Height off ground needed for Clutch Installation

[Alpine 318is]

Yeah, I've pulled plenty of engines and transmissions. I can do a clutch job a lot faster than I can R&R an engine.

Pulling the engine isn't even on my radar. Definitely going to be doing it from below.

My favorite time saving tricks are to use a couple of guide bolts/studs in place of trans bolts. These are trans bolts with the head and some length cut off and a slot dremeled into the end for a screwdriver. I remove a couple of bolts and let the trans hang on these while I pull the rest. I then slide thectrans off these. I use them to hold the trans while I slide it the last inch or two back on since that is the part that often hangs up (probably pilot bearing) and I am too old now to hold the trans while I try to wiggle it into place.

My second trick is to put the trans on a harbor freight trans scissor jack. These go up about 3 feet so I sit on a stool and lower my lift. I use an 18V impact wrench to run the scissor up with the trans on it. Jack is about $90 at HF. Once or twice the trans has gone right onto the motor and the other times have taken just a couple of minutes. You can adjust the top plate of the jack to level the trans. It has to be very square to the motor or it does not want to fully seat. I judge by the evenness of the bell housing to motor gap. Beware of the metal gasket plate hanging up also—the guide bolts help here as well.

Thanks for the tips those seem great!

[TH3 Shifty]

i used a 3ft extension to get at the trans bell housing bolts, with a few swivel joints..

[NeilM]

i used a 3ft extension to get at the trans bell housing bolts, with a few swivel joints.

I loosely wrap the swivel joints with tape so that they don't flop. And that extension should be half-inch drive, because a smaller size twists too much.

Dropping the front subframe a bit on its bolts allows some extra working space above the trans for those annoying upper bellhousing bolts.

And +1 to the improvised alignment studs and the cheap HF tranny jack. Both make the job much less difficult when working solo.

Talking of working solo, don't forget a cell phone in your pocket...just in case.

Neil

[BMWManiac]

I just ordered the quickjack for my birthday....can't wait to see what kind of height I'm working with underneath. I don't plan to pull the transmission any time soon though!

[Alpine 318is]

I just ordered the quickjack for my birthday....can't wait to see what kind of height I'm working with underneath. I don't plan to pull the transmission any time soon though!

Post some pictures! And some measurements if you don't mind. Which model did you get.