Clutch & T/O bearing replacement questions

The clutch on my '71 CJ5 makes a God awful screeching sound when depressed so I am figuring the T/O bearing needs to be replaced. From what I've gathered it makes sense to get a clutch kit and do the whole job while I'm at it.

I've got two questions...first...I've never done this before and I'll be studying the Haynes manual before I attempt it, but is there anything I should look out for? Any tips would greatly be appreciated. I've got a buddy that did the job on his '86 renegade who is going to help me but I'd appreciate any tips. He actually mentioned NOT disconnecting the driveshafts, just dropping the tranny out of the way. Does that make any sense????

Second...parts...I can pick up a kit at the local advanced store here and was wondering if there's anything wrong with going with this one. I saw on a previous post the the LUK clutch kits seem to be highly recommended. Would you recommend paying the extra 20 bucks in shipping for the LUK or go with the local parts?

http://www.partsamerica.com/PartDet...HT&MfrPartNumber=MU54721&PartType=244&PTSet=C

Thanks for the help.

Milan

 

Your buddy must be a real magician to move the tranny back without removing the drive lines. You could pull the engine to change the clutch without removing the drive lines.

JB

 

Yes if you take it apart replace ALL the clutch parts. You might even want to consider having the flywheel resurfaced too while your in there. (if it needes it). There is no sence in taking it all apart to replace a throwout bearing only to have to do it again in 6 months 'cause the disk went south.

I can't speak for the Parts America clutch kit. But I would asume the LUK kit would be a better bet.

About your buddy with the 86 CJ. I have a CJ-7 and I've replaced the clutch in it several times. There is no WAY it can be done without removing the drive shafts. Oh wait I did do it that way once with my 85 CJ of course the engine was out hanging on a hoist and the Jeep was just a rolling chassis with no body on it. Get it?. You have to slide the tranny back from the engine to get the input shaft of the Tranny out of the clutch. This can't be done with the drive shafts in place. Or as metnioned before you have to remove the motor (not suggested).

Now I havn't worked on a V6 ECJ but I'm sure they have the removable front floor pan. This makes the clutch job MUCH easier than your buddy's 86 CJ since you can put a wrench right onto the upper bell housing bolts.

 

I thought the whole "you wouldn't have to disconnect the drive shafts" thing sounded wacky! Maybe his motor was removed for some reason??? Thanks for the tips.

 

You can yank the V6 to work on the clutch w/ out removing the driveshafts.

Best advice I can give is to be absolutely certain that each clutch component removed matches exactly the component going back in. Pay particular attention to throwout bearing dimensions, p.plate depth, and pilot-bushing inside diameter (take it out of the box and see if it slides nicely over the tranny input shaft. Ask me how I know about checking this, lol ) You prolly won't be able to compare them until the old one's off, so you can withhold judgement on the partsamerica kit until it's ready to go in.

 

I went with a complete clutch kit from Napa and it fit great.

I did find that different part houses sell different TO bearings. When I exploded my TO bearing at Tellico last May, I picked up a replacement from Carquest. The neck on it was slighty longer than the Napa version, but I thought I could take up the difference in the adjustment. This was not the case, as the pedal would stop about 1/2-1" away from the floor. Clutch worked fine, just could not depress the pedal all the way. I bought the correct replacement from Napa about a month later

 

Know say it ain't so Joe!!

White knuckle death grip on steering wheel while being towed back to Crawfords.

Nothin like getting up early in the morning and laying on the nice damp cold ground to put all that mess back in, is there Joe.