Clutch replacement

[Bhoesl]

All the advice you have gotten here is good. Follow it. If you try and shortcut anything you will have experience on how to do it again next week. Have the flywheel surfaced by a machine shop. I've seen tons of flywheels that look beautiful except for the warp. Don't cheap out on the parts or you'll be gaining even more experience. Stay away from the Chinese junk. Using a pallet jack is asking for trouble. You need to support the back of the engine to maintain the angle to EASILY slip the tranny/ transfer case in and out without dumping the throw out into the bell housing. It's not a hard job but it's a big job that will take you the better part of a day plus machine shop time to surface the flywheel. Working off the ground is a pain in the ass.

After some more phone calls I did find a place to rent a transmission jack.

 

[Redmt]

Very generous of you, I wish I was closer, lol!

I didn't say I would do it. I would stand back and tell you everything you're doing wrong.
They probably sent a wooden double ended stick for alignment tool? Make double sure that you have no side friction. The clutch disc must be dead nuts to the pilot shaft bearing. Is the pilot bearing a roller bearing or sintered iron/ brass/ bronze?

 

[Caseknife]

The worst I ever got injured was having a creeper squirt out from under me trying to get up. It twisted my back and I was out for a couple weeks.

Almost mentioned that exactly!

 

[Bhoesl]

Thanks everyone for the advice thus far. Its going pretty well, all things considered. Working on it a few hours after work each evening and I now have everything removed: t-case, trans, clutch, flywheel….
Looks like the root of my problem was a chunk broke off the lip of the throw out bearing, allowing the fork to kind of twist and bind on there. Pressure washed the outside of both the trans and transfer case. Now just working on replacing some seals while waiting for the flywheel to get machined.

 

[Redmt]

Check the plastic inserts on the shift rails for wear. It would tighten up any sloppy shifting it might have had.

 

[Bhoesl]

Check the plastic inserts on the shift rails for wear. It would tighten up any sloppy shifting it might have had.

Not sure I understand exactly what/where those are? As I understand it, the shift rails are the bars at the top of the transmission, that the little "cup" the shift lever goes into rides on? I can't see any plastic pieces on those unless I need to take the trans apart further?
Thanks again!

 

[Redmt]

The shift rails inside the trans have slots in them where the shifter contacts and moves side to side. When it's in neutral everything is lined up. The ball end of the shifter or the slots in the rails may have a little snap in plastic bushing so it's not metal to metal. It's possible that yours doesn't have them and it's metal to metal.

 

[Bhoesl]

Thanks! I'll look again after work tonight but I dont recall seeing anything plastic in there.

 

[Bhoesl]

One more question I cant seem to find a definitive answer on: is it normal for the pilot "bearing" to actually be just a bushing? and if so, does it matter which way it goes in? the videos Ive found seem to show an actual bearing, but mine (both the old and new) are just a bushing that doesn't appear to have any taper or anything to determine which way it goes.

 

[Redmt]

Bearing is a misnomer most of the time. We ran an actual cage bearing on the hot rod stuff but it wasn't needed I don't think. The solid bushings sometimes had a light chamfer on one side that made it a bit easier to stuff the intake pilot shaft of the tranny back in . If neither side has the chamfer I wouldn't worry about it.
DO NOT use any grease on the input shaft or the bearing. Besides holding alignment to the crank the only use the bearing gets is if the engine is running with the clutch depressed when the trans is in gear like at a stop sign. I always dropped the trans in neutral and released the clutch if it was a stop over a few seconds. Holding the clutch in puts wear on the throw out bearing and the clutch fingers. I'm guessing it's a diaphragm clutch and not a 3 finger pressure plate.

 

[Bhoesl]

Bearing is a misnomer most of the time. We ran an actual cage bearing on the hot rod stuff but it wasn't needed I don't think. The solid bushings sometimes had a light chamfer on one side that made it a bit easier to stuff the intake pilot shaft of the tranny back in . If neither side has the chamfer I wouldn't worry about it.
DO NOT use any grease on the input shaft or the bearing. Besides holding alignment to the crank the only use the bearing gets is if the engine is running with the clutch depressed when the trans is in gear like at a stop sign. I always dropped the trans in neutral and released the clutch if it was a stop over a few seconds. Holding the clutch in puts wear on the throw out bearing and the clutch fingers. I'm guessing it's a diaphragm clutch and not a 3 finger pressure plate.

Good to know! Thank you again for all your help! I'll make sure to clean it up real good because there's a bunch of grease in the end of the crank shaft right now, from using that method to "hammer" the old bushing out.

 

[Redmt]

I'm curious. Does the old clutch disc rattle when you shake it?.

 

[Bhoesl]

I'm curious. Does the old clutch disc rattle when you shake it?.

Very slightly, yes. I can't tell exactly where the rattle is coming from, maybe one of the springs?

 

[Redmt]

Yup. The springs give just a little to help it not chatter. You will see some riveted posts in little slots around the center hub attached to the actual outer disc. The springs limit sudden torque a little.