ahh.. my pressure plate died on me today

[decke48]

as it said. my diapham died on me today :smt022 . lucky i was only 20 feet from my house when it happened. only had 20k miles on it too. but past warranty..
ohh well maybe this weekend ill do it. if the parts are in stock. want a DIY writeup if i feel up to it?

[d1giPhux]

that would be sweet!

[Huffer]

A DIY writeup on clutch replacement would be most appreciated by me.

[Sarra]

Drop the tranny, pull the pressure plate, clutch and flywheel. Get the flywheel resurfaced or a new one, put a new clutch in, install new flywheel, reinstall tranny.

To drop the tranny, you'll have to disconnect the shifter and everythign else going into the tranny, including disconnecting the front axles.

[decke48]

its going to be fixed at my house. so droping a tranny is out of the question.

[Sarra]

Um, dropping the tranny is the only way to get to the pressure plate/clutch/flywheel, other than pulling the engine...

[Huffer]

So that's the other way then. Engine out.

If you don't have a tranny jack, an engine hoist is the next option.

[decke48]

well im a subie tech so i know my way around the block

[Sarra]

So that's the other way then. Engine out.

If you don't have a tranny jack, an engine hoist is the next option.

I couldn't see why you would want to jack the motor out to do a clutch job, though. It's so much harder to do, plus you'll still have to lube up the input shaft on the tranny, which means getting under the car and everything. Why not drain your tranny fluid, just lift it down by hand, and do it that way? Manual transmissions don't weigh that much without fluid in them.

[rougeben83]

So that's the other way then. Engine out.

If you don't have a tranny jack, an engine hoist is the next option.

I couldn't see why you would want to jack the motor out to do a clutch job, though. It's so much harder to do, plus you'll still have to lube up the input shaft on the tranny, which means getting under the car and everything. Why not drain your tranny fluid, just lift it down by hand, and do it that way? Manual transmissions don't weigh that much without fluid in them.

You dont remove the whole motor, you take it off the engine mounts and jack it up and out slightly out of the engine bay. You get enough clearance to replace the clutch. Plenty of WRX owners I know have done it this way.

[jmgtp]

When doing the 'move the engine' method how much are you able to move it? Do you have to pull the radiator, etc? Do wire harnesses need to be unplugged?

When I replaced my clutch I just jacked the car up sky high and used a trans adapter on my 3ton to drop the trans. It wasn't all that difficult but you do have to pull off the exhaust, front axles and rear drive. I have a 2 ton engine crane but I didn't even really consider moving the engine at the time. I don't plan on having to replace the clutch again any time soon. Only reason I needed to get in there was to install a PDM sleeve and replaced the clutch while I was there.

[rougeben83]

When doing the 'move the engine' method how much are you able to move it? Do you have to pull the radiator, etc? Do wire harnesses need to be unplugged?

When I replaced my clutch I just jacked the car up sky high and used a trans adapter on my 3ton to drop the trans. It wasn't all that difficult but you do have to pull off the exhaust, front axles and rear drive. I have a 2 ton engine crane but I didn't even really consider moving the engine at the time. I don't plan on having to replace the clutch again any time soon. Only reason I needed to get in there was to install a PDM sleeve and replaced the clutch while I was there.

Yes on the radiator. There's a bunch of different ways to get the engine and trans apart. Some just do the engine, some do the transmission, some even move both apart, it's really not that involved (but labor intensive) and you have enough slack to move the two assemblies to gain clearance.

How-to:
http://wac.addr.com/auto/obs/clutch/clutch.html

quicker way going completely with moving the engine.
http://wac.addr.com/auto/obs/clutch/clutch2.html

[decke48]

so i got the clutch out today nothing was broken. my diaphram was completely compress but the clutch was still engaged.(my fork was completly moveable and you could move the release bearing back and forth before i started) took it off and the diaphram decompressed all the way. im think wtf cheap ass clutch? ohh well no more time in the day for my brain to think. more tommorow...

[decke48]

im so happy i got a good petal finally.