How to Replace a Car’s Clutch
Replacing a car’s clutch is an involved job, but is by no means beyond the scope of a home mechanic. This article should serve as a guide, and deals with replacing the clutch in a rear-wheel-drive vehicle. The procedure may be somewhat different in a front-wheel-drive car, but the basics still apply.
First, get a copy of a shop manual for your car. Before you start, read it through to ensure that you understand the procedure and all parts involved. This guide is a general outline, but specific procedures may apply to your car.
Things You Need
New clutch disk & pressure plate
pilot bearing
throwout bearing
Instructions
Raise the vehicle and mount securely on jack stands. Never work under a vehicle supported only by jacks, or on a vehicle held up by improvised stands such as blocks or milk crates. If the vehicle falls when you are under it, it could be fatal.
Remove the driveshaft, marking where it attaches to the rear axle.
Remove shift linkage, speedometer cable, clutch linkage or hydraulics, and any electrical cables attached to the transmission.
Drain the transmission. An empty transmission is lighter.
Undo the mounting bolts between the engine and transmission. Some of these may be difficult to get at and require the use of universal joints or extension to unbolt.
Support the transmission on a transmission jack. If you don’t have a transmission jack, you can rent one from a local supplier. You can remove a transmission with just a floor jack. Using a transmission jack will make your job a lot easier.
Unbolt the transmission mount or crossmember and remove the transmission. Generally a transmission will be mounted to the engine block with locating dowels, which means you will need to pull the transmission back some before you can lower it.
Lower the transmission. You can leave it under the car, or roll it out of the way for more working room.
Remove the clutch disk and pressure plate from the crank. You will generally use a new clutch disk and plate. You can either replace the flywheel, resurface the flywheel it if it’s not badly worn, or just scuff it if you’re doing a cheapie rebuild, although hot spots may remain after scuffing.
Replace the pilot bearing (or bushing) at the end of the crank.
You will probably also need to replace the throwout bearing as well – check your shop manual for procedure.
Clean inside the bellhousing with brake cleaner. Bolt the new or resurfaced flywheel to the crank. Using a pilot tool (a piece of plastic that mimics the spline pattern on your transmission) bolt up the clutch disc. Bolt in a criss-cross pattern, like when you’re tightening a car wheel. Use thread locker on all bolts.
Be very cautious not to contaminate the flywheel, clutch disc or pressure plate with grease or dirt. Rubber gloves and brake cleaner can be a big help here.
Raise the transmission back up and feed the input shaft into the clutch disc (after removing the pilot tool!) You may need to move the transmission a bit or rotate it to get it to line up and have the dowels mate. Keep it supported by the jack at all times – don’t let it hang by the input shaft.
When the transmission is mounted, bolt it back to the engine, replace the transmission mount or crossmember, the speedometer cable, clutch linkage, and anything else you removed when pulling the transmission. Refill the transmission.
Replace the driveshaft, adjust or bleed the clutch according to your shop manual, double check all bolts, and road test the car.