I've searched a couple of threads and have yet to see a worked out solution.
I am 100% sure that all bolts are off, starter is off, slave is off, driveshaft is off.

Nothing is holding it on there and the bastard won't budge. I've tried prying, spreading, pulling, hitting it with a hammer and a 2*4. I'm assuming at this point that the pilot bearing is crapped out and seized on the input shaft which sucks cuz it was just replaced.

Does anyone have any ideas that don't involve major destruction of the transmission or am I just going to have to go rent a gorilla to rip it off?

 

so it's just sitting on that one stud at the top and won't come off? tilt the motor down by carefully jacking up the crank pulley with a block of wood, then if nothing's physically stuck you should just be able to pull it off with the help of gravity. otherwise ****'s going to get drastic. Like cutting the bellhousing or pulling the motor.

 

Get a bigger hammer

or do what he said and I would try pushing it up and down to try and break it free if you haven't already.

 

Unbolt your motor mounts. Pull the front of the engine upward with a hoist, or jack it as described below. You didn't mention this, but your shifter is out right?

Josh

 

It's probably going to be something silly and obvious (hopefully - been there done that). So the nut is out from behind the bolt that holds the rear engine hanger? Tranny mount is unbolted from the chassis? The bolt that appears from behind the starter flange and is recessed into the bellhousing is removed (only visible when starter out)?

Just thought of this... Would bolting the slave cylinder back and pressing the clutch help push the tranny back - is this a good idea?

 

I finally got it off! It just took days of wiggling and prying a bit and it finally made it off....

But onto the next question:

The reason I pulled it off in the first place was because it wasn't getting into gear while running. At first I thought it was the slave or the master; so after replacing those the problem still continued. I then suspected the throwout bearing, so after finally getting the tranny off and verifying that the bearing WAS NOT bad, next up is the pilot bearing.

So, the idiotic question of the day: Do I need to remove the clutch and flywheel to INSPECT the bearing? Obviously you need to take it off the replace it, and it will probably need to come out anyway, but the question still remains. I stuck a finger in there to see if it spins (with clutch and flywheel still attached) and "it" didn't spin, but I'm not sure if I actually made contact with the bearing or not.

Second question: I know that I'll need a clutch alignment tool to put the clutch on, but is there anything that I need to keep in mind when putting on a twin plate clutch that is any different than a regular one?

 

It sounds like the pilot bearing died, and with the amount of wiggling and prying you did you probably started to destroy it anyway and should replace it.

 

pilot bearings are cheap. just replace it. i always do

 

You don't remove the flywheel to change the pilot bearing. How's that for some good news? At all costs, beg borrow or steal a blind bearing slide hammer type puller. Also replace the pilot bearing grease seal. FSM has this info (see sig. for links).

Take a look at the fork and the ball stud where it pivots - could be the reason for your clutch problem.

 

All costs is $30. I bought one of these and the second biggest end worked great when I replaced the pilot on Sunday. It was a thing of beauty.

 

What?!? Cheapest I've seen up here is $80 on special (Princess Auto)....<clicks on link>

p.s. thanks

 

If you have an autozone near by they rent them for free...both the slide hammer and pilot bearing removal tool.

 

Thanks for the info! I'm overjoyed that the flywheel isn't coming off! If I can't get my buddy to loan me his tools there is an autozone down the street, good to know! pfsantos, you were refering to the fork and ball pivot for the release bearing yea? If so, they work fine. I'll be pulling it all outta there today, so I'll let ya'll know how it goes.....

Any advice about twin plate clutches though?