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So I took my engine out a while back and we were unable to get the little ring on the throwout bearing to budge at all. Eventually we just unbolted the clutch housing from the flywheel and moved on with our lives. Now as I'm getting closer to putting the car back together, I took another look at the transmission. I still can't move the ring at all even with the liberal application of WD40. It also feels like, with the transmission on a jack and nothing connected to it on the engine side, like things are binding up a bit. It's hard to rotate the clutch housing within the bellhousing for example (it's sort of pulled back into the bellhousing and is contacting it), and I can't move the throwout bearing itself in and out with a screwdriver like I see people doing on YT videos. Is there a way to properly position the transmission to avoid binding? And is there an easier way to get the clutch off with free access from the engine side but the trans still in the car?
Is there something wrong that would be causing the release ring not to want to move at all? The transmission seemed fine when the car was parked. And any tips? I wanted to get the clutch housing off to inspect it and because it feels like my life will be a lot easier getting the engine back in with the housing on the flywheel rather than trying to re-connect each bolt through the trans access window.
Had something weird on mine. Clutch cylinder was frozen in the engaged position (e.g. like if someone was holding the clutch pedal down). I unbolted it from the trans and everything went back to normal.
You say "clutch housing" - do you mean pressure plate?
So right now the trans is in the car, no engine in the car, correct? The clutch disc should just come right off it's not clipped on or anything, it's just sitting on the splined shaft. Once that's off you have full access to the throwout bearing.
It's possible the clutch fork is broken or something is funny back there and it's wedged in there.
I can try to take a video, but in the mean time: The ring that you depress as the first step to releasing the throwout bearing does not depress. It is stuck. Seems like in videos folks are also able to move the bearing itself in and out as well through the access window but I can't move that either. Does that part make sense?
Also, yes, by "clutch housing" I mean the pressure plate. Sorry for using the wrong terminology there. Isn't it held on to the transmission by the pull-type release? I didn't think I could remove it until I've released that.
Also, Dale, can you explain what you mean re full access to the throw out bearing? I’ve removed the disc but it looks to me like I need to get behind the pressure plate to release the bearing.
May be worth removing the clutch slave to make sure it isn't pushed in or something as stated.
The throwout bearing kind of works like one of those Chinese finger cuff things. You push the throwout bearing into the collar and it pops in, but as you pull out it grabs on. You have to push the bearing in towards the pressure plate to move that ring flush with the pressure plate, keep that ring flush, then pop the bearing back towards the transmission to disengage.
It's totally worth solving this now before the engine goes in, this would be 1000x worse to deal with with the limited access with the engine in the way.
The clutch fork is bolted into the bell housing but the pressure plate needs to come out to get to the 2 bolts that hold it in.
There is a snap ring kind of thing that holds the release bearing in to the ring on the pressure plate, it's a circular ring of round wire, there's a small gap in it. See if you can pick or pry that out. That's what holds the whole works together.
12523213[/url]]Just posted that then saw the picture
There is a snap ring kind of thing that holds the release bearing in to the ring on the pressure plate, it's a circular ring of round wire, there's a small gap in it. See if you can pick or pry that out. That's what holds the whole works together.
Dale
Thank you! I was able to pop the snap ring off. The bearing seems… fine? Is there something I should do at this point to make sure it’s operating correctly? I can manipulate the arm by hand without much difficulty.
- Remove the fork and TO bearing.
- Clean EVERYTHING in there, get all that old grease and clutch dust.
- Clean the round tube the TO bearing rides on. It should be SMOOTH metal. Use high temp wheel bearing grease on it, nice thin film.
- Clean the release arm, check for any cracking or anything weird
- Check the TO bearing, it should spin without any sound. Probably worth replacing unless you know how new it is.
- Grease up the ears of the TO bearing and slot it on to the arm. Grease the point on the arm where the clutch slave touches it. Lactate on bolts and torque to spec
Arm should move back and forth freely and the TO bearing should slide easily back and forth with no binding.
I would also make sure the ring on the pressure plate is good and replace if not. If it gets bent or damaged you won't be able to release in the future, could be why you couldn't get it off of there. Don't get that ACT Monoloc collar, it doesn't fix any problems, it's expensive, and people have had problems with them.
I would also check the clutch and pressure plate for wear. Now is the time to replace if necessary.
I’ve never been a fan of the oem wedge collars. They can get damaged pretty easily if you’re not careful. The fingers that hold the ring can get bent without realizing it. I changed over to the act monoloc wedge collar part #884006p. It’s a more robust piece and worth the investment. It comes standard on all act clutch kits now. I got mine here ACT XT Clutch Kits (93+RX-7)
06-21-22, 09:42 AM
