Done dozens on dozens of clutch jobs in my life and this one has me stumped...
'00 M coupe with goofy aftermarket flywheel and clutch setup, ZF320 5-speed. Customer brought the car in because it started making a horrible squealing noise when the clutch pedal is depressed. My guess is likely a trashed throw out bearing. Opted to install all stock parts (clutch/flywheel, etc), which sounded great with me.
Blew it all apart real quick and went to slip the trans off. Got it off the dowels probably 1/2-3/4" and it just stopped. Absolutely refuses to come off. Even with the help of a couple 3' long pry bars and a couple people helping wiggle from side to side, it is totally jammed. I can spin the transmission almost 90 degrees clockwise/counter clockwise.
From what I can tell, since it will slide back on the dowels, the pilot bearing is seized to the input shaft. I do not believe the clutch disc is seized to the input shaft.
There is not enough room to access the heads of the pressure plate bolts.
I guess my question is: what is my best course of action here? This is a nice working transmission with only 88k miles and is original to the car, so I would prefer not to hack the bell housing up to get the parts off, but if that's what it takes, I am prepared to do that...
I feel like a noob asking this, but I've spent countless hours wiggling and prying to no avail.
AB
'00 M coupe with goofy aftermarket flywheel and clutch setup, ZF320 5-speed. Customer brought the car in because it started making a horrible squealing noise when the clutch pedal is depressed. My guess is likely a trashed throw out bearing. Opted to install all stock parts (clutch/flywheel, etc), which sounded great with me.
Blew it all apart real quick and went to slip the trans off. Got it off the dowels probably 1/2-3/4" and it just stopped. Absolutely refuses to come off. Even with the help of a couple 3' long pry bars and a couple people helping wiggle from side to side, it is totally jammed. I can spin the transmission almost 90 degrees clockwise/counter clockwise.
From what I can tell, since it will slide back on the dowels, the pilot bearing is seized to the input shaft. I do not believe the clutch disc is seized to the input shaft.
There is not enough room to access the heads of the pressure plate bolts.
I guess my question is: what is my best course of action here? This is a nice working transmission with only 88k miles and is original to the car, so I would prefer not to hack the bell housing up to get the parts off, but if that's what it takes, I am prepared to do that...
I feel like a noob asking this, but I've spent countless hours wiggling and prying to no avail.
AB
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