I picked up the tranny jack and then finished watching the Timmy Part 1 tutorial. Ooops. What I thought would be a difficult, unpleasant job now looks like it will be miserable and nearly impossible. I don't have anyone to help me. I will have to revise my time estimate from 3 weeks to 3 months. I also have 3 months to change my mind and get a refund on the jack.

One thing brought up in the video that I hadn't considered was a possible bell housing chock full of asbestos dust. Since I have a 97, I started doing some research on when Toyota stopped using asbestos in clutches.

I found this document, stating they stopped in 1993, but being a "show me the proof" kind of guy and they don't cite their source I won't bet my life on an unsupported statement. http://chess-safety.com/wp-content/u...s-asbestos.pdf

But it was encouraging. I then found Just a moment...

which states that Japanese automakers continued to use asbestos in some parts (but not clutches) even after 1996, which also suggests clutches were non-asbestos by 1996 or earlier.

So all of this is highly suggestive that my clutch is non-asbestos, but still leaves some doubt in my mind. Obviously I would make sure to be careful about dust either way, but I'd rather go into it (if I don't chicken out) knowing with 100% certainty whether I'm dealing with a carcinogen or not. I have confirmed that this is the original clutch, lasted 308,000 miles.