Tranny/Clutch Problem, PLEASE HELP!

[stangGT97]

I'm gonna be taking my trans out as soon as I get a trans jack because I have to replace my TOB and was thinking I may as well replace the clutch too ....

thats a good idea man... it would suck to do all the work to replace the TOB and have the clutch start slipping 10K miles later. Pick up a king cobra clutch kit, comes with the pressure plate, disc and TOB all for like $150.

TheSalad, sorry to hear about the destruction, but at least you know how to repair it yourself. Do you have a short-throw shifter? It may be a worthwhile investment to help prevent missing 3rd and doing this again. (Note that short throws do not prevent you from accidentally downshifting from 5th to 2nd at 65 )

 

[TheSalad]

Yeah, I have a crappy MAC short throw shifter. I wish I would have paid up to get the Steeda or another one..

Question..

I am dropping the K-Member, and will only have the motor on a floor jack when I take off the tranny too...when I get the flywheel on and off, will I need to support the engine in any way, or will it be fine?

 

[stangman]

How much are they at harbor freight?

Hopefully cheap because I need one! I am tired of borrowing one from a friend, rather just have one handy. I'm gonna be taking my trans out as soon as I get a trans jack because I have to replace my TOB and was thinking I may as well replace the clutch too ....

if i remember right around 50-60 dollars

 

[stangman]

Yeah, I have a crappy MAC short throw shifter. I wish I would have paid up to get the Steeda or another one..

Question..

I am dropping the K-Member, and will only have the motor on a floor jack when I take off the tranny too...when I get the flywheel on and off, will I need to support the engine in any way, or will it be fine?

well the flywheel bolts are gunna be tricky if it isn't attatched to the k-member. if it were me, i'd bolt the k-member back in & set the motor back in the mounting bracket & start the thread on the motor mounts. that way it is supported, cause you dont' want that thing coming off the jack

 

[sjrtx]

Yeah, I have a crappy MAC short throw shifter. I wish I would have paid up to get the Steeda or another one..

Question..

I am dropping the K-Member, and will only have the motor on a floor jack when I take off the tranny too...when I get the flywheel on and off, will I need to support the engine in any way, or will it be fine?

No, it wont be fine. The last thing you want to do is set a 400+lb motor on its oilpan on a floorjack, no less.

If you have headers(which it seems you do) instead of working on your back putting in a tranny by yourself, it might be actually easier to pull both the motor and tranny out of the car in one piece.

Ive done it both ways, 2 weeks apart, only about a month ago. The first time I dropped the K-member. Second time, I pulled the motor. I figured it would be less work, especially since I was the only one working on it, and I was right.

The correct and safe way to support the motor if your dropping the K-member is to remove the intake and support it with an engine hoist.

 

[TheSalad]

I guess it really wouldnt been to hard to put the motor mounts back on, as well as the k-member to work on the tranny. I am thinking I will do that.

Exactly what kind of bit am I going to need to get the ABS sensor out? It says E8 which is external, but all the pictures I have seen, the bolt is a T drive..whats the deal?

 

[sjrtx]

Its a female torx bit if i recall correctly. Sears hardware should sell them in a set(not individually-I already tried).

And as for the motor-good luck. Dont put anything under the pan, unless its the edge where the pan meets the block. Sounds like it might be a dangerous balancing act to me. Unless your one really strong guy, dropping that k-member up and down isnt as easy as it sounds by yourself.

 

[TheSalad]

Okay, so this morning, went out to Sears and got the Torx set, and came home, and started up on taking the front suspension apart. So much fun. I fnished but driver and passenger side, just need to take off the steering linkage stuff, and then hit the k-member, I am excited. Here are some pictures of the mess, I wish my car wasnt all rusted and hard to work on.

Sorry that it is blurry...

 

[COramprat]

If your car was white I'd say you took pics during my teardown. :laugh:

Good luck with the swap.

 

[sjrtx]

You better get used to life on your back

Heres a hint , hydraulic the pilot bearing out with grease. Get a bolt that fits really close to the ID of the pilot bearing, and if thats not enough, wad up a piece of paper towel to help seal it off for when you strike the bolt with the hammer. I actually used a clutch aligment tool with the ring snapped off-but a bolt thats tighter in the bearing would be better. A slide hammer will take you all day.


