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Transmission Removal Clutch Replacement diy Quick Version

408K views 254 replies 118 participants last post by  Napy 
#1 · (Edited)
Clutch Replacement
First off I wanted to make this to show everyone that you don't need a huge shop with a lift to do this. Also as some others have mentioned before you do not need to drop the subframe whatsoever. People always ask me if it can be done in their garage and it can. I tried to take pics of every step and be thorough in my descriptions. This should take you around 3 hours if it is your first time. If you are an experienced mechanic it should only take around 1.5 hours. I took me 3 but I was taking pics and writing this diy <IMG NAME="icon" SRC="http://www.vwvortex.com/vwbb/biggrin.gif" BORDER="0"> I do not take any responsibility for you breaking anything. If anyone with lots of experience feels that I have left anything out please let me know. PM me if you have any questions and enjoy!
Also special thanks to my wife Nina for taking the pics.
http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


-Gabe-
Bluewater Performance
1. Secure front car on jack stands. Make sure the car is raised enough that you will be able to drop the transmission out.
2. Remove air intake or factory air box I will not go into to much detail because if you can’t remove this then you probably should not be replacing the clutch.
3. Remove battery and battery tray with 10mm socket to give yourself enough room. There is 4 10mm Bolts holding the tray in.

4. Remove shifter, shift cable and shift mounting bracket using a 13 mm socket zip tie all shift components together out of the way When removing the main body of the shifter be sure to pull equally at both sides. Do not pull one side and then the other back and forth. Shaft is shown in Blue circle

5. Using a flathead screwdriver, remove the clip that holds shift cable mechanism on. Be sure to not lose the two plastic bushings. I placed the bushings back onto the shaft and then put the clip back on as to not lose anything. As a side note. I replace every bolt or nut that I can as to not lose them. Also it will tend to not have a pile of bolts just laying around on a box.

6. Remove Hard Line From Engine/Transmission Mount

7. Remove ground strap from connecting bolt at top of engine/transmission

8. Disconnect connector for back up lights and other connectors on top of the starter

9. remove 13mm nut from cable bracket then remove cable bracket from starter

10. Remove upper starter securing bolt located in the same place as the cable mounting bracket was

11. Unclip and remove hose to slave cylinder. To unclip pull the metal retaining clip up and just pull back on the line.
12. Use electrical tape to plug off hose removed from slave cylinder. Make sure you don’t touch the clutch pedal otherwise fluid will come out.

13. Remove connector on back of transmission. The wires are covered with a heat shield wrap.

14. Remove both front wheels
15. Underneath the car, remove the lower dog-bone mount. Replace stretch bolts

16. Disconnect lower ball joints( three 16mm nuts)

17. Remove the 6 axle bolts on each side and pull axles out of the way. To do this you will need a 12 point 12mm socket. I zip tied mine up out of the way.

18. Remove three 13mm bolts from shield on passenger side around axle Sorry No Pics.
19. Remove four 16mm bolts connecting transfer case to transmission Be patient. These can take some time and be a pain but they all are accessible

20. Remove 2 16mm bolts holding the mounting bracket from the transfer case to the engine.

21. Remove 6mm Allen Bolt from inside the passenger side drive shaft. This requires a long extension and a 6mm allen socket. Regular allen wrenches will not work. This is a hard one to find.

22. You should now be able to easily pry the transfer case away from the transmission.
23. Remove the lower starter mounting bolt and remove starter

24. Remove All but one of the engine to transmission bolts. I usually prefer to leave one of the easy to access bottom bolts on. There are a couple of hidden ones. One is facing the passenger side and is right next to the top right transfer case to transmission bolt if you are facing the drivers side standing on the passenger side.

Passenger side near transfer case bolt

25. Stabilize the motor and transmission with separate jacks that way you can lower the motor and tranny separately.

26. Remove the drivers side fender liner and splash shield. The fender liner does not have to be fully removed. I usually just unbolt the front half and move it out of the way.

