What other things to get when replacing tranny and clutch?

[zedjr10]

I am close to replacing my 5 speed tranny and clutch kit,flywheel, rear main seal and both axle seals. I think i got all the parts i need but not sure and don't want to think of it while doing it. Is there anything i am missing.

[Fleetw00d]

Clutch kit include a new throw out bearing? Check your slave cylinder for leaks (although relatively easy to replace even with transmission installed). Make sure your transmission mount is in good condition. If you are replacing the rear main already installed in the carrier plate, you will be disturbing the oil pan gasket, which in turn requires dropping the flex pipe to change. New cotter pins for ball joints or tie rod ends you undo to get the axles out.

[Raf99]

Also get some proper Honda grease for the spindle and sealant for the trans case. Lock-tight for bolts and an alignment tool.

[zedjr10]

Clutch kit include a new throw out bearing? Check your slave cylinder for leaks (although relatively easy to replace even with transmission installed). Make sure your transmission mount is in good condition. If you are replacing the rear main already installed in the carrier plate, you will be disturbing the oil pan gasket, which in turn requires dropping the flex pipe to change. New cotter pins for ball joints or tie rod ends you undo to get the axles out.

I might not have enough cotter pins. Thanks. So now i got to take oil pan off(gasket replaced 2 years ago). I thought i didn't have to do that. I have f22a engine. Flex pipe also. Oh my, now i am thinking of just installing tranny and leaving clutch in or paying someone to do complete job. Not sure if i am too scared of effn something up or can i trust the mechanic to do all these tedious things. I really need to check if my rear seal is leaking. I just assumed it was cause it is 27 yrs old and i get flywheel chatter while shifting when it is cold and not warmed up. Other than that it shifts great and clutch has less than 10k on it. I got a mini cam i can shove down in peep hole on front top of engine at the flywheel . That should show me if oil is in there right? If no oil is in there i save over 300 dollars.

[Fleetw00d]

You don't necessarily have to remove the pan. Honda used to sell the rear main seal separately, or already installed in the plate. The service manual is very specific about the depth of the seal in the plate, so when I changed the rear main in Ruby the first time, I bought the seal already installed.

Clean the bottom of the trans and engine, then remove the black plate on the bottom of the bell housing. You should be able to look/feel up in there to see if you have a lot of oil inside the bell housing which would be an indication of a main seal leak. It does sound like a lot of work if clutch only has 10k on it.

If there is oil in there, I suppose you could try to clean the clutch by spraying brake cleaner through the timing inspection window with the lower cover off. Have someone hold the clutch disengaged. I think the throwout bearing is sealed, so that shouldn't be a problem. It might clean any lubricant off the friction disc spline though.

Check the fluid level in the clutch master cylinder - Ruby's clutch was getting temperamental; then I noticed a low fluid level in the MC.

You can do it. Take your time. Best tool is a Honda OEM service manual.

[Rilas]

The only tedious part about this job is getting the seal in correctly. Because if you don't it all has to come back apart again to fix it. Which really blows let me tell you. You don't have to drop the exhaust or the oil pan if you aren't removing the plate. Honda does sell a tool that costs about $100 to install the rear main seal. Which you can then buy the attachment to do the front main seal. The tool it just hit with a hammer and it bottoms out on the crankshaft. Setting a perfect depth for the seals and setting them in square. This avoids removing the plate to use a feeler gauge to see if you have placed the seal correctly. You can also install the seals by hand. I have done this many times. Granted the first couple of times the seals have leaked on me. Since then I have apparently gotten better at setting the seals by hand because none have leaked, after those first few.

[thepowderblue]

I thread screws into the metal part of the rear main in a few places and pull it out. I put a little oil on the new seal and get it seated. I like to use the old seal if it's not all bent up to hammer the new seal in. Just set the old seal over the new oiled seal after you got it started and tap lightly with a hammer working your way around tapping it in evenly.That's how I did it. Have yet to really run the motor but I'm confident I did it properly.

[zedjr10]

Clean the bottom of the trans and engine, then remove the black plate on the bottom of the bell housing. You should be able to look/feel up in there to see if you have a lot of oil inside the bell housing which would be an indication of a main seal leak. It does sound like a lot of work if clutch only has 10k on it.

