Flywheel Questions

treeguy,
The three screws are used to compress the clutch springs and relieve the pressure on the clutch plate. Then remove the mounting screws to the flywheel without any pressure involved. Your new clutch may come with those screws installed for easy assembly and alignment. Be sure to remove them once everything is installed. The clutch will not ingage if you forget.
Have fun
Dennis

My experience has been that you can remove the pressure plate without inserting the three cap screws, if you're willing to unscrew each of the six mounting bolts a little at a time, in rotation. It should get to where there is no longer clutch pressure before you have backed the six bolts completely out. On the other hand, for installing it, you really do want the three cap screws in beforehand. And you really do want to remember to remove them after.

Thanks all for the info and advise. I've gotten the tranny out and I am ready for the next step, but I'm a little unsure about the process. It looks like to me like I need to remove the pan on the underside, just forward of the cross member, that is held in by several screws. Then there are two bolts on the underside of the cross member, and another four holding the whole unit to the back of the engine. However, it seems like a magic trick to get the bell housing off as it is resting on the cross member. Is this the correct procedure for this magic trick?

The second picture I have posted is looking forward, in through where the input shaft passes though, and you can see the throwout bearing in the back. I think it was in this thread that someone mentioned looking for old mouse nests in this area. Well sure enough I had one. Quite the sticky and nasty mess.

The flat surface with the four holes is where the tranny mates up to. There was no gasket here on mine, which seems a little odd. Does anyone know if this there should be one?

Thanks for the help.

No gasket between trans and bellhousing. Just make sure both mating surfaces are clean for good alignment. No need to remove the bellhousing to change the clutch or the remove the flywheel. The inspection cover on the bottom of the bellhousing will provide all of the room you need accomplish both of these tasks. If your rear main seal is leaking (not weeping- normal for a rope seal rear main) I believe you can even replace that with the bellhousing still attached as well.

Thanks for the info VWJake. Do you might know what a part number for the main seal might be? I might as well replace it while I'm in there.

I took the bell housing cover off tonight and tried to remove the clutch but the cap screw bolts I bought were too long (2'' instead of 1.75'') and the bolts bottomed out before the head reached the housing. The access cover looks like there may have been a gasket at one time but not much of one left now. Does anyone have a part number for this or know what it might be called?

Normally I would side with you on changing out a rear main "while you're in there".... In this case though if the engine has been running and it's not dumping oil from the rear main I'd leave well enough alone. It may be that the existing seal could provide a better seal than anything you could hope to install today. Besides that, installing a new rope seal insitue can be a bit tricky. Special tool required as well. Search "rear main seal" and "rope seal" on here for more info the subject. RockAuto.com should have the rear main seal listed for your engine.

As for the clutch either stack some washers under your bolts to make them short enough or just loosen all of the bolts holding the pressure plate to the flywheel a few turns at a time. It's really not that time consuming. With respect to the inspection cover I don't recall seeing a seal there either. Just make sure it's clean and reinstall it. There is a cotter pin installed in the hole
In the bottom of the cover. Someone suggested a while back that the pin was to prevent insects from making homes inside the cover while still allowing any oil build-up to drain freely.

http://www.hansenwebdesign.com/truck/facts.html
In the "files to download" section you will find parts and repair manuals if you don't have them already. Most part numbers can still be crossed using your favorite search engine.

To keep the pressure plate compressed you can cut a piece of wood and put it
between the seat platform and the clutch peddle to hold the peddle to the floor. That keeps the pressure off the bolts and makes them easier to remove .
Mike

Thanks for the input. VWJake, great website. After getting the clutch off and looking at what it might take to get the main seal off I deiced I will most certainly be leaving it alone. The truck doesn't pump that much oil so I guess I can live with it.

The wrong cap screw bolts were an excuse for me stop and go to bed last night. I got the right ones and finished disassembly. My first clutch removal, so easy, once you get the darn tranny out. My clutch disc is more worn on the pressure side than the flywheel, not sure if that is normal. Also, there are a few spots on the flywheel that have some pretty chewed up teeth, in my opinion. See picture. I have never had a problem starting the truck so maybe this amount wear isn't a problem and I can keep using it. I'm dropping it off tomorrow to be resurfaced. The throwout bearing spun smoothly but was so worn the bearings almost fell out when I turned it over.

What seems to me as a major issue is how worn the bushing/bearing is on the.....brake/clutch shaft? (see second picture) I'm not sure what to call this and I looked in my book for a name and part but didn't find anything under the brake or clutch section that identified it. The brake and clutch pedal connect to the horizontal linkage and must have a bushing or bearing in there. Mine is very badly worn providing lots of play. Anyone know what this is called so I can look up at part?

thanks all

RE uneven disk wear: inspect the splines on the input shaft for wear. If the splines show wear they can prevent the disk from moving when the clutch is in use, this can cause one side to drag and show more wear than the other side.
Bad damper springs in the disk can cause spline wear, as the disk "rattles" back and forth with torsional load.
run your fingernail down the spline, if it catches there is likely some spline wear. If it isn't too bad, you can likely live with it, as finding a new input shaft may be difficult. If it is badly worn, short clutch life will result if you use a new disk on a worn shaft.

I would concure with VWjake re the rear main. Rope seals are good seals, but, and this is a big but, the best results are achieved when they are installed with the shaft out. There are tools and tricks to install a rope seal with the shaft in place, but they are a emergency attempt to change a "gusher" to a minor leak. The reason is rope seals are packed or compressed into a groove, and there is no real good way to evenly pack the rope into the block above the crankshaft.
If yours is dry, or damp but not dripping or only dripping very little, I would leave it be. If a minor spot bothers you, than I would pull the engine and crank and spend the time to do it right.
I have changed them in situ, and had good luck, but never as good results as doing them with the crank out.