Transmission removal and clutch replacement

[JimJoeBob]

Hey all, I'll be pulling the transmission to replace my clutch, slave, and throwout bearing soon. I plan on doing it in my own garage with standard floor jacks and stands.
Anyone have any tricks or tips on how to get the transmission out? I do have my manuals but that assumes I'm working off of a lift. Also anyone know the clearance I'll need to get my tranny out?

[dave6666]

I've done it with race ramps and a HF tranny jack many times. You'll need a 30" long wobble extension to get the upper bell housing bolts. Getting past that casting that pokes out on the side of the gear case can be a pain. I drive a wooden wedge between the engine and frame to push it over.

Just so you know, you don't need to remove the transmission to change those items. You just slide it back in the tunnel. Be sure and replace the straps and bolts on the u-joints.

I have some pics let me dig around.

[dave6666]

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[dave6666]

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[dave6666]

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[dave6666]

Swivel sockets and wobble extensions are very useful on the bellhousing. I think they are 14mm and 16mm but it's been a while.
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[dave6666]

I always bleed with a Mityvac. Done a ton of cars with it. Perfect results in 5 minutes.

Please note that the slave cylinder may come pre-charged with fluid. This is important for 2 reasons.

One, it can prevent the transmission from going all the way on because it has too much fluid in it and it can't compress. Don't ask me how I know this.

Two, it can prevent you from reinstalling the hydraulic hose QC because there is too much internal pressure to overcome while trying to mate the hose to the slave. Don't ask me how I know this.

Simple solution is to open the bleeder to let the fluid pressure out.

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[cobraman484]

I just did mine last month. I went to move the GTS so my wife could put her car in for a snowstorm that was coming. As I was backing out I went to put the clutch in and had no clutch ( slave cylinder went ) luckily I missed the door and the other cars before I shut it off. I endid up replacing the slave cyl. clutch, and resurfing the flywheel .014. I have a lift and hydraulic transmission jack. I had a problem with the lineup. I didn't use a wedge. I ended up grinding .250" of off each one of the ears to get it to clear the frame in the tunnel.

Also I replaced all fluids, trans, Brake, differential clutch and power steering.

[JimJoeBob]

A plethora of information as always. I really appreciate it. I'm a hell of a lot more comfortable to tackle this now, I like the arrangement of bottle jacks as well lol.

[AZTVR]

I ended up grinding .250" of off each one of the ears to get it to clear the frame in the tunnel. I did about the same thing. The wedge idea had not occurred to me..

[Fatboy 18]

That transmission is heavy, I know because it slipped off the trolley jack as I was trying to get it back in. I was by myself and had it stuck to my chest laying under the car.
I had broken my shoulder in 3 places the year before so did not have enough strength in my arms to push it up off me. I had to roll it off me a bit at a time and slide myself away from it. I also found that it needs to be angled to get it to mate up with the bellhousing.
If you are under the car facing towards the back of the car, I found turning the transmission to between 1 and 2ock got the transmission into the clutch housing and past the frame spigots then for final engagement rotate the transmission back to the 12ock position.

Note if you are changing the pilot bearing in the middle of the flywheel, the best way to get this out is pack the pilot bearing with thick grease (Not copperslip) then insert a circular drift or socket blank into the hole (same diameter as the end of the transmission shaft) hit the drift and the grease will force out the bearing, then clean everything up :)

Not all pilot bearings are the same internal diameter so make sure you use the one that comes with your new clutch pack. :)

[71firebird400]

Dave gave you all the info you'll need; it's a pretty straightforward process. I was able to get mine out without the "wedge", I suppose each car is going to be a bit different. I was also able to undo my shifter from the bottom using a crow's foot which meant I didn't have to touch anything in the interior. Get the car nice and high and throw a couple bucks into the Harbor Freight trans jack.

One other thing- my factory U-bolt clamps were TIGHT. This is not a time to try to use your second best set of wrenches/sockets. Be prepared for a war so you don't round anything off and create a headache for yourself.

[cobraman484]

I used these U-bolt clamps. Spicer 3-70-48X Bearing Strap Kit. I wanted them right away to finish up. Amazon prime delivered them within 15 hours.

[tagoo]

Here is a tip that worked for me. When trying to reinstall the trans, i could not get the transmission shaft to go into the pilot bearing. It was obvious that i didn't have the clutch disk centered. I must have tried 10 times using the alignment tool that comes with the clutch kit, alignment tools I seem to have collected, and later, an aluminum tool that was supposed to do the trick. Nothing worked. I couldn't get it to slide in the last 1/2 inch or so. The alignment tools just weren't that precise in centering the clutch. i could always wiggle the alignment tool around, even when it was fully seated into the pilot bearing (note: I've replaced lots of clutches and this is the first car I've ever had such problems).

In the end, I realized that I could stick my finger into a few of the slots at the edge of the pressure place and feel how close the clutch was to the edge of the pressure plate. I simply used my finger to feel all around the pressure plate until it felt like it was centered (do this while slowly tightening the pressure plate. After using MY FINGER as the alignment tool, the transmission slid all the way into place. IF you have trouble, you might want to give it a shot.

[GTS Dean]

I just did mine last month. I endid up replacing the slave cyl. clutch, and resurfing the flywheel .014.

I've always read that Viper flywheels are not supposed to be resurfaced. However, I have trouble believing that a light clean-up cut on a un-abused plate would cause problems. Any issues with yours?

[thetalonguy]

Definitely follow Dave’s directions as a basis. I used them without those pretty pictures, but still got to the same point.

Only thing that I had trouble with using the grease method to pull out the bearing. I was probably doing it wrong anyway and it created a mess, but a puller worked wonders for me. Not saying it will for you.