27. Remove the driver side engine mount. This will require removing the 3 bolts that attach to the transmission along with the 2 stretch bolts on the mount itself. Then remove the mount and set it to the side.

28. Begin to lower the engine and transmission together but make sure that the motor is not lowered to where it could potentially fall out of the passenger side mount. Make sure it is lowered enough that it can clear the front stub/subframe
29. Now comes the awkward and frustrating part. Remove the last engine to trans bolt and start to pry out. Work it slowly away from the engine and transfer case. Eventually it will pull out far enough to where it looks like it is going to hit the lower subframe. When it gets to this point start jacking up or push up on the rear of the transmission so it clears the subframe and it should simply drop out.

30. Now go have a beer
31. Next remove the pressure plate bolts. These are 12 point bolts. They require a 11/32 12 point socket.

32. Remove all flywheel bolts. These bolts are removed using the same socket as you used to remove the axle bolts.
33. Replace all stretch bolts including the engine mount bolts and the dog mount bolts. Also replace the pressure plate bolts and flywheel bolts.
34. Replacement Part #s
a. Socket Head bolt with inner multipoint head/Flywheel Bolt N 909 294 01 x10
b. 12 point head pressure plate bolt +N 903 207 01 x6
c. Rear Main Oil Seal b 021 103 051 c
d. Clutch Release Bearing 02M141671B
e. Clutch Master Cylinder N/A
f. Clutch Plate and Pressure Plate b o22 141 015 t(or)tx
g. Stretch bolts for dogbone mount and drivers side engine
mount (Drivers Side Engine Mount N 102 096 03 x2)
(Dogbone Mount n 102 683 02 X2 N 102 466 04 X1 N 905 970 02 x1)
h. Replace seals/o rings between transmission and transfer case 02M 409 203 & N 904 837 01 & N 028 222 2

Torque Specs
Engine to Transmission and Transmission to Transfer case
1. M12 Bolts - 80NM
2. M10 Bolts 45NM
Transmission Mount to Transmission
1: 50NM + 90degree turn
Transmission Mount to Chassis
1. 100NM
Pressure Plate to Dual Mass Flywheel
1. 22NM




Modified by xbluewaterx at 10:30 AM 7-29-2009
 
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41
#32 ·
Re: FV-QR (Navydub)

Great write-up dude!
When I read this the first time, somehow I missed the part that said the woman in the picture was your wife. I thought she was you and posted this herself.
I thought the other posters were referring to you as a man because they were stupid. I was actually thinking of contacting her to marry her so she'd do my clutch replacement until I went to her (your) myspace link and saw you were a man and reread the top of the post and found out she was your wife! Already taken, and not as mechanically inclined as I thought anyway! But there has to be some woman out there that likes this kind of heavy duty mechanical work like us men do.
I need to find her before my ECS clutch arrives Wednesday, or bite the bullet and do it myself as sort of planned.
 
#34 ·
Re: Transmission Removal Clutch Replacement diy Quick Version (xbluewaterx)

Quote, originally posted by xbluewaterx »
21. Remove 6mm Allen Bolt from inside the passenger side drive shaft. This requires a long extension and a 6mm allen socket. Regular allen wrenches will not work. This is a hard one to find.

Great write up, wish you would have done this a couple months ago!!

The above bolt was a huge problem when we pulled my transmission, thank god Qbn called and told us about this one...
 
#35 ·
Re: FV-QR (xbluewaterx)

this is seriously an awesome write up. I know it must have been a pain in the ass to take pics (well, your wife took them, but still a nuisance I'm sure), write out the DIY steps, remember all the parts replaced, etc on top of just doing the car work alone, so thank you for your knowledge and patience.
 
#37 ·
Re: Transmission Removal Clutch Replacement diy Quick Version (2u4uR32)

Quote, originally posted by 2u4uR32 »

Great write up, wish you would have done this a couple months ago!!

