My buddy exploded the clutch in his 98 TJ and the two of us were going to replace it. Well, we disconnected everything and dropped the drive shafts and tried to slide the trans away from the engine. NOT happening! We tried everything to separate the two and "alas" it's still on there. We did manage to get the trans and engine separated about 1 inch, but no further. Is the trick to doing this, having it lined up just perfectly? I do not have a transmission jack so it is a little difficult to judge the balancing point to line everything up. I am guessing the input shaft if binding and can not slide out, but what could it be caught on. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Get on yer' back boy!

And put a piece of plywood on your chest to protect it when the trans drops.

"Bench press" the tranny and wiggle it (the tranny, not yer' buddy) until it slips out.

If you haven't done so already, removing the T-case from the tranny will make it a LOT easier to do this since you alleviate unnecessary leverage force.

One last thing ... I presume you removed the shifter stick and shift tower as well as the backup light switch connector. If not, any one of those things could be hanging you up.

cm "got prybar?" k

Believe me, we were on our backs for quite sometime. Everything is disconnected, so there is nothing hanging it up from the outside. Yes, I removed the shifter. As far as putting force to remove it, I would say that we have done everything besides useing det-cord. We placed two of our stock jacks that come with the TJ on either side and cranked away.....nothing. I snapped a few 2x4's tring to pry it off and ....... nothing. As a last resort, we tied a strap to the back of the tranny and hooked it to my jeep and used the weight of the vehical to pull on it. ( This was stupid..... but desperate times call for desperate measures. But to no avail... it didn't budge. Like I had said, we got it about 1 inch off of the back of the engine, but no further. I am out of ideas. I don't think that more force will resovle the issue, so I am thinking that the saft must have a groove at the end and it must be caught on something, but I don't know. CMK, have you ever heard of this problem before.

When I pulled mine (98 TJ, AX-15 ... same deal), I remember one bolt on the bellhousing that I missed in my initial wrenchings. I was able to open up a gap on one side of the bellhousing but that one bolt was holding me up. ...triple check all them bolts...

After I removed it, the tranny came right out with moderate "wiggling." Certainly, a strap is NOT needed ... that's just askin' for touble.

Aside from the bolts, shifter, and electrical wiring, there are no other "fastereners" of any kind.

cm "wiggle it ... just a little bit" k

CMK,

Well, that is what I will do next. I did double check all the bolts, I have learned my lesson in the past with the removal of some gunked up 350 heads( could'nt see a bolt that I forgot and almost cracked the head). I think that you may be right about lifting from the bellhousing. All the wiggling has been done from the middle of the trans. It may just need to be lifted a little bit from the front. Now, if I kill myself by dropping the bellhousing on my face...... you are all invited to the funeral. Thanks. Little Elm "Don't want to crush my skull with an AX-15" Raven

guess its time to break out the BFH :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

Sawzall it :D

Cut the tranny off at the bell and it's off. What's worth more your time or the cost of the tranny.

Joe

LOL I wouldn't put it past me to do that, but since it is my buddies jeep, he may have some reservations. After all I was the one who suggested to yank it out with anouther Jeep. I refuse to be beaten by a fawking trasmission and transfer case. It will come out of there. But if the gentle method doesn't work, I may end up buying my buddy another transmission. :D

I presumed this earlier, but your last post hints that my presumption may not be correct.

Have you removed the T-case yet?

If so, great ... and nevermind this thread.

If not, it's going to make it much more difficult to get the trans out. You're gonna' have to lift up on the output shaft of the T-case until the T-case is up to it's normal position. Then you're gonna' have to lift up on the bellhousing as well to take the load off the splines. Without removing the T-case, you're gonna' need two Joe's under there to get the whole shebang out.

The trick is to get all of the loading off the splines as they easily bind up.

cm "get out the fire wrench" k

Originally posted by Little Elm Raven
LOL I wouldn't put it past me to do that, but since it is my buddies jeep, he may have some reservations. After all I was the one who suggested to yank it out with anouther Jeep. I refuse to be beaten by a fawking trasmission and transfer case. It will come out of there. But if the gentle method doesn't work, I may end up buying my buddy another transmission. :D

You can buy me a new tranny if you break it! I wouldn't mind!

Well, wish us luck tonight.....hope we can get this beaotch out!

