Whew... Three days, 10 hours, and the clutch is finally out. However, I cannot find a pair of snap-ring pliers to get the GD'ed torque tube apart. Anyone want to let me borrow theirs? I pay in beer!



The box from ECS just arrived today, so now all I have left is:

- Take the new FW/PP into the shop to get it match balanced. My old one has weights added...
- Remove the pilot bearing and install the new one.
- Install the new slave, master, and bleeder
- Install the FW/PP/clutch
- Reassemble the driveline
- Reinstall the driver's side header and the exhaust

Just went with the LS6 clutch since my car only makes 350 rwhp and I don't have plans to add massive power in the future.

Probably another 10 hours left, working as slowly as I am. The only real issue I have is that I failed to realize that I didn't jack the rear of the car up high enough to fully remove the driveline. So I had to seperate the torque tube from the transmission while under the car... which was less fun.
Also, I opted to seperate the rear brake lines above the transmission rather than pull the drive shafts out of the diff. Seems to have been the easier choice.

 

I'm dreading this, but I'm gonna need to do it as well this year.. How far up in the air did the car need to be?

 

In the front- at least 20" to get the LG headers out. The back needs to be at least that high, plus some. Mine is only about 16" and it's about 4-6" too little.

You'll need a transmission jack (Harbor Freight- $110) and at least two more jacks.

 

find someone with a lift. we had 3 guys, 2 transmission jacks and it took 10 hours.

 

YES!

You will have people tell you this is unnecessary, overkill, or just plain wrong to do. Don't listen to them. This is your best way to match the final fine tune balance done at final assembly.

Good luck with the completion of your project.

 

Yep- Just dropped it off at a machine shop over lunch. Another $70 added to the project. I currently have $270 in new tools, $1000 in parts, and at least 12 hours into it. The GD'ed pilot bearing refuses to budge.

On a side note, I found a pair of snap-ring pliers to ge tthe C clip off the torque tube. Turns out the rubber couplers are indeed toast and needed to be replaced. Glad ECS talked me into buying them, but man are they spendy ($100 each).

 

Ok, another weekend down, and we're closer to getting the car back together. The pilot bearing turned out to be a gigantic PITA. After some time at Lowes creating a longer rod to thrown the weight and a LOT of cursing, the bearing came out looking almost exactly like molten piece of metal. I bloody near broke my finger, too.

New bearing is in, new clutch/PP/FW are in. Replaced the TT couplers. Twice. Do yourself a favor and pay attention ot the direction of the arrows on the couplers. I guess it matters?

Installing the TT onto the transmission was easy. Getting the entire assembly into the engine was a lot harder. Turns out the "measure the height of the transmission before you disassemble it..." plan is fatally flawed. See, the TT is 6' long. If you measure the transmisison height, a 1mm difference (or error in measuring) will result in a 6mm difference at the end of the TT. IE, worthless. I ended up eyeballing it until the end of the driveshaft was aligned and touching the clutch, then using a pair of electronic calipers to measure the gap between the bellhousing and the TT. Up with one jack, down with another jack, and finally I got the gap perfect.

Using a C-clamp, I was still unable to get the driveshaft splines to align with the clutch disc. Eventually I ended up marking the edge of the cluth disc hub where the splines were. Since I can see the input shaft, just turn the FW until the mark aligns with a groove and it worked very well.

Tonight it's time to bolt everythign back together. Overall, I think I'm loking at about 20 hours on jackstands to do the whole job by myself.

 

Sounds as though your doing a great job

Would have any of the below processes, could have benifitted in doing this job?

Possibly a little butane torch onto the p/beaaring would have helped on removal?

Use an actual steel input, splined shaft for p/plate clutch disc allignment.?

Allignment measurements, taken prior to removal & install . Using a a laser level.
Measurement at the front / bottom side of t/tube, & rear / bottom side of t/tube, prior to removal & match those measurements when doing the reinstall. ?

Where were you able to find the large snap ring pliers?

What t/tube rubbers did you go with?

Thanks for taking the time & effort for sharing, your process of the change out.


