How To Replace Glass Trackpad

MacBook Pro 13" Unibody

I dont see a repair guide for the glass track pad, but maybe you can use one of these other guides to get to the track pad and take it from there.

I can find no place on the web that described how this can be done without replacing the entire top. I see several places to buy the part and to buy the keyboard but none on how it's repaired. I looked at one and don't see how it could be done. I've replaced them but never repaired anything but the keys. The part appears to be the 922-9014 13" MacBook Aluminum (Late 2008) SVC Track Pad Assembly. Not for the Unibody.

I just followed Ben Eisenmans description and had the trackpad replaced in < 1/2 hour. Walk in the park (if you have the right tri-wing screedriver. You need a real tiny one for the 6 upper screws and a size 0 for the hight adjustment).

Thanks Ben for your post!

Greetings from Germany, bye Mac

Lix: Ok it looks like everyone feels you can not replace it without replacing the entire top. Since you have the part already, just look at it and see where the part has mounting points and work it out in your head how it should come apart. The worse you could do is damage the top and everyone above feels you will have to replace it anyway so what do you have to loose.

I it were me I would have a heat gun and the top panel and go to town. But make sure you can get the replacement keyboard top if it does not go as you expect. Do Not Use Metal Tools to pry out the mouse pad as you will scratch the paint on the top board at the very least.

Look at it and give it a try but be slow and watch what you do.

good Luck

so what was the outcome of all of this?

i'm in the same boat ....

got a friend that has a bad trackpad

and I'm her fix it guy.

I can't find an article directly for fixing the trackpad on the unibody, but basically follow the guides here. All you need to do is remove the battery and hard drive, and you can see the trackpad right there. There are 8 very very small screws that hold it in place. Just disconnect the cable from the logic board and slide it out.

Now, I'm a little lost after re-reading the thread. People seem to be talking about a 13" MacBook, when it looks like the OP is talking about a 13" MBP. **Just looked up the part number from her post, and found one on eBay. Matches it perfectly from what I can tell. Having to do the same thing on mine, except mine is screwed up from beer.

Were is it possible to purchase only the trackpad (part #922-9014), of a MacBook unibody ?? Urgent / Thanx /

weex.

as it turned out, at least in my case,

I plugged in a usb trackball and got all functions back.

the owner had messed up the trackpad setting soooooo bad

it acted like it wasn't working.

Once running off the usb trackball

the settings were reset back to something useable .

no replacement trackpad was necessary.

Seems like there is no way to replace the trackpad it self without replacing the upper case :(

How come apple did not expect these problems before they made their machine :S

Replacing the trackpad turned out to be really easy! Yay!

On my 2009 Macbook Pro 13" Unibody I removed the bottom of the notebook, removed the battery, removed the 8 screws holding the trackpad to the case and disconnected the ribbon wire connecting it to the motherboard, put in new trackpad and reassembled. Took me about 30 minutes. Didn't even need a guide as it was pretty intuitive.

The one part that I got hung up on was that I didn't have a tri-wing screwdriver which you need to remove the 2 screws holding the battery in. I just used a very small flat-head in one of the wings on the tri-wing screw and managed to undo them that way.

Cedric, to get to the trackpad you need to remove the battery and the battery is held in with tri-wing screws. I managed to use a tiny flat-head to remove the tri-wing screw but it was a bit tricky so I'd recommend getting a tri-wing screwdriver. That's the only special screwdriver you need to replace the trackpad. Everything else was small phillips head.

-Todd

Good job Todd,

My trackpas is over too and I intend to repair it by myself.

I have a macbook pro 13" mid 2009.

I've heard that trackpad price in the apple store was around 75 dollars and it is pretty much the same price you can find on ebay or other shops.

Anyway, the only question I have is about the tools you need to repair : some people say that the tri-wing screw is for removing the battery and others to remove the trackpad itself. Are the screws of the trackpad normal one or tri-wings too ???

Thanks

Some great advice here, thankyou!

But I'm horribly stuck, all I need is a tri-wing screwdriver to fit the 6 tiny screws that hold the trackpad in but I can't find one anywhere!

Please help, I've bought 4 different screwdrivers already, all too big, and I don't know where else to look :-(

Thank you in advance!

I FOUND THE SOLUTION!!

If anyone can't find the right size Tri-wing as well, I ended up buying two different tri-wing screwdrivers (advertised as for the Wii and DS) off of eBay, they both looked identical with a red handle but only one actually fits the screws.

So if your desperate to get one all I can say is buy a few different ones from different sellers (they're only like £1 each) and hope you get one that fits.

Hope that helps anyone!

You need a size #0 and a size #00 triwing for this repair, that's it. you can get them from Microcenter or a similar store for under $10 for both.

i went down to a o'reilly auto parts and bought a screwdriver set for around 5 bucks back when i put in a larger hard drive and more ram. had every size and type i needed. you guys could try in an auto parts store and see if you have the same luck..

i have a question about the trackpad though: is there a difference between the 13inch trackpad and the 15inch? i've found both on ebay; one is 10 bucks cheaper.

also, i heard someone talking about screws holding the battery in place...my battery isn't held in by any screws. it pops right out. am i in the right section for the type of pro i've got?

it's model a1286, and yep, the glass is cracked and i'm looking into fixing it.

question from response 3 above:

"Remove the keyboard bracket by unscrewing two #00 Philips screws"

Could someone clarify where the keyboard bracket is? I see lots of screws but not two that seem related to keyboard.

Thanks!

Does anyone happen to know what size# the height adjustment tri-wing screws are? Sears advertises a kit that includes #1, #2, #3, and #4 tri-wing screws - is this small enough?

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605...

What is the price for the trackpad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9liOWTjY...

good tutorial video!