Agree with Tagoo. My clutch alignment was not working well, so did a little old hand alignment with a couple trial and errors worked out for me.

Dean, I didn’t know either. I had my OEM resurfaced and I spoke with JonB about another part and he mentioned it. I went with an aluminum flywheel instead, and I’m still very happy I did and I haven’t been appalled by any drivability. I actually love it, but that’s my personal preference.

[ViperTony]

Thanks Dave for posting the pics and detail (I recall this detail from you years ago!) very helpful. I went through two, yes two, clutch slave cylinders because I kept breaking them as I was reinstalling the transmission. Nothing quite like getting the transmission back in only to see fluid running out on the floor from the slave. Can't force it in, need to align the transmission perfectly. And it should go in smoothly as a result. If you're forcing it in you're doing something wrong. Lesson learned here. As a chef once told me as I was destroying a piece of Tenderlon: "Make love to it don't f@ck it!" same can be said with the transmission procedure. ;)

For reference, could be just me, but when I ordered the Luk clutch slave it came with a new o-ring for the hydraulic QC line. The new o-ring is slightly thicker than the OEM and I could not get the QC to click in no matter what I tried...even with no pressure in the slave. I ordered new o rings from ORingsAndMore.com. I measured 12mm+/- inside diameter and 2mm thickness on the chubby ring. Ordered 12mm x 1.5mm. That being said I have a bag of these laying around if someone needs one I'll drop it in the mail.

[BLRDViper]

Did not use the wedge (but I wish I would have thought of it) instead used a ratchet strap to pull the engine back to center. This helped slide the tranny back in by allowing me to pull the rear of the engine back into alignment as needed.
Next time I do this job, I will spend more time securing the engine position before taking things apart.
Only recomendation to any one that is going this far into the drive train is to make sure that the rear main is dry because if not, now is the time to do it as well.
I have a lift, so doing this job was not too bad. I have a great amount of respect for anyone who does this job on jack stands.
BLRD

[cobraman484]

Dean. No issues yet. I only put a couple of miles on after the installation. There is just to much chemical and sand on the roads around here this time of year. I had the same problem with the new o-ring from luk. I put the old one back in to get it going. Also 2 pilot bearings came with the kit, make sure you use the right one. I am not going to worry about removing .014 off the flywheel. I had .030 to .040 of clutch left before hitting the rivets. I forget what the thickness of the new disc was I can't find my notes on that but it was enough that I was not going to worry about it.

[tagoo]

One other bit of info that was given to me (by the Wizard if I remember correctly). I was told that IF you resurface the flywheel, the flywheel will then be farther away from the face of the throw-out bearing. In Cobraman's case, the flywheel is now .014 inches farther away. I was told that you should use a shim between the throw-out bearing mechanism and the transmission that is the same thickness as the amount removed from the flywheel. I was told this would keep the clutch engagement/disengagement points the same as stock. It seemed to me that such a small difference wouldn't make a difference. But, I'm just passing the info on for others to consider. Incidentally, I did look around and found such shims available for corvettes using the t56 trans (I found none for the viper, but the corvette shims look like they could be trimmed to work with the viper throw-out bearing mechanism). So, there is some evidence that people do use varying thickness of shims behind the throw-out bearing.

In the end, I didn't resurface my flywheel and installed a fidanza instead (still not sure how i feel about that).

[Boosted Motorsports]

Holy hell Dave killed it with the info awesome job! I did this about a month ago also. I tried the grease method and didn't work. BUT grease AND bread does work awesome lol

I used the same tool Dave referenced above (You can rent it free from Autozone) after fighting with the cheap one that came with my LUK clutch kit. There is still quite a bit of slop with the tool though and you have to keep constant pressure on the tool perpendicular to the flywheel for it to work. I got it done but also used the clutch disk as a reference point to the contact area on the flywheel to make sure it looked as centered as possible. There are several pockets in the pressure plate you can double check it as you install.

I also used the Autozone clutch alignment tool to pound out the pilot bearing since it was a perfect fit like you can see here lol


https://youtu.be/vh74RvTBRxc

[dave6666]

An alternate way to "resurface" the flywheel assuming you know how to drive and haven't hot smoked the clutch a few times, is to hit it with a DA to get any shellac off of it. I have heard 400 grit recommended and I've heard 80 grit recommended. I used 400 and found the results satisfactory. I would suppose it depends on the condition of it. Start with something mild and work towards something rougher as needed.

[Boosted Motorsports]

Here is a tip that worked for me. When trying to reinstall the trans, i could not get the transmission shaft to go into the pilot bearing. It was obvious that i didn't have the clutch disk centered. I must have tried 10 times using the alignment tool that comes with the clutch kit, alignment tools I seem to have collected, and later, an aluminum tool that was supposed to do the trick. Nothing worked. I couldn't get it to slide in the last 1/2 inch or so. The alignment tools just weren't that precise in centering the clutch. i could always wiggle the alignment tool around, even when it was fully seated into the pilot bearing (note: I've replaced lots of clutches and this is the first car I've ever had such problems).

In the end, I realized that I could stick my finger into a few of the slots at the edge of the pressure place and feel how close the clutch was to the edge of the pressure plate. I simply used my finger to feel all around the pressure plate until it felt like it was centered (do this while slowly tightening the pressure plate. After using MY FINGER as the alignment tool, the transmission slid all the way into place. IF you have trouble, you might want to give it a shot.

Yup this is also what I did. I tried using the supplied plastic tool and then also used the rented tool Dave showed but double checking with those openings in the pressure plate is what helped me