Grinding into reverse

[Lumpy Grits]

I live in the Mojave Desert. Pen S'mesh oil has work well for me for many, many years. That's not the issue.
Pilot bearing, don't think that it either.
You have a diaphragm type pressure plate. My bet, is when you remove the bell housing. You'll most likely see one or two of the diaphragm's 'fingers' are just a bit lower than the rest. That means a broken p'plate spring. The clutch disc is not fully releasing(dragging)contact from the flywheel.
Please let us know(pictures maybe)of what you find.
LG

 

[b3uhbp]

I live in the Mojave Desert. Pen S'mesh oil has work well for me for many, many years. That's not the issue.
Pilot bearing, don't think that it either.
You have a diaphragm type pressure plate. My bet, is when you remove the bell housing. You'll most likely see one or two of the diaphragm's 'fingers' are just a bit lower than the rest. That means a broken p'plate spring. The clutch disc is not fully releasing(dragging)contact from the flywheel.
Please let us know(pictures maybe)of what you find.
LG

Well I'm starting the clutch replacement this week. I'll let you all know what I find. One issue on my mind is my suspicion that the threads are stripped in 1 or 2 of the of the bell housing bolt holes used to bolt up the tranny. Does anyone have a good fix short of a new bell housing? Not sure helicoils will work since the holes go all the way through. Thought?

 

[b3uhbp]

I live in the Mojave Desert. Pen S'mesh oil has work well for me for many, many years. That's not the issue.
Pilot bearing, don't think that it either.
You have a diaphragm type pressure plate. My bet, is when you remove the bell housing. You'll most likely see one or two of the diaphragm's 'fingers' are just a bit lower than the rest. That means a broken p'plate spring. The clutch disc is not fully releasing(dragging)contact from the flywheel.
Please let us know(pictures maybe)of what you find.
LG

I think you May be right. I'll post pics.

 

[Hedgehog]

When my bell housing showed signs of having stripped threads in the bell housing all threads were drilled out and a steel threadsert (?) was added to EVERY threaded hole. These things are very cool. You drill out the thread with the drill in the set. Thread the hole with the supplied tap. Then the magic begins. Clean the threads very well. Using a special tool and red lock tite start inserting the sleeve. The sleeve is manufactured with a taper, as the sleeve bottoms out (there is a collar around the top) the tool swages the threads/insert to expand the insert locking it into the threads you just cut. There are a couple different manufacturers of these devices.

Heli-coils can be used in open threaded holes, but to be honest, some love them, due to some heart breaking failures I simply hate 'em.

 

[b3uhbp]

Thanks Hedge. If you can remember the brand that would be awesome. Thanks again!

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Are these the tranny mounting holes to the bH?
They are 7/16 dia. Just drill'em and tap'em for the next size larger. When this happened to me. I just drilled and tap'd them to 1/2X13thd. IMO-The tranny mounting OEM bolts are to small.
ATF fluid is a good/cheap drilling and taping fluid here.
Don't forget to drill a 'clearance' holes in the tranny.
BTW: IF your tranny is 'flexing' at all from stripped bolts that mount it to the BH.
---That alone can be your clutch release issue.---

 

[Torxhead]

Gotta disagree with you on that one Lumpy, If the threads are drilled out and rethreaded to a 1/2"-13, the threads are still made from cheap cast aluminum. I was hoping that Hedge could come back with some good hardened inserts to suggest, as there are many out there. I used heli-coils on my bell housing, but have only had the tranny out a few times since then to see just how good they hold up, but they are replaceable. Having to sell the oem tranny for an upgrade could be a problem also since it would have drilled out mounting holes. My $.02

 

[Lumpy Grits]

TH-From 7/16" to 1/2" in the BH is a great increase in bolt contact/grip area.

LG

 

[Torxhead]

Yes, it amazes me that my driveline is still holding up against that bell housing all these years with a 103 to 1 low gear ratio.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

It's always the 'loose-nut' on the pedal, that causes the most damage.
LG

 

[Hedgehog]

Hedge will come up with the name of the manufacturer, but I haven't seen Rob today. Next time I see him lets hope I remember to ask. I thought the system was slicker than snot. Of course if you have the housing out it would be easy enough to have the holes welded closed and tapped again. I agree with Torxhead on this one, steel working surfaces will take a lot more abuse than aluminum working surfaces.

