How to take apart a 4th Gen iPod with Clickwheel.

More on why later, but I had to take apart my iPod. I did a search but came up with a crappy PDF that didn't really help. I ended up developing my own way, which is similar to this. But instead of using a flathead screwdriver, use a flat utility knife like this:

These knives are meant for scraping paint off of windows and such and are available in the paint section of...just about any place that sells paint, including Wal*Mart. I think I got mine for under $2.

Edit: Since this page gets so many hits, I felt obligated to post some better pictures of the process.

Put the blade into the tiny crack between the white plastic and the metal base:

Then angle the blade down towards the metal base (almost perpendicular to the iPod) and push in. The metal will separate from the plastic a bit and the knife will slide between the two.

Now use the knife like a lever and pry the plastic up. There's a little lip down in the plastic that your knife should grip.

Once you have one side loose, the other will pop out very easily. Just open it like a hinge:

http://www.notpopular.com/blog/uploaded/ipod/DSC00232.jpg

Using a knife like this will prevent you from messing up the plastic trying to jam a big fat screwdriver between the plastic and the metal. Once you have it open, you'll see that the hard drive can simply be unplugged and you'll need a small (T6) torx screwdriver to take out the 6 screws holding the circuit board in place. RadioShack sells a great set of screwdrivers that includes the T6.

Note that I've also used this process on a 3rd Gen iPod and it would probably work with others as well.

Anyway - why did I need to take apart my iPod? My clickwheel stopped working. Most of the time when an iPod breaks, the hard drive has died. Mine? 3/4 of the clickwheel stopped working. And it seemed to be temperature sensitive, since it worked when it was cold but not when it was warm. I'm not entirely sure when it stopped working, if it was something I did to it like leave it in a cold car or get glass cleaner in the cracks of the clickwheel.

Well, the clickwheel is firmly attached to the front plastic of the case, so I had to get a new case. A quick search on E-bay for "ipod 20gb parts" revealed lots of auctions like this one. So $22.50 and 7 days later my iPod is working find again.

My iPod might be a flaming pile of poo, but I still use it almost every day. Without a click wheel it becomes about as useful as a Shuffle.