If there is oil in there, I suppose you could try to clean the clutch by spraying brake cleaner through the timing inspection window with the lower cover off. Have someone hold the clutch disengaged. I think the throwout bearing is sealed, so that shouldn't be a problem. It might clean any lubricant off the friction disc spline though.

Check the fluid level in the clutch master cylinder - Ruby's clutch was getting temperamental; then I noticed a low fluid level in the MC.

You can do it. Take your time. Best tool is a Honda OEM service manual.

I don't see any sort back plate on bottom of bell housing. A bad seal would cause low fluid in clutch? I thought the rear seal held back engine oil from getting in there. I just sort of assumed i had a leak cause i get clutch chatter during winter until car has warmed up. For a while though the timing inspection boot was off probably causing a lot of moisture to get in there. So maybe i don't even have a leaking seal or maybe it is a very small leak that will be ok until i change my clutch? Wouldn't even a small leak collect over time and i would know it?

[Fleetw00d]

Plate at the bottom of housing is #1 in the diagram; it is right next to the end of the oil pan.



The rear main seal does seal engine oil. If it is leaking and getting on the clutch plates and/or flywheel, it could cause issues.

A leaking clutch master cylinder (separate issue from rear main seal, both may come with age) may result in the fluid being too low to properly operate the clutch, causing issues when trying to disengage/engage it.

[zedjr10]

Plate at the bottom of housing is #1 in the diagram; it is right next to the end of the oil pan.



The rear main seal does seal engine oil. If it is leaking and getting on the clutch plates and/or flywheel, it could cause issues.

A leaking clutch master cylinder (separate issue from rear main seal, both may come with age) may result in the fluid being too low to properly operate the clutch, causing issues when trying to disengage/engage it.

My clutch works good. No problems there. I went and cleaned up bell housing. Found a tiny drip of some oil. Not enough to indicate a leak really. I just fixed the head gasket leak a couple months ago and the car use to have alot of leaks. Which i believe now all are fixed thru over 2 years of constantly fixing things on this car. The oil pan gasket i paid a mechanic to do it. I doubt he checked it then. So the theory is that oil would collect in bottom of bell housing and then seep thru mating surfaces there and show there? And if that didn't happen it would collect enough to show on flywheel? Is this correct?

[Fleetw00d]

You would have to have a massive leak for it to accumulate at all and fill up at the bottom of the bell housing; there is no seal between that plate and the housing. Any leakage from the rear main would mostly be slung off the back side (engine side) of the flywheel against the inside of the housing; I suppose it could then drip off the housing onto the clutch components. Eventually, any leaks from the rear main would end up at the bottom of the housing where that plate is. If you don't have anything accumulated there, then the seal isn't leaking.

[G. Wiffington]

It does sound like a lot of work if clutch only has 10k on it.

I am curious as to why someone would do a clutch job 10K ago but not put
a new rear in?

[G. Wiffington]

I thread screws into the metal part of the rear main in a few places and pull it out. I put a little oil on the new seal and get it seated. I like to use the old seal if it's not all bent up to hammer the new seal in. Just set the old seal over the new oiled seal after you got it started and tap lightly with a hammer working your way around tapping it in evenly.That's how I did it. Have yet to really run the motor but I'm confident I did it properly.

Yupp. That is exactly how I have done it. I just got done doing this last week.
I didn't even know there was a tool. even my buddy who is a mechanic for
Honda does it by hand.

[zedjr10]

I am curious as to why someone would do a clutch job 10K ago but not put
a new rear in?

Cause i am not the one who did it and wouldn't of known to replace rear seal at the time also. I am not even sure i had the clutch replaced. It could of been just the throwout bearing. I know the flywheel wasn't replaced. Am trying to find records of what exactly was done. Can that plate fleetwood mentions be taken off to look at clutch to tell anything?

[Rilas]

You can't really see the clutch disk from the bottom even with the inspection plate removed. What you can do is take it off quick and wipe your finger around the bell housing. If it comes back black and semi oily then your rear main seal is leaking.

You might be able to see the condition of the clutch disk through the inspection hole on the front of the block by the engine code stamp. You might have to rotate the engine though to get to a spot on the pressure plate that lifts away from the flywheel so you can actually see the disk in the middle. If you can see it, then look for how much of the pads are left on the disk itself. This isn't the best gauge but it will give you an idea.

On one of my clutches I noticed this disk material on one side was only about 2-3 sheets of paper thick. I stopped driving the car immediately and changed the clutch.