Sounds like you've got quite a bind! Do you have a jack under the engine as well? You might need to adjust it to get the splines disengaged. We had a hell of a time getting mine out- and we had a tranny cradle for my jack!. If you got it an inch out there are no bolts holding it in. Try to get the engine and tranny in the same plane- adjust the jacks till the ends of the engine and bellhousing are parallel and waggle the tranny back and forth, up and down, with a prybar placed between one of the bolt holes in the bell and the engine. Just be ready to catch it. You'll get it.

Putting it back in is even more fun :rasta:

As said before make sure the TC is removed from the tranny, wiggle the output shaft with the tranny in gear as you pull back in the same plane the tranny sits normally.

My dad and I removed mine without a tranny jack by this method. Once it's off just reverse bench press it down.

Well, we are going to give it a second try tonight. I think with a few guys, we can get it out. I will drop the transfer case which should make it easier like everyone said. Is there anything special that needs to be done to remove and replace the transfer case. If not, it should be easy enough. I will be the one under the bell housing lifting, so if you don't hear from me, I'll be in the hospital getting my face put back together. Thanks for the advice everyone.

In case you missed it, be sure and disconnect the shift linkage from the T-case. It will take a 1/2" wrench to remove the bolt that holds it to the case. Once the bolt's off, simply pry the linkage off the case.

Also be sure and disco' the plug from the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) at the tailhousing on the T-case. That same wiring harness is also "buttoned" to a bracket on the top of the T-case. Be sure and disco the harness or you risk tearing it out. There's also a vent line on the T-case near the top.

I *think* there is one other plug on the T-case somewhere for the mode indicator switch.

BTW, 2 of the nuts securing the case to the trans are a beatch to get to ... they're up near the top. A Ratcheting box wrench (1/2" or 9/16" ... I can't remember) will help a LOT.

cm "get yo'self some double jointed elbows" k

It's not necessary to remove the t-case, but it could make things easier.

I had a heckuva time getting mine out too. I think everything got stuck up on the guide pins a bit, but it sounds like you've taken it a bit past that.

The important thing is that you're pulling it out straight and level. If it's angled up or down, you're gonna have a hard time because the input shaft will start to bind (for lack of a better term) somewhat.

Are you using a transmission jack? That makes things a little bit easier as you can jack the t-case and tranny up or down until their straight and level. It just takes a lot of patience. Wiggling everything while my buddy pulled seemed to help me.

Oh, and you think it's tough getting that sucker out of there??? HA!!!! Wait til you gotta line everything up to put it back in!!!! :D :flipoff2: (there is a trick to that - I put the t-case in neutral and I was able to spin the front yoke of the t-case so that I got the tranny input shaft lined up just right - but I still think it was harder getting the tranny stabbed back into place than it was pulling that bastage out!)

Brent

Well, we got it out finally. Really wasn't that bad when we had 3 people all together helping. It did make it a lot easier by taking off the transfer case. I pulled from the back of it, while the other two people wiggled it out, and pretty much bench pressed it towards the jack, where I lowered the jack, and we pulled it out from underneath.
Now, I'm just trying to figure out a good clutch to put in there. Maybe I can get a pic of what the broke one looks like. It's completely fried and worth a good laugh just to post a pic of it!

Hey, any suggestions for a good clutch??

I just wanted to say thank to everyone that brought this thread back to the top. Having never removed and AX-15, this would have been an even bigger pain in the a$$ than it was. Actually, once we removed the transfer case like CMK and others suggested, things went pretty smoothly. As Admiral said, the clutch was in pretty rough shape. Actually, it didn't even exist any more. All that was left of it was some dust, a few little pieces laying in the bellhousing and the metal hub that holds it together. Well anyway, thanks for the help gentlemen.

Get a standard Luk clutch kit. That's by far your best bet. It'll cost you about $150 and it includes everything you need:

Clutch disc
Clutch cover
Release (throwout) bearing
pilot bearing

I got mine from http://www.dialaclutch.com

You might be able to pick one up locally and save the shipping cost, they're pretty common.

Don't bother with a Centerforce or Pro Gold Luk (what I got). They have extra holding power, but unless you're out racing your Jeep, you probably won't ever need it. Save your money and stick with the Luk standard.

