2000 Daihatsu Hijet van with possible clutch problem

[BertieFox]

Our Daihatsu hijet has served us well for nine years, but suddenly recently when towing a trailer it developed a major judder when I changed down into third gear.
Now it is subject to a great deal of noise all the time and judders particularly in third but seems to labour in fourth gear and makes far more noise than previously.
I took it to our French village garage but he wasn't prepared to look at it if it meant taking the gearbox apart.
I know extremely little about motor vehicles but just wondered if any other Daihatsu Hijet owners might have some idea what the problem is. The extreme judder comes and goes, especially on longer journeys, and when towing. If I could identify the problem I could find out how easy it would be to get it fixed and whether it would be cost effective. The van has only done around 40,000 miles and I would be very sad to have to scrap it.

[Looz nutz]

It sounds to me like the clutch plate took a dump and it took the throwout bearing with it. On the truck it is not difficult to change clutch but I dont know how difficult it is on the van. I used a suzuki swift clutch aligment tool if you cant find a Daihatsu one. Good luck.

[BertieFox]

:) Thanks very much for the advice on our Daihatsu problem. Our French village garage had never seen one before but I can explain what the problem is likely to be from your suggestion and he will probably be able to do something.
Cheers.