c5 clutch
Thread Starter
8th Gear
Joined: Jan 2013
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From: hernando ms
c5 clutch
hi guys my name is mac, I have a 99frc and the torque tube bushings failed in it. while im in there I thought I should replace the clutch and pressure plate.just makes sense after all the work involved and im right there.
I have the GM shop manual and it dosent say anything about taking the bell housing off. just to remove the inspection cover. I have the clutch free from the flywheel but I CANT seem to get it to fall out the bottom. is there a trick im missing? can someone help with this that's done it in their garage at home? I don't have a lift so im on my back on the floor.
any help would be greatly appreciated
I have the GM shop manual and it dosent say anything about taking the bell housing off. just to remove the inspection cover. I have the clutch free from the flywheel but I CANT seem to get it to fall out the bottom. is there a trick im missing? can someone help with this that's done it in their garage at home? I don't have a lift so im on my back on the floor.
any help would be greatly appreciated
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 23,283
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From: Lake Elsinore, CA
Do you have it pulled off the locating pins on the flywheel? There are dowel pins that align it to the flywheel you must slide it off of for it to drop down out of the housing. Also, if the friction disc gets wedged between the two, it could be keeping the PP from sliding downward.
Here's the stock clutch I just pulled from my C5. The pins are on the perimeter of the PP and FW.
Here's the stock clutch I just pulled from my C5. The pins are on the perimeter of the PP and FW.
Thread Starter
8th Gear
Joined: Jan 2013
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From: hernando ms
yes I can get it off the pins but it seems to be binding on the bell housing. I did get it to fall about halfway down once but it wedged itself and wouldn't come any further.does the pressure plate and clutch disk come out together?
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 23,283
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From: Lake Elsinore, CA
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 32,910
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From: Anthony TX
CI 6,7,8,9,11 Vet
St. Jude Donor '08
Some things that you need to know!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make SURE that you reference the exact location of the OLD pressure plate to the crank. If you get it out of OEM phase, you could have a vibration issue upon reassembly.
See if your old flywheel has any OFF set pins in the outer diameter. If they do, you need to transfer them to the same reference points as on the old fly wheel
2. CHANGE out the pilot bearing!!!!
3. Install a Remote Bleeder Hose
BC
4. Change the Master Cylinder
Make SURE that you reference the exact location of the OLD pressure plate to the crank. If you get it out of OEM phase, you could have a vibration issue upon reassembly.
See if your old flywheel has any OFF set pins in the outer diameter. If they do, you need to transfer them to the same reference points as on the old fly wheel
2. CHANGE out the pilot bearing!!!!
3. Install a Remote Bleeder Hose
BC
4. Change the Master Cylinder
Thread Starter
8th Gear
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 8
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From: hernando ms
and they fell out the bottom without pulling the bell housing off too?you didn't have to do any tricks or turn it a certain way? it seems there are 3 alighnment pins on the flywheel and that they are the reason its not falling through. are they all evenly spaced or is there 2 that are wider apart? should the flywheel be in a certain position for it to fall throuth the pins? sorry for all the questions lol. seems like it should be pretty straight forward but its turning out to be difficult lol
Thread Starter
8th Gear
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 8
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From: hernando ms
Some things that you need to know!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make SURE that you reference the exact location of the OLD pressure plate to the crank. If you get it out of OEM phase, you could have a vibration issue upon reassembly.
See if your old flywheel has any OFF set pins in the outer diameter. If they do, you need to transfer them to the same reference points as on the old fly wheel
2. CHANGE out the pilot bearing!!!!
3. Install a Remote Bleeder Hose
BC
4. Change the Master Cylinder
Make SURE that you reference the exact location of the OLD pressure plate to the crank. If you get it out of OEM phase, you could have a vibration issue upon reassembly.
See if your old flywheel has any OFF set pins in the outer diameter. If they do, you need to transfer them to the same reference points as on the old fly wheel
2. CHANGE out the pilot bearing!!!!
3. Install a Remote Bleeder Hose
BC
4. Change the Master Cylinder
I got the clutch loose and down far enough to see the flywheel and it don't look real good. looks to have lots of heat damage and some small groves. but the main deal is the clutch and pp wont fall through the bottome because of the pins on the flywheel
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 23,283
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From: Lake Elsinore, CA
The bell housing does not need to come off. I never position the PP in any particular rotational orientation before pulling it out. I hold the disc up against the PP, hold them away from the FW and slowly lower them down. Never had a problem doing it this way. Try rotaing the flywheel a bit to reposition the pins and try again.
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Thread Starter
8th Gear
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From: hernando ms
The bell housing does not need to come off. I never position the PP in any particular rotational orientation before pulling it out. I hold the disc up against the PP, hold them away from the FW and slowly lower them down. Never had a problem doing it this way. Try rotaing the flywheel a bit to reposition the pins and try again.
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I'm thinking it's not stock... my stocker came out easy without removing the bellhousing... I installed an act twin and tried to install it with the bellhousing intact but the new flywheel has studs pressed into it instead of using bolts so my pressure plate would not fit and I had to remove the bellhousing bolts and move it back towards the rear of the car just enough to give room for the pressure plate to fit... I couldn't totally remove the bellhousing because then I wouldn't have enough clearance to get it over the pressure plate, big pita
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 1999
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From: Anthony TX
CI 6,7,8,9,11 Vet
St. Jude Donor '08
I installed a SPEC Dual disk clutch and flywheel. Bell housing had to come off. In fact,, I found my stock housing had a hair line crack in it.
If you tilt the engine down, you gain some acces.
BC
If you tilt the engine down, you gain some acces.
BC
Acct Suspended APR 2026 by request
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 10,367
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2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
C5 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
I tried doing that but my motor would not move a whole lot, I have pfadt mounts so maybe that's why... it moved enough to allow me to get the bolts out but I would not have enough clearance to get the bellhousing over my pressure plate... I'm not sure if my new clutch is any wider than the stock setup but after I bolted the bellhousing back on there is not much clearance at all between the pressure plate and bellhousing... I think it all just depends what clutch setup is used, some are pretty easy to go in and some are more difficult... also when tilting the motor pay attention to your intake to cowl clearance... I had plenty of clearance but I did have to remove my fuel feed line to my passenger fast fuel rail because it was being pinched at the -an fitting in the back
Thread Starter
8th Gear
Joined: Jan 2013
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From: hernando ms
im not sure if its stock or not. this is the first time I have done this on a vette. I guess im going to have to try to get the bell housing bolts out. whats need to do that? a long extention and a wobble? a friend of mine and I tried with a couple cheap extentions and a cheap wobble but the to[p bolts wouldn't budge. I was thinking it was too big of an angle on the wobble. maybe if I got a different wobble???????I can get on the bolts but they wont budge.
after all this trouble im definatly thinking hard on the solid aluminum propshaft bushings. BILL is that a bad idea?????? any thoughts on that are appreciated
after all this trouble im definatly thinking hard on the solid aluminum propshaft bushings. BILL is that a bad idea?????? any thoughts on that are appreciated
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 23,283
Likes: 906
From: Lake Elsinore, CA
If you do decide to go with a solid bushing, know that several here have reported increased vibration/harshness. Also, you'll want to go solid in the rear and either stock rubber or poly up front rather than solid on both. I just rebuilt mine using the solid/poly combo along with swapping in a CF drive shaft.
