jbrob007

Background: Been working on my 86.5 clutch. Got the clutch out, pilot bearing replaced, TO bearing innards pressed out with new bearing/sleeve pressed in and all the clutch parts cleaned, sorted & re-assembled.

I got the clutch pack up & in the car but have hit a brick wall, sooooo I have some questions... Of the 3 flywheel/intermediate plate centering pins, the dual dimensional (6mm / 8mm) is driven in only to being flush with the Flywheel. I've driven the other two pins to flush with the Pressure Plate but cant get any of the 3 any further... Not a lot of room under the car and I still have a few mm before they are fully engaged Any tips on how to get them in any further...?? Also, once the clutch is up its kinda hard to tell if the central shaft is engaged in the pilot bearing. How do you insert the shaft into the pilot bearing and/or how can you tell if the central shaft is engaged fully in the pilot bearing?

Thanks in advance for any help! Man, putting a clutch pack up into a car by yourself is FUN

Lizard928

I suggest not having the 6 bolts tightened down first. The pins will go in much easier if the PP can float slightly. I use a punch and a good size ball peen.

Also to get the stub shaft in, you need to have put it in first (before everything was tightened), or once its all tightened you can use a bar, or big screw driver to pull back the release arm and then move the discs up/down with the shaft to be able to insert it into the pilot bearing.

Ducman82

i never had to drive any pins in anything. just lined up and slipped in... (after lots of cussing)

Richard S

Put the pins in the freezer for a while. Might shrink them just enough to slip in.

Rich

Landseer

The rear bolt of the front coupler locates the coupler.
The front coupler bolt can't be smoothly inserted until the intermediate shaft is seated in the pilot bearing.
If you have to force that coupler bolt, then there is something wrong.

Good luck! Sounds as though your are very close.

jbrob007

I'm super close... The freezer isnt an option - two of the pins stay in the intermediate plate - only the dual dimension pin is removed completely. The other two are just backed out enough to get past the flywheel before you drop the clutch. You pry the pressure plate & intermediate plate apart AFTER its out... They slipped back into the pressure plate easy enough (with a little help from a plastic mallet) but the flywheel alignment holes are TIGHT. Getting them out of the flywheel wasnt easy... getting them back into the flywheel is the not a lot of fun.

Jake, the older MY clutch had three pins (all the same size)... How they all just slipped together is a M$#@!!@-#$#ing! Miracle

The coupler lined up very easily and I just slipped it over the central shaft while I holding it up in the air with one hand... then finding a clutch & getting it started so the whole thing didnt drop on my face. All the bolts were screwed in a bit at a time so it should be centered pretty well. I'll try untightening the 6 clutch bolts even more and ping in the alignment pins some more - I'm using a punch but the room for a proper swing is VERY limited. May have to get the jack stands up on a couple inches of plywood to get the space I need to swing the hammer... at least better.

jbrob007

That should say... "then finding a clutch BOLT & getting it started so the whole thing didnt fall on my face..."

jcorenman

Joel, It's been a while since I last did mine, but I did the short-shaft into pilot first, then dowels, then bolts last.

I first stacked up the PP, rear disc, IP (fitting dowels), front disc, and short-shaft through the discs.
Two dowels should be in the PP, with 1-2mm sticking out on the flywheel side. Make sure the u-shaped shims are in place. (Bent nails with the heads cut off).

Lift the stack into place, shove the short shaft into the pilot bearing, and line up the two dowels and get them in place (i.e. barely started). Then put a couple of bolts in finger-tight.
Now push the two dowels into the FW, I used a c-clamp with a short 6mm bolt as a drift.
Then I pushed in the stepped dowel, using the c-clamp again. If the first two dowels are in place (and the bolts are not tight) then it should go right in.

Now get all the bolts in place and tightened evenly, and lastly the coupling.
This will require lots of engine-rotating (always clockwise, facing the front of the engine). Be sure there are no stray dowels sticking out or it will be a short trip.

Cheers,

GregBBRD

Doing this, on your back, has to absolutely suck. It's hard enough, on a lift, with a tall jack stand to hold up the clutch, when your arms start to scream. You guys that do this stuff at home, get my full respect!

See if any of this helps:

Push the small dowels in flush with the intermediate plate...that's all you need.

Push the stepped dowel in as far as possible. Make sure that the "large" dowel hole, in the flywheel, is at the very bottom. Push the whole thing up into the hole and push the "short shaft" into the pilot bearing to hold the whole thing there. Line up the lower, large dowel, and start installing the clutch bolts. Once the bolts are all started and you start to "snug" them down, get the dowels started into the flywheel. Tighten the bolts and torque. Now you can "work" on getting the dowels into the flywheel at the correct depth.

One thing that no one ever seems to think about (I've never seen it mentioned....not even in the Porsche WSM) is that the "short shaft" can be pushed forward into the pilot bearing enough that it actually goes too far and is then poorly supported in the pilot bearing....making the clutch release poorly (many people mistake this for an intermediate plate problem.) Before you put the whole thing together...install the short shaft and figure out how far you need to "pull" this short shaft backwards, in order to have the section that is "supposed" to be riding in the pilot bearing riding completely in the correct place in the pilot bearing.

jbrob007

Jim, The C clamp & 6 mm bolt sounds like the way to go... Thanks for the tip! It's so elegant... yet soooo simple

Greg, I did it pretty much the way you described. Got the intermediate pins started into the pressure plate just flush so they would clear the flywheel during reinstall. Pushed the whole thing up with the dual dimension pin at the bottom. I'm just not sure if the central shaft is positioned correctly. Is there a picture or two parts/splines/grooves or SOMETHING I can line up to KNOW its in the correct position? I'd HATE to have to do this again... and yes the damn WSM is pretty damn vauge in this regard.

Ducman82

if i EVER have to take this clutch out again.... Gregs hydro throwout single disk is going back in...

jcorenman

This should be framed and hung in the lobby. Thanks!!

Ducman82

but dont the drive shaft and the intermediate shaft have groves where the bolts go? so it would not be farther forward then intended?

jbrob007

Jake, You MAY be right... I'll have a look. There is a gap between the splines on the central shaft's coupler end so I'm HOPING that is what your talking about. If so, then the shaft is probably too far in - it may be riding in the shaft's indent in the pilot bearing end. I guess I better be pretty easy with it when pulling it towards the drive shaft coupler - I dont want to pull out the Pilot Bearing - its a snug fit, but its not THAT snug... One thing is for sure, I'm learning what NOT to do if there ever is a next time Hopefully, I can finish this up today!

Mike Frye

That's how I seem to do everything. People seem to like my write-ups and I bet it's because in just a few tries I can somehow manage to find every single possible way to mess up the jobs so they can see what NOT to do.

My clutch job was lots of fun! But I got lots of help from here and managed to get it done right.

Hang in there! You're almost there!