Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

17

Time Required

                          15 - 45 minutes

Sections

4

  • Lower Case
  • 2 steps
  • Battery
  • 3 steps
  • Trackpad
  • 6 steps
  • Trackpad, “stop buffer”
  • 6 steps

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1

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  • BackMacBook Air 13" Mid 2012

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Introduction

In rest position, they press the trackpad against the contact point of the mentioned adjustment screw and the click button. When you click, they decompress and when you release, they are recompressed by the bounce of the click button, which explains why their elastic force must be rather small.

Steps 1-11 base on older guides, which contain some wrong information: Do not follow step 10! The mentioned screw is only for adjustment of the clickpoint and must not be unscrewed. The trackpad already comes out after Step 8

In this working position, we act directly above the display. So better place a thick cloth or any other protective material between screen an lower case before you begin.

What you need

Step 1

              Lower Case
  • Before proceeding, power down your MacBook. Close the display and lay it on a soft surface, top-side down.
  • Use a P5 Pentalobe driver to remove ten screws securing the lower case, of the following lengths:
  • Two 9 mm screws
  • Eight 2.6 mm screws

Before proceeding, power down your MacBook. Close the display and lay it on a soft surface, top-side down.

Use a P5 Pentalobe driver to remove ten screws securing the lower case, of the following lengths:

Two 9 mm screws

Eight 2.6 mm screws

1024

Step 2

  • Wedge your fingers between the display and the lower case and pull upward to pop the lower case off the Air.
  • Remove the lower case and set it aside.

Wedge your fingers between the display and the lower case and pull upward to pop the lower case off the Air.

Remove the lower case and set it aside.

Step 3

              Battery
  • Grab the clear plastic pull tab attached to the battery connector and pull it toward the front edge of the Air to disconnect the battery from the logic board.
  • Do not lift upward on the connector as you disconnect it.

Grab the clear plastic pull tab attached to the battery connector and pull it toward the front edge of the Air to disconnect the battery from the logic board.

Do not lift upward on the connector as you disconnect it.

Step 4

  • Remove the following five screws securing the battery to the upper case:
  • Three 6.3 mm T5 Torx screws
  • Two 2.4 mm T5 Torx screws

Remove the following five screws securing the battery to the upper case:

Three 6.3 mm T5 Torx screws

Two 2.4 mm T5 Torx screws

Step 5

  • When handling the battery, avoid squeezing or touching the four exposed lithium polymer cells.
  • Lift the battery from its edge nearest the logic board and remove it from the upper case.
  • When installing the new battery, if there is a thin plastic film on your replacement battery, do not attempt to remove it. It is glued on and protects the battery pack while it is inside the MacBook.
  • If you’re installing a new battery, you should calibrate it after installation:
  • Charge it to 100%, and then keep charging it for at least 2 more hours. Then, unplug and use it normally to drain the battery. When you see the low battery warning, save your work, and keep your laptop on until it goes to sleep due to low battery. Wait at least 5 hours, then charge your laptop uninterrupted to 100%.
  • If you notice any unusual behavior or problems after installing your new battery, you may need to reset your MacBook’s SMC.

When handling the battery, avoid squeezing or touching the four exposed lithium polymer cells.

Lift the battery from its edge nearest the logic board and remove it from the upper case.

When installing the new battery, if there is a thin plastic film on your replacement battery, do not attempt to remove it. It is glued on and protects the battery pack while it is inside the MacBook.

If you’re installing a new battery, you should calibrate it after installation:

Charge it to 100%, and then keep charging it for at least 2 more hours. Then, unplug and use it normally to drain the battery. When you see the low battery warning, save your work, and keep your laptop on until it goes to sleep due to low battery. Wait at least 5 hours, then charge your laptop uninterrupted to 100%.

If you notice any unusual behavior or problems after installing your new battery, you may need to reset your MacBook’s SMC.

