Okay, Didn't know to put this in general or tech. But need to replace the throw out bearing on my 96. My question is just how difficult is it to remove the tranny? Especially with the car on jack stands. I'm very capable mechanically and have done lots of work on clutches but if the actual removal of the tranny is a real pain, I will just pay somebody. But would otherwise like to save the 400 or 500 dollars in labor. Would appreciate any feedback or step by step or tech articles on it!

 

Ok, so you gotta
drop the exhaust
pull the c-beam and drive shaft
remove the shift **** and put trans in 3rd
drop the trans
drop the cats
remove the clutch fork pivot retaining nut and unscrew the clutch fork pivot (fork pivot probably not the right name, but it is what it is)
pull the bellhousing (if the clutch fork pivot is not loosened then removing the bellhousing is possible, but verrrrrry difficult)
take out the pressure plate and clutch disk, from this point you can remove the throw-out bearing and reassemble in reverse.
Kind of a PITA.

good luck

 

im getting ready to do a clutch swap in my LT4 as soon as the rain lets up. not looking forward to crawling around on my back in the driveway, but its better than paying someone else to do it! hopefully ill have it all finished by Sat morning and can hit the dragstrip

EDIT: nevermind, theyre calling for rain on Mon/Tues and Thurs/Fri... doubt i could get it all finished in only a day. maybe if i didnt have to work... oh well. theres always next week

 

Keep your patience, the first time you take out the c-beam it's a bitch.
The tranny is surpisingly heavy, have a jack ready for it, and you may need a buddy there to help put it back in.

 

You can do this project in your garage. Here are some pictures and please read my recommendations. I did it by myself, I got hurt and got a cut in my calf so deep that it is 5 months old and the scar still red.

Highly recommend for you to by the field service manual "FSM"

Disconnect the battery

Before you start jacking the Vette up, remove the center console, the shifter **** and all bolts that hold the shifter boot.

I used 4 ton jack stands, Use 6 ton jackstands. 6 tons will give you a higher clearance for the tranny to go back in. The take out/off is easy because you can always drag it out.

Follow instructions from the FSM or ZF Doc

This is a good time to replace all U-joints, engine's rear main seal, to consider a short shifter (B&M or Hurst), tranny oil change (castrol TWS) and rear axle oil change.

The C-beam was not as difficult, be careful with the fuel shut off sensor near the firewall when you lower the tranny to remove the C-Beam.

You can do this yourself as long you got a jack and an extra jackstand (to hold the engine on place) BUT, an extra set of hands will make things easier.

 

Okay well some thoughts and some questions after removal. The whole reason for this was when i pushed the pedal past 2/3 you would hear a grinding noise. The cause..... The fork Pivot stud had worked its way loose toward the motor. Causing the fork to rub on the clutch pack! Lots of filings and found the little allen head screw laying in the trans! This wasn't that bad to remove except for the bell housing. Did you guys remove the cats? I didn't and was not easy, but removing the cats didn't look easy cause of access to the bolts on the headers.

Okay questions. Where is the best place to buy a stock clutch kit? Hurst or B&M shifter(which is better?) and the trans is leaking from the tail shaft area, where to buy seals and maybe gasket for tail shaft? Also U-joints. Maybe a vendor that carries all of these parts. Thanks guys!

 

Carolina Clutch for the pp/disk. They should throw in an alignment tool as well. They can do a new TO bearing as well, while you're in there.

Is teh rear tranny seal leaking all the time, or just while the driveshaft is out? it's normal while the shaft is out. Good time to change the fluid anyway. 17mm Allen.

Shouldn't have to remove the cats. The hard part though then is getting the starter out of the way -- last time I found that a 13mm u-joint socket (Craftsman) worked really wll for this. Not enough space to get a regular socket+u-joint in there. Need the combo that's a little shallow socket with integrate u-joint to sneak in there beside the cat and get the starter bolt.

Getting the @#$@#$ tranny back onto the jack while under the car can be fun. I always resort to using some pieces of 2x4 or simailar and building it up on each end piece by piece until I can get the Big floor jack under there. Again, having a helper to move the jack up and down can be nice.

When re-installing, the wiring harnesses up top can get trapped by the housing -- having someone up there checking for that (from the passenger side) can help. Get new PP (and FW if you remove it) bolts from the Stealership. I believe they're one-time use, and cheap insurance. Make sure all the grounds that attach to the top-left BH bolt get re-attached. If not, you'll find "things" that just don't work (like say, cruise control).

 

The little research I did showed the majority of aftermarket clutch kits are manufactured by Valeo, so if you are going with a stock replacement, shop by price/warranty. Carolina clutch is a great resource. Fortwayne clutch helped me and can build you any clutch you want, give them a call and they will discuss materials for longer life or to hold more power, or just stock.

I had (and needed) a hand to get the transmission out. Putting it back was much easier. I actually did it by myself as I was not patient enough to wait for help.


I did this:
It just pinched the conduit and would not let the trans sit flush. took a while to figure out and a lot longer to get it un-pinched.

I did the same thing to get the trans up, real jack under the drain plug (pretty well balanced) and a bottle jack on top of a cinder block under the tail shaft so I could let it rest hands free.

As for the seal, I got it from Autozone. They had it in stock. The # they look up in the book or computer is wrong, but if you bring in the old seal the part number from the seal will help them find one that is commonly stocked.

I gave up looking for U-joints because I could not find a spicer distributor. I went with AZ ones because they carry a warranty. They are made in china and will probably come back to bite me.