Thanks Umrswimr

 

I actually resorted to a propane torch on the bearing, but I was worried about the rear main seal so I was extremely cautious with the heat. In the end, I just jammed the puller jaws on the inside of the bearing (it caught on the front lip, mostly) and throwing the 5lb weight about 2-3'. Just be real careful where you place your hands and face- if the puller breaks free, it'll fly with some authority- as my left ring finger discovered.

The alignment tool worked just fine to ensure the clutch disc and the pilot were aligned you while you torque down the PP. The issue was getting the input shaft aligned with the FW assembly in three dimensions (plus getting the splines aligned). A real input shaft wouldn't make any difference here.

Would a laser level work? Possibly, but I'm not sure I would hassle too much with it. My rear would shift slightly on the transmission jack from all the pulling, pushing, tipping, etc. I'm not sure I could get it back to the precise location with measurements alone. Using the calipers, I was able to precisely ensure the bellhousing and TT were aligned and straight. Once I figured out what I needed to do it only took maybe 15 minutes. Of course, it took 45 minutes to realize I needed to abandon my previous plan.

The snap ring pliers came from Harbor Freight. They sell a large set that includes seperate internal and external ones with replacable tips. They are cheaply made, but they got the job done.


For couplers I bought the German ones from ECS at the same time as I bought the LS6 clutch. They are $100 each, but if I can avoid doing this work again for another 10 years, it's worth it. Seriously- anything that requires this much effort is not worth saving a few dollars.

 

Another weekend of work and the beast runs again!

Only a few minor inconveinces this time around:
1) Installing the LG headers sucks. It'll fit, but not by much. And getting it bolted to the heads with one person is really not fun.
2) Resintalling the clutch master is a tight fit, but the clutch bleeder is a Godsend. MUCH easier now to bleed this thing out.
3) I chose to remove the alternator to make R&R of the driver's side header easier. I then failed to reinstall the belt prior to my test drive. Luckily I didn't go far.

Tonight it's back up on jackstands to check all the exhaust bolts and make sure the O2 sensor wires are tucked away from the headers. It's REAL tight up there so I'm not sure how well I routed it all. Otherwise the clutch holds strong and no issues to report!

Total time: 25 hours by myself. This includes rebuilding the torque tube.

 

To the OP, your experience sounds like my recent clutch swap. I also did it on jackstands with a floor jack, a Harley lift/jack and a trans jack from Harbor Freight. Getting the torque tube reinstalled was the biggest pain trying to get the splines aligned to pull it all together. For removing the pilot bearing, I lucked out. I was discussing this job with a friend who is a GM master tech and had just swapped a clutch on another friend's Z06. He has a Snap-On pilot puller. It has three slim fingers that fit inside the bearing. You just tighten the bolt and with a little difficulty because its so tight, the bearing pulls out. I also have LG headers, but I just unbolted them and let them hang down without removing them. I removed my torque tube and took it to the same GM dealer and took it apart there. Unbelievably, considering other people's experience, my 100k mile bushings looked brand new, and I have drag raced my car several times, too. I just put it back together and it's working fine. As far as balancing the new unit I didn't. It seems this was a controversial thread a while back. Anyway, my original clutch had only one very small balance weight. Maybe only a couple of grams at the most. The shop I bought the new one from said to install it the way it came out of the box. The car is running as smooth as glass. I probably spent at least the same amount of time doing mine, possibly more because while everything was apart I cleaned up the underside and also repaired a leaking axle seal, the usual left side. I would also recommend the TPE remote clutch bleeder. It has a nice mount that attaches to the master cylinder. I was able to do the initial fill and bleed of the system by myself in about five minutes, without having to get my wife to pump the pedal. And no leaks! I like being able to say I did it myself and I saved a ton of money in labor.

 

How did you get the torque tube out without removing the drive axle as a unit?

 

I removed the rear subframe and dropped the transmission/diff/axles/TT as one piece as shown in Dope's directions. If you disconnect the rear brake lines above the transmission, you don't have to seperate the axles from the diff- a method I preferred and shown here:

http://www.smokinvette.com/corvette/...a-c5-corvette/