 

[jdcaples]

Hedge will come up with the name of the manufacturer, but I haven't seen Rob today. Next time I see him lets hope I remember to ask. I thought the system was slicker than snot. Of course if you have the housing out it would be easy enough to have the holes welded closed and tapped again. I agree with Torxhead on this one, steel working surfaces will take a lot more abuse than aluminum working surfaces.

Was the kit something like this?

https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-Self-Locking-Thread-Insert-WP60177/_/N-8o7ZptqZpgn?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/4AXX8_AS01?$smthumb$

If it were me, I'd seriously consider welding the holes closed and tapped again. Everything else just seems kind of Mickey Mouse on the face of it.

-Jon

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Problem with weld'n them shut, is many times the weld is harder than the base metal. That will cause the drill to 'walk' unless it's be'n done on a mill where you can bore the hole with an end-mill.
LG

 

[Hedgehog]

jd - Similar, the one I like has a collar around the top and a special threaded inserting tool that swages (spreads) the insert wider physically locking the insert in place. Also the type I used has longer inserts. All in all a nice finished product.

 

[b3uhbp]

I started the clutch replacement yesterday. Went pretty well. Got the t-fear case and tranny off as well as the bell housing, clutch & pressure plate. Today I had difficulty. I'm replacing the pilot bearing with a bushing but removing the bearing was a problem since the bushing puller the parts stores were loaning wouldn't fit through the bearing. Finally used a blind hole puller which worked pretty well and got the new bushing installed. As I mentioned in my first post, the threads in one of the bolt holes in the bell housing were stripped. I tapped new threads and used a helicoil which worked well. I also noticed that the bolts weren't long enough to go all the way through and capture all the threads in the bell housing so I replaced them with longer bolts that will capture all the threads and add substantial strength. I should finish up tomorrow.

One question, I'm replacing the tranny mount and stabilizer bushing. The tranny mount seems to fit right but there seems to be a lot of play in the stabilizer. The steel plate extending from the tranny mount over to the stabilizer has a large hole in it. The stabilizer bushings are tapered and the tapers go together through the large hole but I need to verify the right amount of vertical play. The old bushings had been turned up side down so they would sandwich the stabilizer plate but I don't think that is correct. The way I have it installed there is about a 1/4" play above and below the plate. Can anyone assist? See the picture.

 

[Torxhead]

Not sure what the oem specs are for that, but I have removed all the play at that stabilizer. I think the less play it has the easier it is on the motor mounts.

 

[b3uhbp]

Not sure what the oem specs are for that, but I have removed all the play at that stabilizer. I think the less play it has the easier it is on the motor mounts.

I don't think the nut will tighten any more. Did you use washers?

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Tighten up that bushing spacing from both sides. Washers work well here.
Mine are set so I have the same spacing above and below the tranny mount bracket, when the jeep is sit'n level in my driveway. My spacers do look to be the same as yours. Set mine up to be touching each other with a small amount of 'crush'.
LG

 

[b3uhbp]

Tighten up that bushing spacing from both sides. Washers work well here.
Mine are set so I have the same spacing above and below the tranny mount bracket, when the jeep is sit'n level in my driveway. My spacers do look to be the same as yours. Set mine up to be touching each other with a small amount of 'crush'.
LG

Thanks, that sounds about right based on pictures I've seem on the Internet.

 

[b3uhbp]

So, I finished the clutch replacement job last week. Had a small bump along the way due to my mistake. Got it all buttoned up and when I started it I had a terrible scraping noise. Turns out I had installed the shroud on back of the bell housing such that it was scraping on the back of the fly wheel. Too bad I took the whole thing apart before finding it. All back together and working beautifully. I'm pretty sure the cause of the shudder was some weak springs on the pressure plate even though you couldn't see anything obvious. The clutch components only had 40k miles but my mechanic who specializes on transmissions said age is as much a factor as miles. In my case, the components were old but with low miles. Also, the tranny no longer continues to spin when my foot is on the clutch so the grinding going into reverse is totally gone. Probably caused by the same issue. I had intended to resurface the flywheel but my Transmission man said not necessary unless there was obvious damage. Used a straight edge to check for flatness. It was a good call. Saved time and money. FYI, my tranny man recommended LuK clutch components which he has used for many years. I only needed OEM replacement parts.