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I thought (hoped) that what I was seeing was the soft hose. Part of that hope was it might of implied that the P.O. (who I don't know anything about) might have been paying attention to this vehicle as closely.
It is possible to withdraw the slave's push rod so that you can do clutch work without 'opening' the clutch hydraulics.
I hesitate to provide instructions because
- you have to be very careful and 'in tune' with the health of the slave cylinder's seal.
- you have to work through the inspection hole in the lower bell housing.
- Stan will yell at me that the danger of screwing-up the seal in the slave is too great.
OOOOOOKay... That was not so much fun, lol. Not at ALL! Why didn't someone warn me, lolololol.
So, I got her done. But after a scary moment or 7...
I was able to get the cup in without dropping the starter, exhaust or lower bell housing and the job itself wouldn't have been so bad. Although very tight in there, not bad at all, until... What was horrible was re-tightening the steel ball into the 30+ year old aluminum upper bell housing.
I removed the bolts from the slave and let it slide back nearly out. Up top the heater valve, both regulators back there, disconed a single U'd fuel line (don't really know it's exact name) in the area and after turning it with a wrench once or twice, the ball by hand and pulled it out. Lubed up the cup with some moly, stuffed the ball into the cup with a plier on a firm surface and bam,,, was going to start replacing in reverse order... I cleaned out the reciver end of the arm and popped the cup/ball combo back into the arm, easy enough. I was able to pull the arm up and swing it to the passenger side of the engine compartment enough to do this (would have been able to get much much more play IF I had removed all on the lower end of the engine)...Then,,, NOTHING I did made getting that damn ball cup combo on the end of the arm to turn back into the bell housing. Started stripping out the threaded hole!!!
In the end, after much wrestling, hunching over (I'm 6.4), cursing and grief, I had the bright idea to reattached the slave, line up the bolt end of the ball with its receiving hole the best i could and used a short pole, adjusting the seat forward, to engage the clutch. Praying. This put enough pressure on the cup and ball for it to find and thread its self into the threaded hole at the bell with several very tenuous wrench turns. Thank GOODNESS! Talk about being afraid. 4hours...
Ill tell ya how she drives another day. I packed it in, called it a day!
As to the insert being recessed into the release arm, I don't see how that would be possible given the wide lip that sits flush against the arm?
Hmm. I think that if I were to ever do this again I think I would go about it a little differently. In that I might remove the ball, install the cup, and turn it back in, first... Then, work and move the arm around and try and get it over the in place threaded ball... The cup would pivot to meet the opening. Now (hindsight being 20/14 as it were in this case, lol),,, after wrestling around with things for so long that day, it seems that pushing the arm up thru the small view hole from below, there seemed to be a good amount of UP play in the arm (i guess the arm sliding UP on the throwout bearing) and some back play to position it it in a way that it's opening would meet up nicely with the in place cup and ball. But I don't know that. If it failed, I still would have the option of just unthreading the ball and cup and starting over. Wouldn't have taken much time at all to realize my mis-judgement.
Trying to thread it while in the arm nearly lead to a disaster, a lot more money, and a LOT more work... It was a stupid move,,, and not my first. I am grateful to not have completely ruined it. Still, I think the previously mentioned route might have worked... Worth a shot i think.
And no,,, that cup is not designed to fit flush with the rim of the arm. And I wouldn't try to make it so.
Warning - don't drop a tool down into the gap at the top out of the release arm. That almost happened and really would have sucked, too. I learned a little.
When I was struggling,,, I might of stopped and took a different route,,, dropping the lower bell. But,,, my exhaust bolts were rusty and I kinda knew undoing them would most likely sheer a bolt or 5. It's the only reason I didnt. So, lazy silly me, rather than pausing and waiting til I had the bolts and exhaust gaskets, I foolishly went ahead and again, almost paid a terrible price. I end up feeling the need to hurry when i should have just chill and wait a day. Live and learn.
I've driven her,,, and yes, a difference for sure!
Thank you all again for sharing your wisdom and hard earned experience... Trust,,, I'll be back with more questions...
Got my rear disks in today and will be placing them tomorrow.
04-04-2019, 06:16 PM
