How hard to do clutch in jack stands . Bought all parts. I have a professional to do for 2k labor . I don’t mind paying and I have all parts already but……

would love to do myself and go through the car myself. Half challenge half curious. Half tall task.

I have space in my garage.

Does anyone regret doing this job. How many hours . I assume professionals do it in 11 hrs so I will budget 44 hrs? Mostly on weekends?

I would need to get taller jackstands and tranny jack

im located in CT

just did harmonic balancer , seal . New tie rods . Valve springs and seals . The pilot bearing I believe is shot . Car is 2003 c5z with 70k . All stock and newbie c5 owner

 

I've never had any regrets working on any vehicle myself. The sense of satisfaction and accomplishment knowing I did the work myself and correctly trump's paying any shop.

That being said, you have the parts, time, and space. A clutch job is no harder than a harmonic balancer. It's a step by step job, the only difference is that the parts you need to remove and reinstall are much heavier and bulkier.

Jackstands that get your car 20"+ in the air are very helpful. A Motorcycle/tranny jack is super helpful, and a couple other jacks on wheels. And of course a second person helps immensely, especially if/when you decide to drop the rear cradle/tranny and diff/torque tube in one piece.

While you're in there, it'd be silly not to replace the rear main seal and install a remote clutch bleeder.

Cheers!

 

Do you have the service manuals? That’s a big job, hence why labor so expensive. But if you have the room and time, then I would take a crack at it. I’m sure many on this forum have done it and it’d you hit any roadblocks, just ask.

 

Doable on stands. Just set them high. I prefer to have extras as I am a paranoid jack stand user.

@Markolc1981 and I are both in CT here too - small world.

For the time and effort investment (or money if you pay someone else) it is one of those things where I have an easy time saying "while I'm in there....."

That mostly includes: remote bleeder, lightweight fly, 12mm TT / rebuild, tunnel insulation, tunnel plate

Hope to see it out there this summer!

 

Haven’t done it, but studied it some. Being an old old man, and working alone, I looked at it as a risk/reward thing and paid a shop. You’re dealing with some heavy and awkward pieces. On the other hand it looks like a straightforward operation and there’s a ton of videos.

Couple suggestions…get a transmission jack/cradle for the rear end. That will keep it stable and under control. Second, some big, stable jacks, two floor jacks, and at least four, maybe six jack stands. Big ones with wide base and go high enough.

I happen to have my car in the air right now, but just for removing the steering rack and exhaust. Four jackstands under the body lifting points, two under the front cradle, rear tires on ramps, floor jack under rear cradle. Im risk averse, lol.

Key point here. When you have the drivetrain ready to drop, have a friend there to help. Maybe one of these guys might help you through the exciting part.

Sounds like a good adventure. 👍

 

Having recently completed this job without assistance, I will say a transmission jack is absolutely a must. I would also recommend fabricating a mounting mechanism as I did here.

Also, my suggestion would be to support the tt / trans / diff then separate and lower the rear cradle first, then pick the entire remaining assembly with the trans jack. If you look at my entire thread here there's a video near the end where I demonstrated how the entire tt / trans / diff assembly balances perfectly on the trans jack. That's absolutely essential to doing this job solo.

As soon as the weather improves and my shop floor increases in temperature a bit I'll be doing the entire thing again, as it seems I botched the rear cover alignment (rear main seal leaks).

That said, I found a number of professional mechanics had worked on mine previously, and had cut numerous corners in order to get the job done inside that mystical 11 hour window.

 

here's a file to give you a idea of what your getting into, thanks to forum member Dope

 

Follow the dopeinstall posted by feeder. First time I did it on jack stands, second time on a quickjack. Took multiple lifts with my floor jacks to get the car high enough.

Its not a particularly hard job, just lots of stuff to think about while doing it.

 

Just had a well known corvette shop do my 03 zo 6 clutch ,I supplied the Luk 04-905 kit from Summit they supplied slave and bleeder I R and R’ d. The interior stuff , labor was $1,000 Parts totaled $600 ,, they started on it about 9:30 am called me when they opened the next morning , done ! They inspected everything else said all was good There was a vibration that was narrowed down to the clutch assembly which is why I had it done it is now smooth vibration free shifts like new , I think they were slow being it was Jan 8 th and snow I towed the car in a trailer there I was pleasantly surprised when I was quoted 1k labor while I knew I could do it on jack stands , being 68 Id rather pay them than my chiropractor

 

I think 20 hours taking your time should be reasonable. Might be a good time to rebuild the torque tube and refresh the trans. Don't forget the slave cylinder, remote bleeder and heat wrap for the hydraulics.
I did the clutch and torque tube last year, barely drove it, now my trans needs to come out to fix a leak.

 

Have the clutch balanced, swapp the throw out and evaluate the tq tube while there.

 

I just paid $4200 to have my transmission R&Rd and rebuilt. To me, it was money well spent. I don't have the expertise or the friends or the room or the ability to have a car on jackstands for 5 weeks.

I see you have "67" in your username; if this is either your age or the year you were born, you're probably at a station in life where you get sore just sitting in one position for 40 minutes... or get sore exercising... or get sore going to the gym. Or get sore driving to work. Or reading a book.

