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.

Umm... I'm going to pay my uncle $200 to do the job. Forget doing it myself! I don't wanna die if the car crushes me... and I can't afford all those SST's (Special Service Tools). The manual says I need a Brake for $117.51(CAD), a Puller $141.77 and a Box wrench $161.23!!!

What tools did you guys use?

And lastly... to confirm... are flywheels from the dealership really cheap? Like $61 CAD?!

Keep in mind that there are a lot of places that will rent out tools, like pilot bearing pullers and transmission jacks.

holy thread resurrection, batman!

so yeah, I doubt these guys were still waiting for an answer...

Two weeks! BUT, I had the wrong flywheel and clutch! So I sold it and bought a new one from Rx7Store.net. Then it took me about an hour. But, my motor was on a crate, and not in the car. WHAMMY!

Edit: WHAMMY! I didn't even notice the dates! HAHAHA, so old.

doah.. didnt know it was old

what a supa rugged story

Lol yeah, I've benched trannies in a lot of times, kinda tough on the heavier ones. Mashed my fingernail one time trying to put my 3-spd manual back in my truck, damn thing fell over and squashed it :(

Most imports are easy though, they're fairly light. If I'm laying underneath the car I usually put it up on my knees to hold it up if the car is high enough. Makes it a lot easier.

If you have a friend or two to help you it really isn't too bad. This month I've had the "opportunity" to pull and reinstall two FC tranny's.
The tranny isnt really that heavy, but spend the money and either rent a tranny jack or just buy one!!! You'll be glad you did and your friends won't hate you after the job is over! I would probably go ahead and replace the rear main seal while youre there, Atkins sells one if your interested.

A tip for you not so He-Man types,lol.

You don't need a tranny jack to put the trans in the position you want it. Sometimes not a jack at all.
If you get 2 bolts that fit the bellhousing about 3.5 inches in lenght and cut the heads off of them. You screw them into the bellhousing, 1 at the top left and 1 at the bottom right. You use those for locator and support pins. You lift the trans onto the pins and they align the trans so that it will go in with little or no effort.
If you want you can cut a slot in the top off them to extract them with a screwdriver afterwards but I just use a pair of pliers to back them out.
Another thing that I do with FC transmissions before I try to put them back in is to remove the trans crossmember from the trans. I have found because the engine does not drop when you remove the trans that if the crossmember is still attached on reinstallation that the trans has to be pushed excessively upwards to get it to line up with the splines on the clutch disc. By removing it this gives you alittle more variance when placing the trans on the locator bolts.
For a flywheel stopper I use either a alt adjustment bracket or air pump one. You open up the mounting hole with a drill bit to accomodate the bolt that you will put thru the bracket on to the trans housing. The adjustment end allows you to attach it to various parts of the flywheel to keep the flywheel from moving.

st1llet0, im sure hes got his clutch fixed by now

holly shit man r u okay?

tranny
 

Thanks you guys for resurecting this thread, I'm a noob and trying to reseach this before I try it. I'm uesing the search like I'm supposed to.

Good tip on stopping the flywheel from moving, any sugggestions on what type clutch to get ? I found a T1 stage 1 kit for my 91 vert. for $134.00 shipped, is that a good deal?

In reading I've learned that I should replace the rear main seal on the motor as well. (minor oil leakage)

I got a 91 vert. just like mine as a parts car with 131000 miles on it, how do I check the tranny to make sure its good , my syncros are shot and I want replace it?

4 jack stands to support the car, 1 floor jack used to wiggle the tranny out....had to use 2 to put it back in, (1 is fine)...just remember to put the clutch disc in the corect way :( ...I put mine in backwards after dropping the car and putting my exhaust back on...so had to spend another day jacking the car up and removing the tranny and putting it in the right way.

its an old thread, but good info

i use an old skateboard with 2 jacks bolted to it.. works perfect, only you have to make sure it doesnt fall off the jacks when youre lowering it. I think it takes me 4-6 hours to do start to finish with breaks

go to autozone put deposit i htink its like 50 or 70 which you'll get back when you return tool

6 hours, jack stands, jack, bearing puller and some swearing
its not all that hard just make sure u have a shop manual
wait actually 7 hours it took me the extra hour to pick the rocks and crap out of my back i did it in my dirt driveway

hmm, I guess I'm spoiled. I went to my friend's shop and put it on the lift. The pilot bearing was a bitch. I suggest you resurface your flywheel also.

