Has anyone with a T56 ever had this happen or known of it happening? I was headed up I-85N and punched the clutch to shift from 5th to 6th and felt the pedal was much stiffer than normal but it came out of gear fine. Puzzled I still attempted to pull it into 6th with not luck. I tried forcing it twice but I just grinder so I coasted to the shoulder. Jacked it up, snatched the slave cylinder off, actuated the rod and fluid poured onto my chest. New slave and master cylinder and I'll be back on the road in a few hours....not so much. After putting the new cylinders on and off a few times for different reasons I managed to get the air bled out and installed correctly just to find I has back to an even stiffer/harder pedal. So off the slave came again and I found a lot of slop in the clutch fork. It was 1:30am and I gave up. Called the wife and at 9am she showed up in the truck with the trailer and a smile on her face asking if I wanted a cup of coffee. Gotta love a woman that'll drive over seven hours to rescue you and the car she doesn't care for. Got the car loaded and back to Ft. Bragg. This past Saturday I pulled the trans to find the clutch fork had pulled the rear shoulder completely off the throw out bearing. I've never heard or read like this before and hopefully it isn't common. I installed the T56 in my car back in 07 with a stock replacement clutch kit for a 97 Z28 from O'Reilly's and the clutch disk disintegrated/shattered a few months later while I was still in the break in period. I actually didn't dog on it very hard or much, it just came to pieces. Took it all out and they replaced it free of charge and the new one had five springs where the first one had four. I figured the manufacturer upgraded it so I was happy. That is till now with the T/O bearing. I went by O'Reillys and after a long discussion with the manager and remembering I still had the original receipt in the truck, he ordered me a new clutch kit free of charge. I usally do all my business with autozone but I have to say, O'Reilly's really did me right on this one.

That really sucks. Never heard of anything like that before

I hate to give you the negative vibe on this.... me and my buddy just replaced the clutch on his 96 z28 for this very reason. The rear collar just self destructed and disentigrated just like your pictures. We chalked it up to the possibility the previous owner didn't know how to drive a manual trans and luckily were able to get it replaced on warranty through advance auto. Same symptoms same problem same solution. And like you after seeing this im hopeing this isn't very common.

I don't think the clutch or pressure plate had anything to do with this problem, per se. Replacing them as a "while you're in there" item could be a good idea. The hydraulics may have just been collateral damage to the TOB failure, and come apart due to over-travel. I'm not sure how to identify a "quality" TOB from any particular parts stores. Thanks for the pictures, that is proof for the record books.

I had this same thing happen to me, though not as bad of a failure. Stock replacement clutch kit from the parts store. After some searching i found it more common than i thought. Camaro/Firebird throwout bearings have a round lip while the Corvette is square. I bought the bearing for a 94-96 Corvette found it beefier as well and have had no problems since.