Step 6

              Trackpad
  • Use the tip of a spudger or your fingernail to flip up the retaining flap on the trackpad ribbon cable ZIF socket.
  • Be sure you are prying up on the hinged retaining flap (on the side opposite the cable), not the socket itself.
  • Pull the trackpad ribbon cable straight out of its socket toward the rear edge of the Air.

Use the tip of a spudger or your fingernail to flip up the retaining flap on the trackpad ribbon cable ZIF socket.

Be sure you are prying up on the hinged retaining flap (on the side opposite the cable), not the socket itself.

Pull the trackpad ribbon cable straight out of its socket toward the rear edge of the Air.

Step 7

  • While carefully lifting the keyboard ribbon cable with one hand, use the tip of a spudger or your fingernail to flip up the retaining flap on the keyboard ribbon cable ZIF socket.
  • Be sure you are prying up on the hinged retaining flap, not the socket itself.
  • Pull the keyboard ribbon cable straight out of its socket toward the front edge of the Air.

While carefully lifting the keyboard ribbon cable with one hand, use the tip of a spudger or your fingernail to flip up the retaining flap on the keyboard ribbon cable ZIF socket.

Be sure you are prying up on the hinged retaining flap, not the socket itself.

Pull the keyboard ribbon cable straight out of its socket toward the front edge of the Air.

Step 8

  • Remove the following twelve screws:
  • Six 1.6 mm Phillips screws securing the trackpad to the upper case.
  • Six 1.6 mm Phillips screws securing the trackpad brackets to the trackpad.
  • A Phillips #000 should be sufficient, but a JIS #000 may also work as well.

Remove the following twelve screws:

Six 1.6 mm Phillips screws securing the trackpad to the upper case.

Six 1.6 mm Phillips screws securing the trackpad brackets to the trackpad.

A Phillips #000 should be sufficient, but a JIS #000 may also work as well.

Step 9

  • Remove the right and left trackpad brackets from the upper case.

Remove the right and left trackpad brackets from the upper case.

Step 10

  • Remove the 1.4 mm T5 Torx set screw from its tapped hole near the front edge of the upper case.
  • During reassembly, do not over-tighten the set screw, as the button will cease to click at a certain point. Adjust the set screw until the movable side of the trackpad has minimal play.

Remove the 1.4 mm T5 Torx set screw from its tapped hole near the front edge of the upper case.

During reassembly, do not over-tighten the set screw, as the button will cease to click at a certain point. Adjust the set screw until the movable side of the trackpad has minimal play.

Step 11

  • Use the flat edge of a spudger to carefully lift the edge of the trackpad closest to the keyboard from its recess in the upper case by lifting it away from the brackets attached to the upper case.
  • Remove the trackpad from the upper case.

Use the flat edge of a spudger to carefully lift the edge of the trackpad closest to the keyboard from its recess in the upper case by lifting it away from the brackets attached to the upper case.

Remove the trackpad from the upper case.

Step 12

              Clean seat
  • This is the seat of the buffer.
  • You will find the rest of the rotten buffer here, which made your trackpad rattle
  • Peel it off and clean with some alcohol or similar untill you see the raw aluminium surface

This is the seat of the buffer.

You will find the rest of the rotten buffer here, which made your trackpad rattle

Peel it off and clean with some alcohol or similar untill you see the raw aluminium surface

Step 13

              Cut and position double sided tape
  • Cut two tiny (approx. 1,5 x 4 mm) pieces of double sided adhesive tape and place them on the seat
  • the red colour comes form the protective film of Tesa 4965, which works perfectly for this job. But principally any double sided tape, which is not too thick should do
  • On the second photo you see the empty seat on the left and the prepared one on the right

Cut two tiny (approx. 1,5 x 4 mm) pieces of double sided adhesive tape and place them on the seat

the red colour comes form the protective film of Tesa 4965, which works perfectly for this job. But principally any double sided tape, which is not too thick should do