Ok, I resurrected this thread by mistake, i was searching for tips on changing my own. Here's how it went down. 2 jack stands in front, cinder blocks in back (i was uber careful) that part took me like 2 hours, had to drive 15 miles to find another jack stand lol. Then off comes starter (np) and exhaust (np but tedious, prolly another 1 hour including the heat shields) put a tall floor jack under the transmission to support it, then took 30 minutes to find some blocks of wood because i jacked the car up too high, :(. Finally get the trans out, discovering that it's by far easier to take out the top trans bolts from the engine bay, stopped for a moment to flush my eye, (trans fluid, ouch!) slid out trans, scooted out from under the car. removed old clutch components, went to bed (wasn't about to fuck with the pilot bearing without a tool) got a slide hammer with pilot bearing adapter from autozone, yanked the pilot bearing, it was decent but why not replace it, grease up the new one and get to tapping it in... BTW 10mm 1/4 drive is TOO SMALL of a socket, I broke the pilot bearing... pulled it back out, spent 30 minutes getting all the pieces out. Drove the new one in GENTLY with an 11mm 3/8 drive socket, sanded the flywheel with some 80 grit to rough it up (it wan't too bad) and cleaned everything off, put everything back together, got around to bleeding the clutch system at noon on the third day ( I had my daughter that weekend so I took a lot of breaks) Everything is gravy so far.... Total time, probably about 20 hours of actual work, but I did the whole thing myself without serious injury.

i had my car on 4 jack stands.. 2 in the front and 2 in the rear. i just unbolted the exhaust system then the tranny and drivesahft.. took the driveshaft out first then the tranny came off. i used a jack to hold the tranny. then i pulled the tranny and did the clutch from there..but i had all the impact guns and neccesary tools..i dont know if u have all that..that is how i did it..

taking the shifter out before dropping the tranny might make life a little easier, fyi.

^^^^^^^well
1. it's common sense (if not then you'll find out when the tranny gets stuck)
2. it's in the FSM (which details how to remove it)
3. thanks for mentioning something that some people might totally forget about or overlook.

RESURFACE YOUE FLYWHEEL

I use a lift whenever possible. I've driven in and out in 2hrs.

I've done this several times. Granted it's a race car and has a lot of extra shit out of the way.

- Support the car on jackstands, fairly high off the ground.
- I drop my exhaust, can't get in there without it. Maybe you can.
- Not sure how you're going to drop the tranny with the back part of stock heat shield on there, I remove mine (but mine's butchered to only cover what I need covered)
- Yank the driveshaft
- Drain the tranny. Gear oil smells like ASS and is a pain to wipe off the floor, and you probably need to change it anyway. Before you drain it, check that the fill point isn't frozen (14mm wrench required)
- Disconnect the shifter, unbolt it from the tailshaft housing and pull up. Shifter gets in the way, easier to remove.
- Yank the starter. Pull all the electrical connections and speedocable off the tranny and move out of the way.
- unbolt the slave cylinder, move out of the way, don't remove the hose unless you plan to replace the cylinder.
- Support the rear of the tranny (not the mount) with your jack. Unbolt the mount from the car. Allow the tranny to slowly drop.
- Unbolt the top tranny bolts (I can get at mine pretty easily from the top, you'll probably want to come in from underneath with long extensions and a swivel.
- Raise the rear of the tranny so it's closer to level. Reposition the jack towards the center of the tranny.
- Remove the remaining bolts. Slide tranny off the engine carefully, and lower to the ground with jack.

With the tranny removed, remove the pressure plate (6 bolts) and flywheel.

Rented Pilot bearing pullers usually suck for the RX7, I've broken two before I broke down and bought the tool from mazda. If you don't need to replace it, leave it.

If you're swapping the flywheel, the tools mazda sells are kinda important, but you can do without. The engine stop is really handy though. The nut is essentially a 2 1/8" nut. You can buy a socket that size, and use an impact gun to zip it off. The fun part is getting the flywheel off the center shaft. You'll spend some time cussing over that.

Mazda claims some outrageous torque number for the center nut. in reality, I use the mazda tool, about 4 feet worth of steel and a socket on the end and tighten until I can't tighten anymore. Get your biggest strongest buddy to do this. Other methods would be to use a breaker bar, your 2 1/8" socket, and a length of steel pipe. Impact gun installation works I guess, but I trust leverage a lot more.

install your clutch and PP, using the clutch alignment tool (like 2 bucks at your local autoparts store). Torque the PP down exactly as specified in the manual.

Install a new release bearing and grease the correct friction points of the fork.

Have a friend stand at the front of the motor and push, without the tranny the engine will want to tilt past horizontal.

Slide the tranny in using a jack to get it close. Even still you'll need to help guide the input shaft in. Go slow, you don't want to damage your pilot bearing and have to yank it.

Once your close, you can use the bolts to help mate the two together. You don't want to use a lot of force here, if you have to something isn't lining up right or is jammed in the way, should mate very easily.

if you left the transmission mount attached, just use the jack to help get the tranny back in place and bolt it back up. Refill the tranny, install everything you took off, and you're good to go.

Good luck.

Paul