Dear FTE Friends,

My 69 has the 240 I6 and the three-on-the-tree (T-85, right?), and the throwout bearing is going bad. I have read up on this forum, thought about it alot, and decided NOT to try it myself. On this forum I read these good bits of advice:
1. No sense just doing the TO bearing. As long as it's all apart, do the whole clutch.
2. It is worth the extra money to buy the Centerforce clutch and double friction pressure plate and throwout bearing instead of a cheaper brand.

Here are the questions I still have:
1. What all needs to be done in this process? What needs to be replaced, what needs to be machined?
2. When I shop for a mechanic to do this work, what do I ask him to make sure he understands what I'm wanting?
3. What is a fair price range for this, both parts and labor?
4. About how long should he take doing this work?
5. Is there any other preventative maintenance or common repairs that it is good to do during this same repair process?

Answers to these questions, and other information I may not have thought of will be most welcome.

Thanks!

Jeff

 

I'll post a few photos that show you the parts involved. It's a straighforward job but is quite a bit of work. Essentially, the clutch connects the rotating engine to the transmission via the transmission input shaft. I labeled the photos 1 through 4:
1. Flywheel attached to the engine. The little brass bushing in the middle is the pilot bushing. the snub end of the tranmission input shaft slides right into the pilot bushing;
2. New clutch installed on the flywheel. It's actually a clutch disk and a pressure plate. The throwout bearing (#4 photo) presses against those three fingers you see on the pressure plate. That what engages the clutch;
3. Transmission input shaft;
4. All the parts coming together. From left to right are: a) throw-out bearing; b) input shaft; c) pressure plate; d) clutch disk; and e) flywheel.

Anyhow, you can get a complete clutch kit (pilot bushing, throw-out bearing, clutch disk and pressure plate) for about $150 from NAPA. If you buy Centerforce or other high end stuff, it's going to cost you a lot more. I'd just buy a stock kit and have the whole thing done. You will have to pay extra to get your flywheel resurfaced and if you want to go all the way, you can have the assembly balance as well. I just don't know what it would cost to do this work but I would imagine it is pretty standard. Just call around. As far as time goes, I guess if a guy has a lift and all the right equipment, he should be able to do it in a few hours. (I'm not the right guy to ask as everything I do takes me three times the hours and costs twice the money ... or is it the other way around?). As far as preventative maitenance, have the guy put a new seal in your transmission input shaft while it's out. Good luck and let us know.

Oops, only three uploads allowed!
jor

 

Dear Jor,

It sure was nice of you to take your engine and transmission out of your truck and take it apart and get it all clean up and take pictures so I could understand the whole thing. You sure worked fast this afternoon.

Seriously, though, thanks alot. That was VERY helpful.

What does everyone else think of his idea to go with a standard clutch instead of Centerforce?

Thanks!

Jeff

 

That's what I would use, the stock clutch, I use a differant local parts house, not NAPA. It has been about 10 years on the last one I put in my 4wd. Jor, the pictures look great nice of you to show these.

 

Yeah, stock is fine unless you're gonna be hot-rodding. I'm gonna guess not with a 240. And if you can do a brake job you can do this. The big difference is that the trans is very heavy and to get it out you need to lift the truck up onto 4 jack stands so that the entire truck is about 2-3 ft off the ground. Then you get under the trans with a floor jack to lower it. My neighbor has a fitting for the floor jack that is a big piece of channel iron that the trans can rest on. That round hand at the end of a standard floor jack isn't enough to hold the trans. But I think a clutch job only costs another $100-150 and after doing it once myself I think I'd rather pay someone that extra cash to do it. Mainly cause I ain't tooled up enough to do a big job like this. I've got tons of hand tools but I end up spending hours just jacking things up and down and getting up off the floor to walk over to the tool box again. I think I spent the better portion of a day doing mine and was beat to heck when it was done. A clutch guy does the whole job in 2-3 hours.

 

Hey, Sacred. What's a little inconvenience for a fellow FTEr!!! Here's the fourth photo, btw. I had to take it out again to get this one but what the heck!
jor

 

You're right, my rig is not going to see any hot-rodding. I put-put along at 55 mph most of the time, trying to get 20 mpg, which is my great crusade at the moment. I'm up to 18.9 mpg, and still hopeful.

So, the heaviest use this is likely to see is bringing some home improvement stuff home from the lumber yard. Most of the time it's just me and some of the kids, no cargo at all. I don't even have a boat or other trailer.

