Who has changed their OWN clutch?
 

For those of you that have changed their FC's clutch in their home garage... I need some advice!

What do you guys support the car with? Do you just drive it up on ramps, or use axle stands?

What do you support the engine and tranny with? Blocks of wood or cherry pickers?

How long did it take you?

And how do you get the tranny out of the way to give you enough space to remove and re-install the clutch kit?!

Lastly... any advice?!

Car on jack stands, pulled out tranny with the help of a rolling hydraulic floor jack.
The hardest part was getting the giant nut off. Had to get the car towed to Mazda to break it loose with impact wrench. Grrr.
Good luck

i did mine when the engine was out, but i believe most people get under the transmission after taking off the exhaust, and unbolt it, then slide it off, being careful not to let it droop down too far before the input shaft is out, and then there you have it

think the top 2 bolts are hard to get at when the transmisson is on the car, i think you need one of those U-joint sockets, and a couple of 6" extensions,

ill bet the hardest part is that damned pilot bearing

I use regular jack stands to support the car, works fine. You really dont need anything to support the engine when removing the tranny. I place my floor jack undenether the tranny to lower it to the floor when its ready to come out.

It takes me approx 30-45mins to remove the tranny.

i used reglar jack stands.
Two on the front a arm mounts, two on the rear subframe bushing.

jack it up real high. I slid the tranny out from underneth the car, the bell housing cleared via the front wheel well.

It took me 1 hour to jack the car high enough, 2 hours to remove exhaust, 1 hour to remove driveshaft, 1 hour to remove tranny, 25 mins to remove pressure plate, 4 days to remove pilot bearing, 1 min to remove flywheel, 15 mins to replace rear engine main seal.

HAHAH, I learned my lesson too after the 1st clutch job. I bought that stupid pilot bearing removal tool and it's definitely been worth it. My clutch job took 3 days in all, which included a new front tranny cover seal, rear main seal, removing flywheel and resurfacing, etc. 4 jackstands and a hydraulic jack is all it took

I always just lay under the car and lower the transmission onto my chest, and then slide out from underneath it. On a Rx-7, the tranny is only about 70lbs, so it isnt that bad. I made the mistake of trying that on my dads 72 Ford F-150 4x4...I though I crushed my ribs. Man that thing had to weight like 300lbs...

it is more of a job than I thought it would be. It took me all day, from like noon till 10 PM. Take the exhaust all the way off! I had a bitch of a time sliding it in and out. I was lucky in that the flywheel was very smooth when we measured it as I didn't have to remove. The Pilot bearing is a bitch.. Other than that 4 jack stands.
And you should mark the bolt pattern on the driveshaft so you reattach the same way.

Rent a pilot bearing tool from autozone. Free. a few bolts around the bellhousing and remove the starter and the mounts and driveshaft. Be sure to plug the driveshaft hole or it'll slowly leak fluid, and thats a mess. Drop tranny, replace clutch, take flywheel off (good luck). I wouldnt even really worry about a pilot bearing, they are worthless anyways especially on these small cars.

it took me a couple days to do it (noob) if you're gonna replace the rubber donut, but sure to get the big ass socket that bolts on the flywheel. oh yeah, it's a bit easier to take off the slave cyl when taking out the tranny. oh, be sure to get a dremel with a cut off wheel if your pilot bearing is blasted into pieces, as was mine. i jacked up the car high enough so i puled the tranny through the front. good luck!

Re: Who has changed their OWN clutch?
 

Motor was laying on my garage floor :)

Picker.

Uhhh... 15 minutes?

Take it down. Or if the motor is already out of the car just do it then... But dont take the motor out to do the clutch, thats stupid.

I was laughing so hard when i read this i thought you were messing around, then i saw you were serious. The tranny only weighs 70 lbs?? Thats actually still kinda a lot dont ya think?

Haha, I guess. Not that bad though. As long as you are ready for it, and it doesnt suprise you ;)

Bah 70 isnt that much. Unless your a tiny guy I guess. Im not big at all, 5'5 and about 130 and I could do it easy.

i'm 5'10," 120 pounds and had a little bit of trouble. doctor said my vision is still improving at a better-than-average rate, though. that 70 pounds sure does feel like a lot more on your face. . . well, good luck!

casio

How hard is it to take off the flywheel bolt?

I'm of average build but you think its possible with the socket and a long breaker bar? Or should I borrow some air tools from my friend...

Definately borrow the air tools.....

well, it took me and 3 other students at my technical school about 5 hrs to do the whole thing. the hardest part was getting the extension housing and its shifter mount(?) back into the cabin, thus popping the transmission in place. that took us about an hr, but i think it was cuz the shortest dude was holding the end of extension housing. once i got back there and pushed up, it popped in. yea, i had lifts, air tool, trans jack and 4 pairs of hands. but it was our first clutch job.

result? my six puck is sick. but my trans is leaking fluid somewhere near the RTV between the case & extension housing. will attempt to fix that tom.

didn't replace the pilot bearing, it didn't need to be replaced(according to my instructor). replaced the release bearing.

i don't think i would even dream of taking the trans out at home. then again, if i had a garage it would be a different story(live in a townhouse).

eddie

It took me about two hour start to finish. use 4 jack stands. It is preferred to use a tranny jack. but you don 't need it. Use a foam cup or a socket to stop the fluid leaking when you remove the drive shaft. There is no need to remove the exhaust unless you have some crazy custom job. Pilot bearing removal tool is a must. It saves alot of frustration and time. Use new mazda pilot bearing and seal. and a new TII throwout bearing. You will need a clutch alignment tool, about $6 at autozone. Remember to remove your shifter, speed-o cable, all electric wires, and remove the slave cylinder before you loosen the bolts on the bell housing. I recomend removing you flywheel and having it resurfaced, but that is much more work and a little bit more money. you can use emery cloth and knock off the glaze that forms thru time and slipping.
it isn't hard. jsut take your time and do it right. if you don't ahve a shop manual, get one.

Thanks everyone! All the info's been very helpful. So this is what I think I gotta do:

1. Prop the whole car up, front and back.
2. Remove all the electronic things and shifter knob, etc.
3. Remove the driveshaft and make sure it doesn't leak fluid onto the floor.
4. Then unbolt the tranny, supporting it with a hydraulic lift and slide it out from under the car in order to replace the clutch assembly.
5. Replace the flywheel, pilot bearing, clutch disk, clutch cover, and throw-off bearing.

Anyone see any mistakes in what I believe to be the way to do it?!

Or should I just pay $200 to get the job done... ?

Thanks for all your advice, guys!

just go do it!

Well, I want to go do it! My biggest concern is getting the pilot bearing off... I don't have an air tool available.

Can't you use a puller?

Well, the instructions in the manual say to use a puller, but where do I get that from?!

The s5 trans abou 88 lbs by my scale. I've used the lay on the floor and lift the trans method on a number of cars to put them in. I usually use some jacks to hold it when pulling them out.

Do have to watch out for the heavy trans though. I did an s-10 4x4 and it was about all I could do to bench press it up into it's location. I thought it was going to kill me.

By the way the 350z 6speed trans weighs 130lbs.