Is it really necessary to drop the enite rear end and trans just to R&R a clutch/flywheel assembly? I would rather pull the motor. Has anyone done this?

 

I pulled the motor, well "lowered" the motor.
Is it easier? I don't know. but I had a lift and hydraulic jack to lower the cradle. So I guess it depends on what equipment you're working with.

 

im on the floor. meaning i have a shop but no lift. just a big floor jack, plenty of jackstands and a couple smaller jacks. But I figure if I can move the motor forward, then I can get the driveshaft out of the clutch assembly.... Right?

 

Good luck with moving the motor foward. Pulling the rear and trans/torque tube reallly isnt that bad i have done it 3 times now .

I could tear it down and have it completly out now in about 2 hours with a set of extra hands. Dont even try to do it by yourself. It can be done but its not fun.

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If you have any questions just ask ill try to help as much as i can.

 

Yes, it must all come out. You will never move the motor forward due to the oil pan. I did it on my back, it wasn't bad just allow the time to do it.

 

I considered dropping the engine cradle instead of the drivetrain, but it appeared to be more difficult.

I did mine on jackstands by myself. It was a pain in the *** since I didn't really know what i was doing, but if you take your time and pay attention to what needs to be removed, it's not that bad. Biggest issue i had was the ABS thing on the back. Looks like you have a 98 so you should have it too. Just be sure to get it out of the way. there are a few brake lines to and from it. I know now that i could do it alot faster if i had to do it again.

Also, use a tranny jack. I tried it on a regular jack and it wasn't working at all.

 

add a remote bleeder while you're at it

 

ok. thanks guys. Besides rear main seal, remote bleeder, and new slave cylinder, anything else I should replace while i'm in there?

 

I am in the middle of rebuilding my engine/replacing clutch assy.

I dropped the drivetrain, ONLY, from the bottom...
THEN I pulled the engine from the top (with bellhousing/clutch/flywheel removed).

I could not imagine doing it in the reverse. Just too much stuff in the engine compartment to allow much forward movement/maneuvering. Trust me, not worth the trouble if just doing clutch work.

I did all of this, by myself, on the floor of my garage, on TRUCK jackstands. Using two floor jacks (one to control the back of the engine), two car-wheel dollies, and assorted lengths of 2x10 lumber.

I loosened the engine mounts and removed the intake, the coils, and the headers, just in case (but was pulling engine, regardless). Lowered the drivetrain as low as possible, and actually pulled the trans/diff off of the torqtube FIRST...
THEN I dropped the torqtube, and proceded to remove all the clutch related parts.

Recently helped with another C5 clutch swap where we dropped JUST the drivetrain from the torqtube--back. We left the engine mounts bolted tight/intake ON, unbolted his headers from the heads, but were able to leave them hanging in the engine compartment. We installed a single disc SPEC w/NEW flywheel, so we were able to leave the bellhousing and starter on the engine.

When removing the shifter, also remove the mount from the linkage, and this will help when maneuvering that harness/sleeve. It will also allow you to separate the trans from the torqtube, if you go that route.

 

clutch swaps are a joke

don't say you'd rather pull the motor until you've done one

 

, they are really not that bad

 

Now that's messed up !! All that JUST to change the clutch !!!

 

Huh?

 

I wouldn't mess with the seal unless you have a leak now. Do you perhaps mean pilot bearing?

 

why would you not replace the seal now, after doing all that work to remove the drivetrain? not going to be fun when it leaks few weeks down the road

 

I'm about to do this too and was wondering the same thing.

Seems like a logical question at the very least.

We change the front seal when we put a cam in and pully on.

 

I've been looking at the Factory Service manual and it looks like quite the job! I'm typically not intimidated by much of anything in terms of doing my own wrenching, but the clutch job looks like a number!

 

The job isn't bad at all. Yes it is intimidating but once done and the tricks learned it isn't bad. Having said that though if you have $450.-$600. extra laying around it's worth the money to not touch anything. But then you have to worry if the job was done right.

My experience with replacing seals that don't need replacing is the new seals will seep/leak until they seat creating a leak you didn't have.

Replace the pilot bearing and add a remote bleeder. Look at your torque tube bushings/couplings and replace if needed.

Read all you can because there are tricks that can be very helpful. Ignore the advice to swap the master cylinder later to save a few bucks now. It's not as easy as the advice givers are trying to make you believe. I spent more time working on that end of it than any other item. And everything was all apart and jacked up with extra room.

 

There is a risk with changing the seal with new. If the current one doesn't show any signs of leak or failure I wouldn't touch it, but it is your car, so do what you feel is best. I would replace the pilot bearing as well as add the remote bleeder too.

Keep us posted on how the swap goes.

Eric D

 

If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it. You have a better chance of the replacement seal going bad (installation problem or other) than you do of the factory seal. Whether you change the front cover seal or not is up to you. Since the part is already coming off, I replace it. That's not the case of the rear main.