So unless you're pretty flexible and markedly stronger than most septuagenarians, you might consider having folks with more kit and younger workers take their shot at it.

 

It is not bad to do but I wouldn’t do it on 4 jack stands. I built wooden ramps that I drove the front up on and was able to ratchet strap the front wheels to the ramps. For the rear I used stands and a motorcycle jack to lower the cradle. You will want some vacuum line caps to put on the brake lines to stop all your fluid from draining or you will need a scan tool to get the air out of the abs pump.

I would much rather do a clutch than the harmonic ballancer.

 

You don't need to disconnect the rear brake lines to drop the drivetrain.

 

When you replace the clutch, you should also consider replacing all other parts that you gain access to when dropping the drivetrain. Rear engine seals and gaskets, transmission oil leaks, rebuild torque tube. I did all this work with the car on jack stands, I used my own custom "transmission jack".

https://www.z06vette.no/2023/10/install-drivetrain.html
https://www.z06vette.no/2023/09/torq...intenance.html
https://www.z06vette.no/2023/08/new-...ine-seals.html
https://www.z06vette.no/2023/08/remo...rivetrain.html

 

Absolutely check the internals of the torque tube. A failure in the torque tube can have you doing the entire job over again.

Get some tall heavy duty jack stands, a transmission jack is a big help and a metal clutch alignment tool, do not rely on a plastic one that comes in a cltuch kit.

 

I'm not disputing this or any statement about being prepared for incidentals on this job. But wow, there's a lot of information being given and not a lot of it seems to be technically helpful.

Mine fought me tooth and nail - headers in the way, rusted brake lines that started leaking after being molested, you name it. Long story short, when you get down to having the flywheel off, you'd be well advised to consider Murphy's law, or as I put it: "might as well do it now b/c I don't want to do this one again".

+1000 on the transmission jack. If you're planning to do the job solo I wouldn't even attempt it without said tool, along with a makeshift means to secure the transmission to the jack. Having done it both ways I can attest that this is the essence of working smarter, not harder.

As for the clutch alignment tool, I had zero issues with the plastic one. The key is to periodically test the fit (slide it out and back in) as you're snugging up the pressure plate bolts. If it binds going back in you know your friction disk has moved and need to back the pressure plate bolts off and start over.

I just put mine back up on the wheel dollies in preparation for correctly repositioning the rear engine cover and main seal. Hoping to start Tuesday morning and be done Thursday afternoon (won't be able to work on it Wednesday). I would be happy to document the process if anyone's interested. Having done it numerous times using different methods, I personally think pulling the entire assembly out with the cradle attached is a phenomenally bad idea, but just my $0.02.

 

We've workedd only on cars that are native to the south, so fewer problems. But, agreed, now is the time to fix things and finding leaks or issues that weren't planned is a possibility. You can get by with the plastic alignment tools and sometimes you get luckier than others getting the tq tube bolts to the bellhousing. We've had much better luck with the metal alignment tools. Unfortunately between my circle of track friends, we've been through 6 engine outs, and a couple of clutches over the past 10 years.

We support the trans with the trans jack and used to use a large jack on the subframe. Drop the sub frame as one unit. We unbolt the the upper a arms.

Then drop the diff, trans, tq tube as another unit on the trans jack.

Using a second trans jack on the subframe was easier to use than a jack.

The SAC City cover alignment / install tools help with engine seals. We also use an Amazon engine stop that bolts in place of the starter when we torque down the flywheel or harmonic balancer.

 

We should all be so lucky!

Agreed. I used a floor jack under the transmission to support the driveline while removing the cradle w/ the single trans jack I own. Two 1/4" drive extensions stuck through the forward holes of the jack platform gave something for the cradle to stop against, and a couple pieces of mechanic's wire through the rear holes held it in place. Then I built a "bench" out of some 2x6 lumber to place under the diff while the floor jack was removed and the trans jack was put in place. Since I had to pull and re-install it three times, I wouldn't do this any other way, even if I had a lift.

I knew about this beforehand but thought I would be thrifty and borrow my friend's Dorman tool, which is far less idiot-proof. Lesson learned, I still ended up buying the Sac City tool, but also get the joy of repeating the job in the name of saving $50. Not fun.

 

If I'm going to have to lie on my back to do a clutch, or a transmission job, I'd rather do a C5, than a car with the transmission in the conventional location. That said, a C5 is considerably more work.
1 - The shop manual is your friend.
2 - There are lots of vids on the youtube showing the process.
3 - If you have the tools, time, inclination and patience, there is no reason why not.
4 - As others have mentioned, there are lots of "while you're in there" things to consider, such as the engine rear main seal, pilot bearing, throw out bearing, clutch slave cylinder, clutch remote bleeder, giubo joints and etc. It would also be a great opportunity to add some heat shielding to the tunnel, if your tunnel gets too hot in the Summer.
Make sure that you fully understand how to install/position/shim the slave cylinder.
Make sure that you label which lambda sensor lead is which.

Have fun!