Clutch-job without dropping the trany ==> feasible!!!

[castmaster]

Yep, just went through changing it on my 4cyl Camy... Piece of cake!

What I had to remove/unbolt:
-Air box.
-Fuel filter.
-Both battery terminals
-Driver's side strut from the ball-joint
-Plastic cover between driver's side strut and trany
-Driver's side trany mount

What I had to change:
-Clutch assembly... duh...
-Couple of seized bolts
-Trany oil


Tools required:
-Lift, fork lift with fork's extensions as an alternative or jacks with jack-stands... Obviously the real garage lift works the best, as I had to lift/lower the car on numerous occasions.
-Good, I mean good set of wrenches/sockets with different ratchets and extensions
-Hummer
-Drill to drill out seized bolts...
-Some anti-seize compound
-Some grease to lube the fork, I've used a brake caliper-specific grease...


Total time for a team of 2 guys one of which had previous clutch-change experience: 5 hours

Time it should take in an average garage to an average mechanic: 4-6 hours

800 to 1500$ they charge in most garages is totally not justified... sort of "stand on your knees, bend over and get shafted!!!"

Result:
Clutch pedal feels weired, quite soft... but it's new....
Castrol Syntec gear oil====> Good stuff!!! Shift feel has improved quite a bit!!
Somehow I feel that my next car will be RWD or AWD... With all these JDM rides getting imported in Canada - I'm tempted by MK3 TT Supra with tagra top...

Time spend with your dad working on your car ==> priceless!!!

[Unco]

you have not given any details about how you went about it whatsoever. can you tell me how you lined up the clutch plate to the flywhieel's pilot bearing/bush without removing the gearbox?

are you sure you have replaced the clutch in your car?

i mean, how the hell would you change the clutch without removing the gearbox?

sorry, but i think you're talking feebs.

sounds like you've just replaced the slave cylinder or something. you'd have to be an idiot to pay $1,500 for that.

[castmaster]

What details do you need? Imho it's pretty straight forward, unbolt the trany, push it as far as possible towards driver's wheel which gives more than enough clearence to remove the old cluch and get the new one in. Then use the allignement tool to center and tighten it, get the allignment stick out and slide the trany in... Ain't the rocket science - in 4 cyl Camrys we have so much space under the hood.. B.t.w. don't forget that driver's side in Canada refers to passanger's side in Australia...

[Unco]

ok, now that you've explained it better i can see what you've done. still, i don't think it's any easier than removing the gearbox altogether. you probably only had a handful of bolts to undo in order to remove to box which would then give you a better place to work in, in order to line up the clutch plate. horses for courses i guess.

[castmaster]

In Canadian climate undoing a "handful of bolts" for no apparent reason on a 7-years-old car has somewhat of a different meaning... I had to break and drill out 2 bolts in the bottom because they have welded them-selfs with the trany casing... I had to drill out the cotter pin in the ball-joint... I've also noticed that the last thing I would want to do is to remove the oil pan - bolts holding it are so corroded - i'll end-up breaking most of them for sure...

Besides, why bother undoing the whole sub-frame if you can get the job done without it...

As a side-note, after awning a 1990 Celica I'm really disappointed in 2000 Camry's quality... It went down through the floor... Overall it's not that bad, quite reliable, but if you start looking into details.... better not to...

[Unco]

ugh! ok, i'm sorry, i think my initial post was a bit too harsh. but to clear things up, you didn't put enough detail into it until your second post. having said that, if you're getting bolts seizing up on you because of canadian weather, then i guess it makes sense to do what you did.

i too have a celica (albeit an '86 model) and i removed the gearbox only 2 months ago to replace 2nd and 3rd gear synchros on it. i found the whole task to be very straight forward, but then again, i used to be a mechanic and it was the 2nd time i removed the box on this car :P (the first time was 7 years ago to put a new clutch in it).

so you're saying the '00 transaxle needs to come out the top instead of the bottom? if that's the case i sincerely apologize and congratulate you in doing the job at home. if i had to remove my camry's gearbox out the top i'd sooner take it to a workshop than do it myself.

[castmaster]

Actually you did sound somewhat harsh... no hard feelings...

Originally Posted by Unco

so you're saying the '00 transaxle needs to come out the top instead of the bottom? if that's the case i sincerely apologize and congratulate you in doing the job at home. if i had to remove my camry's gearbox out the top i'd sooner take it to a workshop than do it myself.

Who sad anything about removing the trany at all? I've just unbolted it and slid sideways... There was some clearance issues between fuel lines and trany, solved by unbolting the fuel filter...

I've got the Celica with the new clutch already, so i've kinda avoided the fun of working on it... Got totalled 4 years ago.. Car was parked, some jerks desided to brake into it...

[renmike]

Would there be enough room to move the tranny that far if it were an automatic? I mean, could it be pushed far enough back (over) to slide the torque converter off and replace the shaft seal, for example? I've never seen a 5-spd toyota tranny so I don't have a good comparison.

[castmaster]

Originally Posted by renmike

Would there be enough room to move the tranny that far if it were an automatic? I mean, could it be pushed far enough back (over) to slide the torque converter off and replace the shaft seal, for example? I've never seen a 5-spd toyota tranny so I don't have a good comparison.

I'm not the man to ask, the only auto trany i've worked on was in 1990 Daytona... But unless i'm mistaken, auto-s are quite a bit more bulky than manuals...

[Eye8Pussies]

Originally Posted by renmike

Would there be enough room to move the tranny that far if it were an automatic? I mean, could it be pushed far enough back (over) to slide the torque converter off and replace the shaft seal, for example? I've never seen a 5-spd toyota tranny so I don't have a good comparison.

doubtful.

there is quite a bit of room even in the 5sfe auto engine bay, but not THAT much room.



I can see this being done in a 5sfe 5-speed bay, but not the v6 5-speed bay.

good job

[97camryman]

Well it would be easier to do that way since dropping the tranny requires you to drop the subframe and that means undoing the steering rack, front suspension, motor mounts and many other unpleasant things. I noticed that last time I dropped the tranny you could probably just scoot it over and reach inside the bellhousing to undo bolts and stuff, you would only need 5 inches to get a torque wrench in there with a shallow socket but I had to change the tranny so I dropped the subframe anyways. It is wise to not ethough that in teh 5s engine bay you can get away with just scooting the tranny 5-6 inches toward the drivers side and change a clutch. Its tight but will save you hours in the end. Lining it up isnt hard, you just stick the alignmet tool in like normal and the pressure plate has dowels to line it up.

[renmike]

Originally Posted by Eye8Pussies

doubtful.

there is quite a bit of room even in the 5sfe auto engine bay, but not THAT much room.



I can see this being done in a 5sfe 5-speed bay, but not the v6 5-speed bay.

good job

With that said, I can see how that would not leave me enough room to wiggle the torque converter out. It's not worth my time to drop the subframe; other than the fluids I'd have to catch and refill, I can pull the engine and tranny out in fairly short time and by that night have it back in and running.

This is good to know about the 5-spd though. If I ever have to work on one, I'll keep it in mind.