That being said, you guys don't think I need any super-dee-duper clutch, just the standard stuff, right?

Okay, then what should I expect to pay, including labor?

Thanks!

Jeff

P.S. Jor, you are the man!

 

as far as cost goes, everyone should be about the the same labor, call around and compare. As far as doing it yourself-this seams like it is very complex, but in reality it is not. I just did my clutch in february. Truck parked in the street, diddnt jack it up, 2" of snow on the ground and no transmission jack, actualy just lowered it down on a regulat floor jack, and after i did the clutch, balanced the transmission on the jack, then picked it up a little and slid it back in. The transmission is only about 75lbs.


The harderst part is balancing the transmission on the jack and lining it up. its only about 20-25 bolts total.

If you want to have someone do it for you, Go for it, but if you want a little more stress in your life, here are a few things that you need.

A transmission cradle thing for a regular floor jack will help, but this tranny is small and light so I did it with out one.

You will have to get your flywheel resurfaced, if you dont replace it.(resurface unless you get a good deal on a flywheel) many parts stores do it but it takes a day(0r 2)

You need a pilot bushin/bearing puller that goes on a slide hammer. It has 2 fingers that hook behind the bushing. you can rent these at parts stores. BTW there are regular brass pilot bushings and there are pilot BEARINGS that have needle bearings in them, both will work.

If you were set on having someone do the work, then sorry for the long post.

 

Okay, so maybe I should try it myself. Anybody willing to walk me through it step-by-step. What special tools I need is a good place to start.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Jeff

 

It only takes but a few common wrenches/tools to get it apart. Ranging from 3/8" to 3/4" combo wrenches and a few sockets to match.
Usually 1/2" to get starter out, 5/8" to get trannybolts and bellhousing, 'bout 1/2" to get clutch off flywheel, and 11/16" to get flywheel off. That covers the basics, but there are a few others like shift linkage, tranny mount, driveshaft, etc. Nothing but basic loosen it/remove it/keep it in order. Keep bolts organized so you know what came from what(even if you use plastic bags), or just lay them with the corresponding part.

Like mentioned, the hard part is getting tranny down(it's HEAVY). The rest is pretty simple work.

Depending on what exhaust you have, there might be interference and need to remove some part of it? This would be the worst part, especially if rusty. You may not have any problems since it's a 6 banger.

Good luck!

 

The difinitive work on FE rebuilds is a book called How to Rebuild Big-Block Ford Engines written by Seve Christ. He has a pretty good section on the clutch. I would suggest you get that book. Amazon has it for about $20 or so. It's very important that you torque all of the bolts properly so you'll need a torque wrench. Also, depending on what you see when you get it apart, you may want to get your flywheel resurfaced. PM me your email address and I'll send you some detailed photos if you like.
jor

 

I know someone who had one done for them for about $300. The guy worked out of his own garage and all he did was clutches. We dropped it off about noon and had it back before 5:00. When I did mine I think I spent about $180 in parts. So at $300 the labor part of that is about $120. It could have been $350 which would have made the labour about $170.

And no, you don't need a super duper clutch. What makes a super duper clutch is how heavily spring loaded the pressure plate is. That means it's harder for you to push down and ease back up.

 

i spent about 70 dollars on my clutch job. seems to be doing fine, but i wonder if the pressure plate setup is balanced..

and i just used a floor jack on the transmission and something called brute stength and awkwardness. i had to drop it the transmission twice actually, the second time it was winter and i was sitting in a puddle of transmission oil antifreeze and cold water dripping on to my sensitive belly<OUCH>.

 

Dear Friends,

Okay, I'm going to take the plunge and do it myself. I have a neighbor who has done it more than once before on call in case I get in trouble. I intend to use the money saved on labor to buy a floor jack and two more jack stands and a torque wrench.

I have NAPA, O-Reilly, and Autozone here. I was looking at the Autozone website. They just have one option. NAPA has about 20 options. Please help me choose.
-Remanufactured okay, or should I get new?
-I would rather put in a diaphram type, but I'm pretty sure mine is presently a lever type. Is it okay to switch, cause any problems?
-They list "w/ 11" clutch" or "w/10" How do I know which I need, or does it matter?

Thanks for your help!

P.S. Jor, could you please take your engine and transmission out of your truck again, and take some more pictures, so I can see the difference between lever and diaphram, and between 10" and 11"? If it's not too much trouble. I have to go to town in about 10 minutes, so could you hurry? Thanks!

 

Sacred,
I'll get started on it as soon as I get home.
jor