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Been there, but on a 1987 Porsche 951. If I recall, the manual for the Porsche says it's a 24-hour job. I also had the fun of getting the torque tube bearings replaced. Of course, after getting it all together, the new throwout bearing is noisy
The only tech book I used was the threads from guys changing clutches at the bowling green hotel parking lot. No problems. Installl a remote slave bleeder too, and wrap the slave line in thermal wrap so it doesn't get as hot by the exhaust.
Yeah got a new slave cylinder and the remote bleeder too. Slave has had a slight leak for years so will be good to replace it. Good idea on the wrap.
Bigger ***** than me taking on that job without a lift
I debated doing it myself for a while. I’ve done clutches on many other cars without a lift over the years, this is the most involved though by far. For the record, those are all 6 ton jack stands. Not real worried about any of them failing. 24 tons of jack support should be able to handle a 3000 lb car. Of course, I stuck a pair of oak logs under there this afternoon just in case.
Been there, but on a 1987 Porsche 951. If I recall, the manual for the Porsche says it's a 24-hour job. I also had the fun of getting the torque tube bearings replaced. Of course, after getting it all together, the new throwout bearing is noisy
Just for $hit$, how much does this job cost, if done by “the guy”?
I didn’t even look into it but it would have to run around $2k just in labor I would imagine. I really don’t have any issue paying it these days, just have always done my own work on this car and all other performance cars I’ve owned. Looked at it like a challenge.
The shop that did my install in my Z06, Tick LS7 clutch kit, mentioned that he had to shave/sand down some of the bell housing cover in spots ( I believe he said bell housing cover ) because the LS7 clutch is much bigger than the old stock clutch. not sure to what extent it was done and/or which parts affected but would sure like to know for future reference.
Had my c5z for 10 years now, still on the original clutch and it’s seen better days. Finally decided to replace it, going with an LS7 clutch/pressure plate. Allowing myself 4 days for the job, guessing I’ll have it all back together by Sunday. I always heard this was a big job but damn, I can’t believe how much has to come out to do this, holy crap.
I thought things were going well today until I realized the headers have to be moved out of the way of the bell housing too, wish I would have loosened them up while it was still on the ground lol. Just figuring how to get it 30” off the ground took some work this morning. Ready to drop the rear cradle/diff/trans/torque tube in the morning, should be fun!
I remember that transmission jack adapter, I bought one in 1998 to pull the transaxle out of my mom’s 1988 LeBaron came out fine, stupid thing kept falling over and off floor Jack over and over trying to get transaxle back up into car.
It was from Harbor Freight, the floor jack was Sears craftsman 3 ton, the dowel or whatever it’s called just fit too lose into jack and it would lean over and fall with weight of transaxle on it, with nothing on it, it seemed stable.
I threw it away.
Hopefully if yours is Harbor Freight it’s stable.
Bought the harbor freight 800 lb low lift transmission jack in 2018 with a 25% off coupon, was $120.00 before tax after coupon at time, still in box waiting for the day I have to do clutch on my C5.
Good luck and let us see and read your progress.
Looks like the one I bought went up from $160.00 before coupon in 2018, to $230.00 but there is instant coupon that makes it $183.99 good until 09/05/22, just in case you have any trouble with the one you use on floor Jack.
Last edited by 1999corvettels1; 09-03-2022 at 12:40 AM.
^^^I got that trans jack adapter on eBay. ($50) It wouldn’t attach to my jack, so I ended up just welding it to that jack plate lol. When I’m done I’ll just cut it off. I’ll let you know how things go should have it out today.
The shop that did my install in my Z06, Tick LS7 clutch kit, mentioned that he had to shave/sand down some of the bell housing cover in spots ( I believe he said bell housing cover ) because the LS7 clutch is much bigger than the old stock clutch. not sure to what extent it was done and/or which parts affected but would sure like to know for future reference.
