The extra material/metal that sticks out will add strength the the unit. Most of the aftermarkets models I have seen are different then the stock units, and some are a little longer in length.
Where is the metal sleeve from your stock retainer? How long was it? Where did the throw out bearing ride?
I would not be worried about the difference in the retianer as far as where the shims go, just shim it to 0 end play and you will be fine. I brought up the TOB because you need to make sure it will slide far enough on the new retainer with out hitting the new longer metal base. I have put a few brand different retainers on t-5's and they were all different, and all required differnet shims. Just do not preload the shaft or it will add wear and will take out the front bearing. .000-.002 end play.
I think you can tell if the retainer shaft is ok by the distance the input shaft sticks out. If I was in your situation, I would install, check endplay as advised above, and see how it looks. GL
I was under the assumption that the endplay we are checking is in comparison to the back of the retainer and the bearing.
like the section you would measure for shims.
so endplay would be the amount of space from the brim of the bearing retainer to the race with the shims.
so how would you install it than check endplay?
I was comparing the old unit to the new one and as far as I can tell the throwout bearing itself was riding about halfway down the shaft, so the new one should work just fine in that respect. So should I just measure for shims and install it or what?
End play is measured after the unit is shimmed and torqued down, it is the movement in and out of the shaft, you can measure it with a dial micrometer.
Measure for shims, amke up the difference of the new to old and reinstall, check end play, install in car and let it rip...
when i went to install the retainer on my trans there was a ring shaped spring on the input shaft and i dont know where it came from? its my first clutch job so i dont wanna screw anything up. any of you guys know where it might of came from?