348 Throwout Bearing removal

Time for another episode of your friendly neighborhood Stooge.

Todays episode "how to remove the throwout bearing".

Sorry about the quality of the pics, I used my cell phone to take them.

 

I like to start by removing the air inlet hoses to the air box. You need to do this in order to get the muffler heat shields off.
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Next I removed the nuts that hold down the heat shields. There is a little hole in the middle of the airbox that you can stick a long extension through to get to the middle nut on the front heat shield. This allows you to remove the heat shield without having to remove the airbox.
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With the heat shields out of the way I now have access to the muffler from the top.
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Next is to take the muffler out.

My exhaust is custom made, so the procedure I use to remove it will be different for you guys with mufflers that attach to stock cats/or have stock style attachments.

Anyway.

First I'm going to loosen the nuts on the v-clamps so that I can unhook the v-bands.
Then I needed to wedge off the v-bands from the from the exhaust unions with a screw driver, and remove them.
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Then I removed four 13mm the retaining bolts (2 on each side) that hold the muffler to the cross brace, and removed the muffler.
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You can see in the first pic how the cat gets attached to the muffler. There is an insert between the exhaust unions. This is so that I don't get any exhaust leaks, and it helps keep the exhaust flow smooth.

While I had the muffler off I had a peak inside both of my hi-flow cats. Still looking good, and keeping my exhaust nice and "clean".
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I started working on the removing the nuts holding the bell housing (aka the pumpkin) in place, but the cross bracket was a bit in the way. So I removed the four 13mm nuts that hold it in place, and set it aside with the muffler.
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You will need to remove the inspection screen on the very bottom of the bell housing. It screws to the gearbox, and the bell housing. Sorry fellas I don't have any pics of that.

After you do that remove the nuts on the bell housing. I like to start with the nut that holds the clutch line in place.

I first took of the 13mm nut holding the clutch line bracket to the bell housing. Then I removed the nut holding the line to the bracket, and rotated the bracket out of the way. You don't need to completely remove the line, just detach it from the bell housing.
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Next I remove the the two 13mm bolts that hold the bell housing to the gear box, and that help hold the starter to the gearbox. Only remove the two outer bolts, do NOT remove the bolt I'm pointing at with my finger, as that bolts holds the starter in place.
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There were two more 13mm bolts to remove, and on the very bottom of my pumpkin I had two 12mm nuts that had to come off.

Once you have all the nuts and bolts removed, support the bottom of the bell housing. I like to put a floorjack under it.
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With the pumpkin supported on the bottom I started to wedge it off. I used the handle of my ratchet to pry the bell housing off, via the holes on the top and sides of the bell housing.
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With the clutch and flywheel removed from the gearbox I now have access to the throwout bearing.
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Well, well, well would you look at what I see.

Why it's a leak from the CRAPASS casting on the Valeo throw out bearing.

And then some pics of the ass end of the bearing blown out.
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Now to remove the throwout bearing is pretty simple.

All you need to do is remove the bearing stop/guide.
Take off the two 8mm bolts holding the stop to the back of the gearbox.
Remove the throwout bearing stop, and then slide the throwout bearing off the slave cylinder.
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And hear it is fellas. ANOTHER FAILED throwout bearing. Not only did the back of it bust open, couple of the seals on the inside bit the dust too.
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And now to replace it with a good quality HE throwout bearing. You can see plain as day how much better the quality of the Hill unit is compared to the factory unit.
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When you go to install the new TOB only slide in on half way. The reason is so that you can fit the springs inside the holes on the back of the bearing, and slave cylinder, with out too much fuss. Then push the bearing on all the way.

Remember to replace the TOB stop/guide after you have the bearing pushed on.
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VIOLA!

There you have it. How I removed, and replaced, the throwout bearing from a 348, Stooge style.

Happy wrenching.

 

Thanks Matt.

 

One more thing.

When you go to bleed the clutch, fit a long clear tube to the end of the bleed nipple. This does two things. It lets you see the fluid/air coming out of the line, and it helps stop the air bubbles from traveling back up the bleeder.
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