K10/K1500 SM465 clutch job.

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Irishman999

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The harbor freight transmission jack is so god damn tall you would have to have your truck suspended 4 feet in the air to be able to simply slide the whole assembly out. This is the second time I have done this stupid procedure.

This is where **** gets confusing-

to get the second jack free from under the motor jack the motor up I set a wedge shaped block of wood between the base of the distributor and the fire wall.



With the second jack free I let the jack down holding the transmission and suspended the tail shaft housing with a jack stand. Under the front I placed the other jack and block of to hold it up so I could slide out the floor jack with the stupid harbor freight transmission jack. I had to unbolt all the holders off the flat plate of the adapter but it looked like this when I slid it out.

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Irishman999

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Lower the front input shaft onto a jackstand like in the picture.

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Now everything is balanced on jack stands and secure for the moment. Next step is to jack up the rear and pull out the rear jack stand. Place your second jack here.

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From here you just lower everything to the ground and pull the jack out. Grab the tail shaft and drag the son of a bitch out and off the front jack stand using brute man force.

And here it is, transmission and transfer case:

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Irishman999

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Next up is removing the bell housing:

Start with the two nuts that hold the slave cylinder onto the transmission.

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next remove 2 small bolts holding this dust cover over the transmission.

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Remove all the bolts around the parameter of the upper portion of the bell housing. dont worry about it falling and hurting you, its made of aluminum so its pretty light.

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Irishman999

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Now that the bellhousing is off you remove the pressure plate. If you put a socket on it and try to take the bolts loose the flywheel will spin. I got lucky and the dust shield somehow jammed everything so I could break all the bolts loose, other than that you can have an assistant hold a pry bar into one of the teeth and put pressure on it via the starter. Be careful with this one, this **** is kinda heavy and the disk will drop once you pull the pressure plate off.

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Now all that stands between you and the rear main seal is this pesky fly wheel. To keep the flywheel from spinning while taking the bolts loose get a 3/8's bolt that is a few inches long with a shoulder, a wrench and one of the bolts for the pressure plate and do this. It works like a charm.

These bolts are tight as a nun's ****.

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Irishman999

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If your engine is from 1986 or later you will have a 1 piece rear main seal as pictured here.

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This part is a piece of cake, get an old flat blade screw driver and it it into one of the slots and knock it in with a hammer. You can easily pry out the old seal and tap in the new seal. I put a thin layer of silicone gasket maker on the outside of the seal before I tap it in with a hammer. The seal will be marked "outside", dont put that **** in backwards.

If you wish to remove this whole piece you have to remove the oil pan and gasket, I chose to do this because mine was leaking like crazy but you dont have to remove this piece even though a gasket for it is included in the rear main seal kit.

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Tyger13us

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If your engine is from 1986 or later you will have a 1 piece rear main seal as pictured here.

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This part is a piece of cake, get an old flat blade screw driver and it it into one of the slots and knock it in with a hammer. You can easily pry out the old seal and tap in the new seal. I put a thin layer of silicone gasket maker on the outside of the seal before I tap it in with a hammer. The seal will be marked "outside", dont put that **** in backwards.

If you wish to remove this whole piece you have to remove the oil pan and gasket, I chose to do this because mine was leaking like crazy but you dont have to remove this piece even though a gasket for it is included in the rear main seal kit.

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that pilot bearing looks really shot and dry,, hope your going to do a new one,, and a lil advice if ya dont mind? use the brass one? and not the roller bearing one,, they aint worth a damn and dont last very long in 4x4's and will eat up the input shaft if it goes bad....

i tryed one,, one time and for all the work to replace it,, i will never use a roller type again in a 4x4..........

the brass work great with a glob of grease squirted in to it with a grease gun,, then jam your lil finger in it to squish out all the extra so ya dont shove out the bearing when ya stab the trans,, just a tip or 2......
 

Irishman999

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that pilot bearing looks really shot and dry,, hope your going to do a new one,, and a lil advice if ya dont mind? use the brass one? and not the roller bearing one,, they aint worth a damn and dont last very long in 4x4's and will eat up the input shaft if it goes bad....

i tryed one,, one time and for all the work to replace it,, i will never use a roller type again in a 4x4..........

the brass work great with a glob of grease squirted in to it with a grease gun,, then jam your lil finger in it to squish out all the extra so ya dont shove out the bearing when ya stab the trans,, just a tip or 2......