Also pick up a pilot bearing removal tool

http://autozone.com/Repair/InsideOurStores/tools/clutch/27059L.jpg

and slide hammer from AutoZone (free rental with a fully refundable deposit) to get the pilot bearing out. It'll make quick work of that sucker. I struggled with mine for nearly an hour trying various methods. Once I got the slide hammer and tool, I had that fawker out of there in about 30 seconds.

Brent

Well, we picked up a Centerforce 2 clutch set today from 4WP. It was more than I wanted to spend, but I just want my Jeep back up and running. Plus I figured that if I was running 35's with 4.56 gears, and eventually going bigger on the tires, that a heavy duty clutch would hold up better....we'll just see though. I didn't want to go back to stock.

Just from experience, you probably won't notice any difference with the fancy expensive clutch.

I too am running 35's and 4.56s. The only difference I can tell is that the pedal is harder to push to the floor. That's it.

The extra holding power only comes at high RPMs. So, like I said, if you're racing (or maybe mudbogging or something), then you'll notice a difference.


Unless your clutch slips all over the place when you're four wheeling.... You don't really need the extra holding power.

I wish I would have saved my $$$

Brent

If I'm not too late, be sure to resurface your flywheel. I get my clutches (new Luk units,) from a local discount clutch shop, (Clutch Doctors, Clutch Masters, Mr. Clutch, etc.) They'll match my wholesale price at the parts store AND surface my flywheel FREE:p More :beer: for us.

Make sure that the flywheel is supposed to be resurfaced before having it done. The FSM for my 93 XJ, 4.0, AX-15 says flywheel tolerance is 3 thousandths of an inch. Not much to resurface. The shop I took my jeep to last clutch ground a 16th of an inch off the fly and the clutch had nothing but problems till I got a new flywheel. The clutch system has no adjustment for depth. May have changed later but make sure and save you're self some trouble

Definitely don't resurface the flywheel on a TJ....

It says specifically in the FSM (at least in my '99 FSM it says) not to do so.

However, if you blew up your clutch (as the original poster of this thread says he did), you may want to have it checked out.... But, so long as there aren't any dings or dents or other nasties in the face of the fly wheel you should be ok. If it looks like you've got some problems with the face of the fly wheel, you may need a new one.

The factory service manual recommends just using an emery cloth or some other fairly light abrasive (I used a sanding sponge) to remove any glaze that might be on the face of the wheel.

The face has a unique shape and machining it flat will only cause problems.

Brent

Yeah, I wondering about that, I have heard the same thing about resurfacing on the TJ. I don't think that any damage occured to the flywheel when the cluth exploded. However, there is some slight glazing on the surface. If it won't cause a problems like you suggested, I will just lightly sand it.

I've been using my n00bi3 powers by researching it on the boards. Found out not to resurface the flywheel on TJ's, just to wipe the glaze off of it. This is the task tonight...damn i just wanna drive again.

It doesn't take much to get the glaze off. The sanding sponge I used worked real well. You can pick one up at ACE or any hardware store. It had a really fine grit, that's all you really need.

Taking the tranny out/putting it back in is the hard part. Swapping all the clutch components doesn't take more than a half hour/hour tops.... Get your buddies to help you get that tranny back in and you'll be up and driving in no time.

Using a clutch alignment tool helps a lot too. Just be patient getting that shaft stabbed in there right and you'll be fine.

Good luck!

Brent

You might have noticed that the bolts on the top of the bellhousing are a real pain to get at. It was recomended to me to replace them with 3/8-16 grade eight studs. They can then act as guide pins to get the thing back together. I used 2.5" set screws I found at my local fastener place. With the allen heads they were easy to drive into the holes but I think I would go for 3" next time to have a little more to hang the bell off of.

Also get some long bolts to temporarily use on some of the lower holes as well. If you get the bell loosly attached all the way around you can get the input shaft into the pilot bearing by waggling the rear of the tranny and chinching up the bolts a bit at a time till it's drawn together. Alot easier than just raming them together and praying/cussing

Good luck!

We plan on replacing those bolts up top (the 8-point ones). Why is it that Jeeps always have odd ball sized bolts, 8mm, 10mm, then over to a 12-point 1/2, and an 8-point 9/16? :mad3:

Well, Raven had to work late last night, so we didn't get to put it back in...but hey it gives me time to run up to Autozone (again) and get that pilot bearing removal tool, some tranny fluid, sand sponge, a few :beer: 's, bj, etc.......