Clutch Job!

[Jakob]

Well, let me begin by saying this is the first major wrench I've actually put to my truck. It was ready to drive other than putting fuel in the truck when I bought it. It threw the water pump belts about 50 miles into the pickup trip. Other than now, that's been all it's needed.

I downloaded a few TM's from the site and copied off pertinent parts of those TM's. After a while of being a "shade-tree" mechanic, I know there's the RIGHT way to do things, then there's the quick way to do them. I'm currently in process on the clutch job.

Due to work and family obligations, I can't allot a major slot of time. So I only get to work on the truck 2-3 hours at a time. Yesterday I managed to disconnect the PTO shaft (at the tranny side) and got the short shaft (trans to t-case) disconnected from the tranny and the front driveshaft disconnected from the t-case. I still have to do the clutch and PTO linkages.

I do have a couple of questions that I couldn't find a direct answer to here. Can I drop the trans with an engine hoist? I have chain, bolts and some wood I was going to build a cradle to lower the trans onto, then put it on my floor jack once I get it a little lower.

Any tips that someone can give me to help this go a little more smoothly? I have to cut this a little short, the wife is rushing me out of the door.

 

[Djfreema]

If you have a little extra money ,($80.00), an electric hoist from harbor freight makes it an easy one man job. A couple of 2x4's throught the windshields and out the back window make a solid lifting platform.

 

[Jakob]

Your second picture answered another question I had. I wasn't sure if I needed to unbolt the transmission itself or the "adapter"? from the block. How heavy would you guess the tranny is? I'm going to check Harbor Freight for that hoist. I don't have the money to spare, but I might pick one up when I have the chance.

 

[Boatcarpenter]

I think I've read that guys put a 4x4 from door to door with the windows down and use a come-a long--- cheaper than an electric hoist. Might need soldier "B" to help with that method.
BC

 

[bbf]

i used a come along and extra set of hands and it went well

 

[Djfreema]

The tranny is pretty heavy, I would guess about 300 lbs. If you dont plan on taking off the flywheel for resurfacing or changing the rear main then it doesnt matter if you unbolt the adapter. I would recommend unbolting the adapter plate just in case you find your flywheel needs resurfacing. A chainfall type hoist is also another tool that might be cheaper than the electric hoist, you might even be able to rent one from an equipment rental place. The hoist also comes in handy for lowering and raising the flywheel which is pretty heavy and will cause a hernia.

 

[kc5mzd]

I was talking to a mechanic a while back and they said they used a standard engine hoist through the passenger door. They said they just moved the trans back and didn't even take it out of the truck when changing the clutch. Never tried it myself...

 

[Jakob]

I have to get in there and change my rear main as well. I know that it's bad and I suspect that it soaked my clutch and made it fail prematurely. I'm also going to assume that the flywheel will need resurfaced, almost positive of it. I'm just hoping the pressure plate is in good shape.

I'm going to look in to a chain hoist. I think I seen a couple at a local flea market for fairly cheap. I'm going to look for a used one, it'll serve me best since I won't be using it all the time.

 

[Jakob]

I was talking to a mechanic a while back and they said they used a standard engine hoist through the passenger door. They said they just moved the trans back and didn't even take it out of the truck when changing the clutch. Never tried it myself...

That's what I was thinking of doing, but pulling the trans out if it'll lift that high. I was going to do a dry run first before hooking it up to see if it'd work. Maybe even just sit it on the passenger side floor board.

 

[bgekky3]

A Harbor Freight trans jack can get the job done. It is tall enough and strong enough to make it happen. I think it is less than $200. It works for T cases too. Unfortunatly I can attest that it is very easy to swap a trans in these trucks.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Hope my experience helps here. Engine hoist through the pass door works great, done it many times. Factory tranny hoist that sits on the floor is one cool tool and on paper works great. In the truck is sucks. Can't crank it as the adjustment nut is under the dash. Cable also needs to be wound opposite what it is but the drum design won't allow it. 3rd way is with the 4x4 across the back of the cab through the windshield. I use a decent quiality com-a-long and it works great. Listen to this helpful little tidbit. Attach your com-a-along via a chain around the 4x4, heres the secret. Put the chain through a piece of steel pipe that is about the width of the 4x4. With the steel pipe on top of the 4x4, it is much easier to move the tranny forward and backward on the 4x4.

 

[Jakob]

I'm just going to use the engine hoist then. You have a lot of rep around here Recovry, I'd almost take your word as gold, lol.

 

[crazyplowboy]

Sorry for asking a stupid question, but how do you resurface a flywheel? Is it just as simple as roughing it up with a sanding pad on a grinder? Just a guess from looking at a picture.

 

[Jakob]

Sorry for asking a stupid question, but how do you resurface a flywheel? Is it just as simple as roughing it up with a sanding pad on a grinder? Just a guess from looking at a picture.

You take it to a machine shop and they do something similar to the flywheel as they would to plane heads or a block I presume.

 

[crazyplowboy]

Just wondering because I work in a Tool & Die shop and we do all sorts of custom machining on peoples auto parts from time to time. We have all of the fancy stuff you'd ever need, however I don't know what is involved in it.

 

[Jakob]

Well, engine hoist through the passenger door was a charm. Took just a little muscle, otherwise the hoist did everything. Unloading the pressure plate levers was harder than dropping the tranny. I used my floor jack handle, a filed junk castle nut and some junk bolts. I got it unloaded and dropped as well.
My suspicions were correct, the rear main is completely shot. Everything inside the bell housing has a nice coat of oil on it still. The pressure plate has some rings in it, but nothing I could catch my fingernail on. Should I have that machined just a hair to smooth it out or leave it?
My flywheel is complete garbage. It has huge stress cracks in it. There's no way I could continue to use that flywheel after seeing it. There's no way it'll machine out either. I'd say some of the deeper ones are at least 1/4" deep. So now, I need to find a flywheel, cheap and quick would be preferable, but that's an oxymoron, lol.

Anyone know where I can get a flywheel at least semi-locally and for under $100... by next weekend?

 

[Bigred77]

you have a pm

 

[rchalmers3]

Sorry for asking a stupid question, but how do you resurface a flywheel? Is it just as simple as roughing it up with a sanding pad on a grinder? Just a guess from looking at a picture.

Hi,

Your idea of using a sander disc will work fine if the flywheel surface is in good shape, and just needs a touch up surface to seat the new disc.

Most shops will lathe the surface to flatten it, then use a stone grinder to remove the hard spots in the surface. The grinder also provides the correct non-directional surface needed to seat the new disc.

Rick

 

[tm america]

you dont need to pick the trans up just set it on the ground and drag it out the side .oh dont put your 4x4 on the doors youll break the glass i dont see any problem with opening the front window and going that wayi would use a chain to the top cover bolts so you dont have to worry about anything slidin when youre pulling the trans back

 

[old fender]

Good Morning!
I am not much of a communicator so my direct involvment is nil,but the guys here really know their stuff!
I have owned my M35 for about a year and had to replace the transmission (probably my fault) almost immediatelly after I got it .
I would like to add my two cents
- Check the starter teeth on your fly wheel ,now is probably a good time to check you starter ,I did and had to have it rebuilt also but it saved me time later.
- also check your transmission seals as they are easier to replace now than after the tranny comes out the second time ,trust me!
- one last thing, When I had the tranny down it seemed to be a good time to inspect the under side for dirt , I found a ton of it and ended up scrapeing out shovels of it of the transfr case. enough said GOOD Luck