Get her done my man I've been looking for a manual and REFUSE to get one without a clutch service in the recent history lol A clutch on this car damm near requires 1/2 of the car to come out lol Depending on the mileage...id thrown a rear main seal and gasket in the budget while your there cause yurppppppp...all that **** gotta come off and out to replace it. Good luck dude...you got this
Ok so all went well today, had my son help me drop the rear/trans/torque tube as one assembly, all in all it went very well, only surprise was didn’t realize how much has to be disconnected from trans but no big deal. As it was coming down and out I did forget about the slave cylinder, something was keeping me from sliding things back far enough then I remembered that. I just cut the line at the old cylinder, I was replacing it anyway and that was much simpler. Then it came down without a problem.
You can see my diy cradle I made out of 2x4’s. Drilled holes in the trans adapter plate and secured them with deck screws. I went back and forth with the jack a couple times to make measurements and then cut the wood to fit, it ended up perfectly balanced, took very little effort to maneuver the torque tube down, hardly any weight on it.
Picked up a rear main seal kit today, most recommend doing that too when doing a clutch job. Kit has the crank seal and cover gasket but now realize I need the alignment tool too, will need to order that so looks like I’m not wrapping this project up this weekend like I planned. Watching videos of this job I now see the bellhousing needs to be practically removed to get to all the cover bolts. Yikes. That looks like another pita lol. Oh well, going well so far other than that little hang up. I’ll probably do more upgrades while I’m waiting like the torque tube couplers, and rear axle seals. Fun stuff!
Dumb question for those who have done this before, do you need an alignment after dropping the rear cradle, or is it OK since the top mounts are all fixed in place ?
I don't want to be "that guy" but seeing that thing that high up on just jack stands makes me cringe! I wouldn't worry about them collapsing under the weight so much as toppling over if someone bumped into the side...yikes! Oh, and seeing this in progress makes me just want to put that job off indefinitely!
Cripes man you put that thing in the air! Just that much more lifting to get that mess in and out. You doing a remote bleeder too?
Yes adding a remote bleeder.
Originally Posted by Vette-kid
I don't want to be "that guy" but seeing that thing that high up on just jack stands makes me cringe! I wouldn't worry about them collapsing under the weight so much as toppling over if someone bumped into the side...yikes! Oh, and seeing this in progress makes me just want to put that job off indefinitely!
Yeah I went a little higher than I had to (30”). I just wanted to have plenty of working room. I can sit up straight with the tunnel open now while working on the clutch install lol. It’s all very secure actually. I welded 3/16 steel plate to the top of the stands in the back. Drilled holes and have eye bolts that go through hockey pucks and secure it into the frame.
Those are 6x6 posts secured together underneath. Front is supported with wide 2x6’s under the engine cradle, it’s very solid too. I’ve rocked the whole car pretty well before I started to check and it’s very solid. Added a pair of big oak logs just in case things did go wrong lol. You can definitely do the job with it lower but I didn’t want to be flat on my back the whole time. You need at least 20” I’d say to do this, I figured I’d get a bit more.
Now that I got the rear section out I think I’ll take out the wood blocks and lower the car a bit before I reinstall it, down to about 22-24” that’s still a good amount of working room.
Originally Posted by Patsgarage
Dumb question for those who have done this before, do you need an alignment after dropping the rear cradle, or is it OK since the top mounts are all fixed in place ?
The rear cradle has big centering tabs that make sure it’s in the exact place when you bolt it back up. I’ve not heard anything about needing an alignment.
Sounds pretty secure with the eyeballs. I have a kwiklift but it's been at my dad's place 6hrs away. I'm dragging doing this, but my clutch has been a bit finicky (pedal sticking to the floor), even after changing fluid a few times.
09-02-2022, 08:52 PM
I've been looking for a manual and REFUSE to get one without a clutch service in the recent history lol A clutch on this car damm near requires 1/2 of the car to come out lol Depending on the mileage...id thrown a rear main seal and gasket in the budget while your there cause yurppppppp...all that **** gotta come off and out to replace it. Good luck dude...you got this