By the way, I still say you will exert far less energy if you were to put it all back together, and take the motor and tranny out from the top (but what do I know, I only did it both ways 1 week apart).

BTW- are you using a new flywheel or resurfacing the old one? If your resurfacing, dont take it to the auto parts store-they use a lathe. Contact a machine shop and see if they have a surface grinder they use.

 

[TheSalad]

Yeah, the pilot bearing, not looking forward to getting that out.
I am using a new flywheel.
And, the reason I am not oulling the motor, is that I dont have the tools for that, the motor lift, or the motor stand.

I justwant this done. When I get a new motor, I will pull it

 

[sjrtx]

The only special tool you need is the hoist and a load leveler. dont need a motor stand (my motor hung 6 feet in the air for a week), and just something to sit the tranny on, so you can lower the motor down low enough and to rest the tranny on something so that you dont have to hold it to separate/mate it to the block.

A lot of auto parts stores will rent the hoist and load leveler.

But the pilot bearing is the easy part, if you do it like I said. Its laying on your back holding a flywheel with one hand, and starting a bolt with the other, and then holding a clutch with one hand trying to keep it on the dowels and starting bolts with the other....and on and on lol. I need to buy a lift...and a shop.

 

[TheSalad]

I would be a little worried about putting the tranny and stuff back together alone, but I should have some help by then, should make it a little easier on me. But I do plan to drop the k-member solo Thats today, I'll post pics later

 

[COramprat]

I didn't swap my pilot bearing. I tried to remove it by forcing it out but no such luck. But that bitch was greased like a mofo so technically it should last till the end of time. I just hope it lasts until the tranny breaks...I'll take care of it then. If I ahve to pull that tranny out again I'll swap for a new one...even if it isn't broken. I don't have fond memories of my clutch swap and everthing I can do new I'd do it.

 

[TheSalad]

Well, I took off the k-member myself..well, it well to the floor by itself

I loosened up the l/t a considerable amount, I hope it is enough or I will kill myself, and removed the starter(getting a new one)
Afterwards, I cleaned off the k-member, and had a neighbor help with the jacks to get it back into position.

Next up for tomorrow is the driveshaft, and then tranny! I am getting there. I didnt take any pictures, but that is what has been done, I will snap some when i have to drop the k-member again.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[TheSalad]

All right, so today I didnt have any help, but I got the driveshaft off, as well as all but the top two tranny/engine bolts. I didnt want to take them out without anyone there to help lower the tranny, so that is tomorrow nights work. I will get some pictures of the mess when I get the tranny off.

Maybe my clutch will me melted to the flywheel and pressure plate We shall see.

Also, I received my flywheel, it was very poorly wrapped from Mustang Warehouse, and FedEx finished off the packaging..I will take a picture of what it looks like..so sad.

 

[TheSalad]

Well, tonight, with the help of two other buddies, we got the tranny out, and what can I say, what a nightmare! It took forever. I had just a minute to get a glimpse at the clutch plate through the pressure plate, it is destroyed So, tomorrow, I will work on getting the stuff off, then back on, for saturday get the tranny back in, and hopefully all zipped up that same day. Good grief...I should have gotten L/Ts that fit better

 

[stangman]

Well, tonight, with the help of two other buddies, we got the tranny out, and what can I say, what a nightmare! It took forever. I had just a minute to get a glimpse at the clutch plate through the pressure plate, it is destroyed So, tomorrow, I will work on getting the stuff off, then back on, for saturday get the tranny back in, and hopefully all zipped up that same day. Good grief...I should have gotten L/Ts that fit better

didn't you get mac lt's? you can take the tranny out with the mac LT's still in place

 

[TheSalad]

I loosened them up really well Should have saved a headache and just taking them out...they still got in the way

 

[TheSalad]

Today we got the clutch, flywheel and all the stuff out.

I broke the clutch disc in more than one spot, and also, the pressure plate side was ripped off the clutch, and "melted" to the pressure plate, I did it quite well.


There is one problem...this is the flywheel I bought for it...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=8064886841&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT

We cant get the 8mm bolts from the old flywheel to go very far into the new flywheel. We tried standard 5/16, and 8mm bolts, with varied threads and pitches, nothing will go in, any ideas?