On the second photo you see the empty seat on the left and the prepared one on the right

Step 14

              Cut foam buffer
  • Now cut a piece of foam material of the same size. My foam material is black, and therefore a bit hard to see
  • In this case an EPDM foam was used, which can be compressed with little force but has a high longevity
  • The material must be below one milimeter thick! depending on your source material you will have to cut all tree dimensions
  • This took me many tries…

Now cut a piece of foam material of the same size. My foam material is black, and therefore a bit hard to see

In this case an EPDM foam was used, which can be compressed with little force but has a high longevity

The material must be below one milimeter thick! depending on your source material you will have to cut all tree dimensions

This took me many tries…

Step 15

              Position foam buffers
  • Peel off the protective film of the double sided tape and position the foam parts on both sides.
  • It should look more or less like on the photos

Peel off the protective film of the double sided tape and position the foam parts on both sides.

It should look more or less like on the photos

Step 16

              Reinstall Trackpad
  • Reinstall trackpad by following step 8 in reverse order but only tighten the 6 screws at the trackpad (orange) firmly and leave the 6 screws of the case (red) slightly loose
  • Open the MacBook to nearly 90° so that it stands stable on its display case.
  • Check the feel of the click. Does it go back gently into rest position? Has it enough stroke?
  • If not, you might have chosen to rigid or to thick material (or both)
  • You may also try to readjust the central screw which is marked in step 10 and which you hopefully did not unscrew!

Reinstall trackpad by following step 8 in reverse order but only tighten the 6 screws at the trackpad (orange) firmly and leave the 6 screws of the case (red) slightly loose

Open the MacBook to nearly 90° so that it stands stable on its display case.

Check the feel of the click. Does it go back gently into rest position? Has it enough stroke?

If not, you might have chosen to rigid or to thick material (or both)

You may also try to readjust the central screw which is marked in step 10 and which you hopefully did not unscrew!

Step 17

              Adjust position of trackpad
  • Finally center the trackpad in the case. This can easily be done by positioning a lamp behind the vertically standing lower case.
  • Move the trackpad in order to have an equal gap all around it. Then tighten the remaining 6 screws firmly to fix your adjustment.
  • Reassemble the rest going back from Step 8 and you’re done!

Finally center the trackpad in the case. This can easily be done by positioning a lamp behind the vertically standing lower case.

Move the trackpad in order to have an equal gap all around it. Then tighten the remaining 6 screws firmly to fix your adjustment.

Reassemble the rest going back from Step 8 and you’re done!

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

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Author

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                    Marc Malkwitz

Member since: 04/04/2017

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Ricardo Mujica - Sep 22, 2018

Reply

Hello, good tutorial. Today on my Macbook Air disarm the trackpad, since it was loose and it sounded when using it. The only solution and that was good for me, was to tighten the central screw, to the point that it remained firm and allowed the clicks.

Another thing, the brackets I found on ebay, the pair at $ 5.

Pouyan - Dec 19, 2020

Reply

Very good guide. I did this yesterday on my Macbook Air Early 2014 and it solved the problem but as @ifixitkit mentioned in Step 8, “Removing the bracket is completely unnecessary”.

Einbert Alstein - Jan 22, 2022

Reply

Thank you for the guide. I do advise against removing the 6 Philips screws attaching the trackpad to its hinges as described in Step 8. They simply don’t have to be removed, unless you’re replacing the trackpad.

My 2013 11” Air’s trackpad had started rattling after a battery swap and the noise drove me positively nuts. The trackpad does feel as good as new now. I used a ~1mm thick double sided foam tape instead of EPDM, hoping that it’s robust enough to last.

Robert Dixon - Nov 14, 2022

Reply

Nice guide, my 5 year old machine had a loose trackpad that was making it difficult to register clicks and drags. All I had to do was step 10, not even remove the battery and the trackpad is as flush as new now 😊