because its harder for the TOB to move toward the fingers. The clutch fork stop will eliminate this completely when adjusted correctly. That is why it works. I actually tried welding the clip years and years ago which worked but it will eventually crack due to the clip and ring being so thin.

Happened to me twice, 2nd time I had a clutch fork stop, which I assumed I did not have adjusted properly. I have the clutch fork stop sitting really close to the clutch fork now and I just check it periodically, I also used 3 wave washers instead of 2 this time.

Not true, my stock clutch popped the TOB at about 25K miles ... 800 miles from home. Not fun _at_all_.

l8r)

"Upon a fairly hard upshift to 4th gear on an on ramp my clutch pedal went to the floor and stayed there. I knew immediately that this retarded TOB design had again victimized another EVO owner."

LOL that was funny..i feel your pain man its not fun at all. and the thought of having to drop the tranny again is agonizing..i just re installed mine with new clutch and made sure not to bend any clips and it seems to be working like normal (only for about 5k miles so far lol)

if you dont mind me asking how long after your clutch replacement did this happen?

I agree that the retaining ring is easily damaged if your not careful of the input shaft on the tranny during install. Have seen it happen many times and it doesn't matter if the clutch is stock or not. Obviously the stiffer the PP springs the more of an effect it will have. Another common mistake people make on evo clutches is letting grease come in contact with the locking surfaces of the TOB and retaining ring. Big no no! Sometimes you can get lucky by taking off the slave cylinder and manipulating the the TOB fork to get it to lock back in.

One other thing to consider is that it didn't necessarily pop out of the clip at all. I pulled one apart a few months ago and the entire collar of the TO bearing had broken off inside the pressure plate. It was a brand new OEM TO bearing that had been installed 1 month earlier. Granted this was with an excedy twin, but still very unusual.

I would avoid doing any shade tree tricks like multiple rings or excessive bending of clips, It will make it virtually impossible to release the TOB when the time comes. I would simply get a new TOB and retaining clip and reinstall. If you want a 100% fix- shell out the money and get a push style set-up.

2 wavy washers(bought them from the mitsu dealer when i bought my TOB and fluids) and the STM clutch fork stop. 60,000 miles, 2 Exedy twins(rebuilt second time), 50+ autox events, multiple track days, and no problem at all. *knocks on wood* lol

The entire pull-style TOB design is a chincy (at best) arrangement. After issues, I went with a push conversion clutch and wish I would have done it to start with.

I started using the TOB's from 3g eclipses because the recess in the TOB for the ring clip is deeper than the evo's, therefore making it more difficult for it to pull off. Three evos done this way with one over 15k miles on the swap.

Interesting...I may have to try that out when I do my 5 spd swap...