The above bolt was a huge problem when we pulled my transmission, thank god Qbn called and told us about this one...

It is definitely a mystery bolt that can potentially drive you insane!!! If you do not know about it, you could spend hours trying to pry the case off and scratching your head


[vpfinnersw]
Thanks for the comments. It was a pain as it always is to document all the steps of something as detailed as this, but it helps tons of people out so it makes it worth it. I know I always enjoy a detailed DIY with pics. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
-Gabe-
 
#40 ·
Re: Transmission Removal Clutch Replacement diy Quick Version (xbluewaterx)

Nice write up....now go buy a lift

My sister's name is Nina
 
#42 ·
Re: FV-QR (xbluewaterx)

Glad you got a good wife to help you. True, they are few and far between. Thanks. Your write up helped alot, even though our setups are a bit different and my car is all stock. The next to biggest PITA was getting the transmission out of the car when all the stuff was removed. The biggest PITA was getting it back into position after replacing the flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate.
I am 47 and I guess I can't bench as much as I used to! Actually the problem wasn't the weight, but the time it took to try to get it into position past that subframe. Arms wore out by then and had to prop it up almost in position. Whomever designed that starter wire harness bracket should be made to install them on the production line for the rest of their lives. Getting the flywheel off was a PITA too. All the write ups I found on the subject said nothing about a puller, as if it would drop right out after taking the bolts out. Not so in my case. A puller would have been helpful, but I didn't have one. I don't even remember how exactly I got it off, but I think it involved my plastic/rubber mallet, rocking it side to side with small mallet blows on the outer edge. Didn't want to pry it off. Now everything is back together and it shifts just as poorly as it did before the clutch replacement. At least the clutch is fine. Now I need to adjust my shifter to get rid of this seperate problem (3rd, 1st and 5th are hard to shift into, in that order of difficulty, although fwd to back throw of the shifter seems not to be contrained when you can get it into gear). Glad I replaced my tranny fluid at the same time as it was the consistency of rancid chocolate milk
. Put magnetic drain plug in, but that may not do much good as I understand the gears are a bronze alloy. For those out there doing this, I wouldn't go with Redline MT-90 as it seems to be too thin even in cooler climates like Seattle where I live. I never got grinding before, but occasionally I get 2nd grinding a bit, although that may also have to do with my not shifting there at exactly the right RPM band. You may want to add a link to the shifter adjustment thread of your choice. Great write up. Helped alot even though I have a Beetle 02J!


Modified by trex2400 at 7:12 PM 11-11-2008
 
#43 ·
Re: FV-QR (trex2400)

Wow! I am glad this helped you with your Beetle it sounds like you had a lot of fun

I knew this would be helpful for R owners but I didn't even think about it helping others. Did you notice any major shaft play when you had the tranny out? I wonder if that could be causing your shifting problems. Thanks for all of the feedback http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
-Gabe-
 
#44 ·
Re: FV-QR (xbluewaterx)

Yeah, fun it was!
Surprising how similar these cars are. At least I didn't need those five or ten extensions attached together on my rig!
It was a 6mm allen bolt, but only one short extension required! Nope. No play in tranny splined shaft. I have a shift tower setup on the top of my tranny. I'm thinking it is wear or adjustments needed there. I replaced most of the shifter bushings in the stick mechanism and adjusted that for the best shifting I could get. Still leaves alot to be desired. Thanks again.
 
#49 ·
Re: Transmission Removal Clutch Replacement diy Quick Version (xbluewaterx)

For all you guys doing this on the floor at home, it helps alot if you can get the trans up onto a floor jack and get it close to position, and then use a engine hoist to lift it up into position, and zip it back on. This is how I do it when I'm at my shop at home without having the help of doing it up in the air on a lift.
lifting the trans up when its sitting on your chest is not fun.

 
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