Yeah thanks man! I am posting everything as I do it so if someone wants to add something, they can. I read about that roller bearing you are talking about, I guess a GM dealership convinced some guy it was great for a high performance engine and it ended up failing very quickly. I have not herd one good thing about those bearings.
 

Irishman999

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This bushing in the crankshaft has to come out and I have a very fun method of removing it without any special tools.

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Grab a grease gun and pack the cavity with as much grease as possible until it is over flowing. Take the plastic alignment tool included in your clutch kit and saw off the stupid ring thing. Insert it into the hole and give it a good couple smacks with the hammer, pull it out and repack the whole thing with grease and keep smacking it with a hammer until it just pops out. This is one of the coolest tricks I have ever learned.

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Irishman999

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Next is to hammer the new bushing in.... I have a seal driver kit I got at Harbor freight for 20 bucks and it worked great. Drive the bushing in flush with the flat part of the crank shaft you are driving the bushing into.

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Irishman999

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Now you are ready for your flywheel. 2 options here, first option is to have the flywheel re surfaced at a machine shop or go the route I did and buy a new one. I got mine from Napa for around 100 bucks.

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You will need a torque wrench to torque the fly wheel bolts to 60 pounds. It calls for 60 but I went somewhere around 66 and used blue locktite to be on the safe side. To keep the flywheel from spinning use the same method as before, a long 3/8's bolt and a wrench. When you torque the flywheel use cross paterns like you would changing a tire, always go opposite and go all the way around a few times to make sure everything is snug and to specs.

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Irishman999

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Clutch time.

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If the truck is sitting on cinder blocks like mine you will have sufficent room to sit up while under the truck with your head in the transmission tunnel, I am 5'11" and it was completely comfortable and made all this work comfortable.
Get everything ready and in arms reach. Bolts, ratchet and clutch parts should be right at your side.

If you have not cleaned the grease off of the pilot tool do that, you dont want to get grease on the clutch disk.*******

Grab the clutch disk and install it with the alignment tool in the correct direction, the disk will have the correct orientation stamped on it. Hold the assembly in place and with your other hand grab that heavy ass pressure plate and place it over the disk. Before your arm gives up try to start a bolt or two to hold everything in place.

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With the alignment tool in place apply locktite to all the bolts and snug them up. In my case I had to loosen all the bolts and move the disk around before I re-snugged them so the alignment tool would come out easily. Once you get everything snugged and the alginment tool will go in and out easily you are ready to torque all the bolts to 35 foot pounds.

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Once again, the wrench and bolt trick will keep the flywheel from spinning while you torque everything to the flywheel, here I used a stubby wrench.

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crazy4offroad

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I would like to add, a new flywheel, and a new pressure plate for that matter, the surfaces that contact the clutch disc come with a little oil on them from the manufacturer. It's good policy to clean this oil off with Brake Kleen or similar product to prevent blistering the flywheel right off the bat.
 

Irishman999

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Continuing on:

Now that the flywheel and clutch is all assembled you can install the throw out bearing into the bell housing and get it ready to set in.

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The AC delco kit's throw out bearing came pre lubricated and ready to put on.
Be sure you install the bearing this way on the fork, if you install it with the metal clips wrong the clutch will not disengage.
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Irishman999

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Next install the bell housing onto the engine:

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Next step is installing the transmission into the hole. Only advice I have to offer is dont be anywhere it can crush you or an appendage. Before you stab the transmission put it in gear so you can turn everything to line up the input shaft with the clutch disk splines.

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From here on its just reverse steps, no need to really explain more.
 

Irishman999

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K-1500 High Sierra
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305
I would like to add, a new flywheel, and a new pressure plate for that matter, the surfaces that contact the clutch disc come with a little oil on them from the manufacturer. It's good policy to clean this oil off with Brake Kleen or similar product to prevent blistering the flywheel right off the bat.

Good point, I forgot to mention that. I did spray my parts down with brake parts cleaner before I installed them.
 

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