So my clutch went completely out today (Wednesday), and me and my brother and a few friends are gonna drop the tranny and replace it soon. My question is, do any of you guys know what all tools are needed for this job, any shorcuts, words of advice, etc? I consider myself pretty good at working on cars, but if any of you have done this before, what would you rate the difficulty at on a 1-10 scale? Two of my friend's dads are mechanics so we will have their support if we catch any snags.

Thanks a lot.

P.S. it seems we are having bad luck with cars around here....yesterday my brother's Prelude blew up. There's a hole almost the size of a baseball in the block! My clutch actually gave up while taking him to look for a new car today....i had to have my poor Max towed home

 

come on guys, i'm sure somebody on this site has pulled their tranny before

 

doesn't motorvate have a tutorial on that?

anyways check the factory manual.

from what I heard if you can manage to lift the car high enough it's not that hard given the right tools.

 

The easy part is removing the axles, I'm sure anybody can do that. Just be sure u have a socket big enuf for the axle nut. You also might need a breaker bar for that nut, and the bolts that hold the starter.

It's your choice if you wanna remove the center cross member. I've done it with and without before. My only gripe is getting to the rear engine mount, but do-able with enuf rachet extensions.

The only other semi-special tool is something to remove the pilot bearing. You can borrow/rent that from kragen, auzozone, checkers, or pepboyz.

I posted a word doc in the general forum with all the torque specs u need. Search for it.

Jae

 

If you never done a clutch before, I suggest you don't do this, because it is harder than you think. Mainly because it is a FWD car and if you do it in the driveway on stands makes it even harder.

If you had a lift and someone who knew what they were doing you would be great. but you only seem to have 1 of those 2. (If you dads friends know how do transmissions/clutches) Cause I have came across many mechs that don't deal with transmissions or know how to do them. I have even been to transmission shops that only do Autos and don't **** about standard. (which is sad)

Now, it will cost a decent penny to replace what you got to replace in a shop. Expect to pay anywhere between $900-$1200 for the whole job if done if the shop. And like $150-$300 for just the kit.

You may also consider doing the whole job if your clutch just blew. This includes The clutch disk, TO bearing, And pressure plate. That is the kit you can usally buy anywhere. This also increses the difficultly of the job doing all 3.

So in terms of The job, finding the right tools, And doing it in the driveway. Expect the job to be a 9/10 in difficulty. For someone who knows a little bit of what they are doing with some help from others.

On a lift with the right tools with someone who knows what they are doing or at least done one before, It should pass no more than a 5-6/10 in difficulty.

 

Just make sure you clean the bell housing mating surfaces really well. It is not uncommon to have starting problems after transmission work on our cars. This is because it disrupts the starter's ground which grounds through the trans. Trust me. If you start to have starting probelms after your trans work, PM me.

 

I agree. The higher the car, the better. I dropped my manual tranny in an hour (2nd time dropping a tranny) with my car on jackstands...Airtools helped though.


Here's some stuff you're going to need:

A good set of metric sockets (8-21mm), a 1.5" socket (for the axle nut), a 5 inch and 12 inch extension, swivel head, breaker bar, torque wrench, jack, jackstands, open ended wrenches (ratchet wrenches really help speed things along), screwdrivers, and having vise grips won't hurt either. If you can get your hands on a tranny jack that would be even better than using the regular jack for taking the tranny off. I used a really nice craftsman car jack with a wood block under the tranny and that worked fine for me.

 

air tools are available, and we can get it high enough.....it's gonna be in an air conditioned garage fully stocked with tools and i think i know someone with a tranny jack i can borrow.

 

good luck then ;-)

 

DARQ MX's post sounds like something a mechanic would say. I think 95_Maxima_5spd has enuf tools and support to do this. Plus w/all the step-by-step available online, He should be ok. Start on a friday evening to take out the axles. Saturday morn, take out the tranny. Saturday afternoon reinstall everything, and leave Sunday open in case you run into trouble.

Jae

 

its not that bad im about to do a full auto cali spec to 5 speed fed spec swap with mevi and then im boostin.....changing a clutch is cake....

 

Then read my post I made yesterday or the day before in this forum. I'm not typing it again, but it was about this exact procedure.

 

+1000000000

You will need THIS thread ( http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=452286 ) if you have starting problems after the clutch job.

 

thanks a lot guys....ill keep you posted on how it all goes.


wish me luck!!!