Step 1 in the clutch replacement procedure is 'remove the transmission'. After that the clutch is easy. Six bolts.


I used a homemade alignment tool to hold the disk while I loosened the pressure plate.


The old pressure plate looks a little worn.


The pressure plate side of the clutch disk doesn't look too bad


But the flywheel side of the clutch disk looks like it has gotten a little warm once or twice.


The flywheel doesn't look so great.


I should have figured I would need a new flywheel knowing the way I've wheeled the poor thing.

Here's a brightness adjusted look at the clutch crawlin' carnage that brings out the scoring and burning a little better


I ordered a new flywheel from AutoZone and it will be a couple of days before it arrives. That gives me time to extract and replace the old pilot bushing. The one that's there looks ok but I have a new one sitting here and it seems the smart thing to do. I'm just not sure how to get the old one out.

And I still need to separate the transfer case from the transmission to be able to get the transfer case apart to get the crawler gears in. The bolts are out but the thing hasn't budged yet.

Hey Steve, Dont toss out that old flywheel. Most machine shops will resurface them pretty cheaply. Might look into having that done instead of putting in a brand new one. Its usually aobut $20-$30 to have one surfaced. If anything, keep it around in case someone else needs to swap a flywheel when they do their clutch.

Be sure to drain the tranny oil before you separate the t-case or you will have a mess!

There's a bead of silicone holding the two cases together. Look around it and you'll see 2-3 spots made to use a prybar to pry the two apart. Do it carefully and work your way around the cases, as the Tcase has to pull straight back off the transmission output shaft. An extra set of hands to hold the tranny while you pull the Tcase off would be helpuful....that Tcase is a heavy bugger...about 120 lbs.

One of those pry points is visible in the lower right hand corner of your picture above.

Thanks for that tip! If what you say about the pry point is true then I pulled the wrong darn bolts. I've removed the bolts from the seam right behind the shifter and not the long bolts from the seam where that pry point is.

Now you've got me second guessing myself (never seen this from the top side)....better get a second opinion. I think I'm right, but I am second guessing. There's like 13 bolts holding the Tcase on....I think all but 1 or 2 the heads face rearward.

The FSM shows it splitting where I pulled the 14 bolts. Three on top have the head on the tcase side and the other 11 have the head on the tranny side. I'll be double checking before I start trying to pull it apart.

OK, you're probably right...the pry points look the same in any case....I'm used to looking up at these from the bottom!

The pry points are for splitting the peices of the t-case itself.

Maybe I don't see it, but both sides of the disk look fine to me.

I'd get my flywheel turned, as suggested, before I put on an Autozone flywheel. I had to take back a flexplate that I got from them as it wasn't drilled in the exact center...I found this out, when I was putting the starter, that it ruined, back in.

As a matter of curiosity, what kind of motor and how many miles? What size tires and how often do you tow and etc?

You want the seam right behind the shifter. There are no pry points.

quote:

Originally posted by Stinky:
Maybe I don't see it, but both sides of the disk look fine to me.

I'd get my flywheel turned, as suggested, before I put on an Autozone flywheel. I had to take back a flexplate that I got from them as it wasn't drilled in the exact center...I found this out, when I was putting the starter, that it ruined, back in.

As a matter of curiosity, what kind of motor and how many miles? What size tires and how often do you tow and etc?

I think maybe I'll wait before I turn the flywheel in for core then...

its an Xterra V6 with 49K that's had 31" muds for most of its life and 33" AT's for the last six months or so. Never towed much but it's had lots of clutch slippage crawling through and over rocks. It had been about out of pedal for a while and started shuddering off the line on the way home from a run one day (rocker panel pass). The following run it was lurching horribly under any load, slip-catch-slip-catch-shake-your-teeth-out-slip-catch.
It ran mostly ok on the tar but was starting to show signs of slipping under acceleration. The clutch disk is probably the best looking piece of the bunch at this point.

Thanks for the heads up on the Autozone flywheel.

The pressure plate and flywheel are just really really burned. When they get severely overheated, they show hot spots, which is what the blue looking parts of your flywheel are. Get the flywheel machined, swap out the clutch disc and pressure plate and it'll be good as new.

Why do you figure the Nissan Field Service Manual says to replace instead of resurface? Are they just covering their tail?

Probably.. its also a lot quicker to replace rather than machine, as machining requires labor. Same probably goes for disc brake rotors. Do the dealerships turn them or replace them?