I think I have a bad throwout bearing (makes noise with clutch in and slightly notchy shifting). Car has 54k on what I understand is the original clutch.

Would it make any sense to take out the tranny, replace the t/o brg and 5thg synchro, and simply inspect the pilot brg and clutch plate?

I hear it's hard to remove the clutch and flywheel when the engine is in - why exactly is that?

TIA

Dave

 

Nothing wrong with just inspecting things and making sure that they are within tolerance. It's just such a PITA job that while you're in there you might as well replace everything. I have around 800 miles on my ACT extreme SS now and I'm glad I upgraded the clutch. Even with my near stock power levels the clutch feels very tight now, and gives me the feedback that I was missing with my original mushy stock clutch. I didn't have access to the pilot bearing tool, so I just left the old one in there and made sure that it was well lubed. So far no problems

The whole thing took me around 40 hours of work. I bet I could do it in about half that time now, maybe less. Just like anything else you will learn the pitfalls along the way, and will aquire the tools that you were missing the first time

I didn't find it particularly difficult to change out the clutch other than all the mess (lots of old grease and organic dust from the fried clutch, rust from the exhaust, etc.) and the fact that you are working in a very confined space. Here's everything that went wrong for me:

I had to remove my UIM to get at the top three tranny bolts with a 14mm wrench and ended up breaking a nipple on a solenoid in the process. I also broke 3 of the 4 studs on the "midpipe" because of all the rust build up. I also broke my flywheel puller trying to get the press fit flywheel off (I ended up using a wood splitting wedge to get it off).You will also need an impact wrench and a 54 mm socket to get the flywheel nut off (350 ft. lbs or so) unless you have Heman-like strength. I broke my 1/2" drive breaker bar (Craftsman and heavy duty) trying to get the thing off by hand. It just sheared off at the handle.

Anyhow, it was still easier than pulling the engine and working on it that way. Everythig would have gone much smoother if I had access to a lift and air tools from the get-go. But, it can be done on jackstands with hand tools if you're resourceful.

Anyhow my suggestion would be to just go ahead and replace everything while you're in there. It's a big enough pain that you won't want to go in and fix it a second time. Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for the big reply, wingsfan. I intend to get/borrow the pilot puller, air tools, and tranny jack when the job needs done so things go well.

Is there any risk putting the job off? The clutch performs fine, but will a slightly bad throwout bearing put any other components at risk?

Dave

 

Forty hours or even half is way to long to spend on that job inless you rebuilt the trans also. The flywheel will come out with the correct tools with no problem. If the throw out bearing goes out it may screw the clutch plate. Fix it before and save a tow bill and damage .

 

Hey Dave, my clutch needed replaced at 70K - as earlier stated, pulling the tranny can be quite a job without proper tools (I've heard of many 40+ hour clutch jobs) But when KDR installed my clutch, I left my new throwout bearing at home - he ended up using my old one and it's been fine for 3 years now - no noises. Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, I'd go ahead and replace the 5th gear synchro and clutch if you're going to the trouble of pulling the tranny. Flywheel is a nice addition if you already have the tranny pulled and have the extra money.