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So I replaced the clutch in my 88 740 GLE M47 5-speed this weekend. Quite an event. Excluding the time it took me to go to sears and buy a 3ton floor jack, it only took me 12 hours... straight through. Let me just say that after lying on my back on concrete for 12 hours, I feel like someone beat my with a pipe.
I was going to fully document the job with pics, but I was so damned greasy and frustrated I didn't want to ruin the camera... but I thought I'd share some of my experiences and maybe some tips for DIY'ers who are contemplating a clutch job on their own.
The job took 12 hours mainly because of the little things that were surprisingly difficult to undo.
I'm not going to run through the entire proceedure, but I wanted to highlight some things.
1. Loosening the clutch cable. This was a major PITA and actually took the better part of an hour. If you don't want to bleed the clutch system, then you need to loosen the cable... it can be done in one of two places... at the clutch pedal or at the clutch fork. I found it MUCH easier to do it at the clutch fork because I had less of a chance to break something... turns out the EASIEST way I found to do it was just take out the long bolt that holds the clutch pedal on... this gave enough slack in the cable to allow me to disconnect it at the clutch fork. BTW... the big rubber thing at the clutch fork just pulls off over the ball at the end of the clutch cable. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.
2. The tranny jack was an absolute friggin necessity. I couldn't even imagine doing it without one just for safety reasons. Let me say it another way... IT ain't possible to do it with a floor jack because the tranny will tip over on its side once you have it unbolted from the engine. I got mine from harbor freight for $50. Well worth the piece of mind AND THE EASE of reinstallation!!
3. you need to unhook the exhast down tube from the exhaust manifold. Here's why... once you remove the tranny crossmember (the thing holding the tranny in place), the entire damn engine-transmission assembly will tilt downward...and because the exhaust is still connected to the engine, this means that it will proceed to bend the exhaust in half in very bad places... So just unhook it at the downtube and hold it up with a jackstand.
4. You need GOOD snap-ring pliers to unhook the c-clip for the shift linkage. Enough said. If you don't get them because you don't spend the $$, I won't feel sorry for you when you try to reinstall it with a screwdriver.
5. My rear main seal was leaking so I needed to replace it... I picked up a rear main just in case. It was super easy to get the old seal out... but it was a friggin nightmare trying to press the new seal in over the crankshaft... so impossible in fact that I didn't. I found a better way. Take off the aluminum plate that surrounds the crankshaft. There's a bunch of bolts around the crank and a few UNDER it that holds this piece on. Then, with this thing lying on the tround, you can easily press the seal into it, and then fit IT over the crankshaft. Easy as pie once I figured it out. Just make sure the seal lip is facing the right way.
5a. I got my flywheel resurfaced. $45 at Napa. I got one from the junkyard out of an 89 240 with the M47. Make sure you degrease it BEFORE you put it in the car.
5b. This is more of a gripe point, but NO WHERE is it mentioned the torque to use for putting on the pressure plate bolts!!! Not in Haynes, Not in the volvo factory manual!!! WTH??? I just put threadlocker on them and "tightened" them to where my gut told me they were tight enough.
7. Buy a 6mm allen head socket from sears to remove/install the pressure plate bolts. $5=no swearing when your cheap ass allen head wrench rounds out the inside of the bolt.
7a. BTW... I actually bought all new pressure plate and flywheel bolts from Volvo... the PP bolts are $2.50 each and the flywheel bolts are $3.50 each.
8. My pilot bearing was spinning just fine... so I left it in.
9. I got a new clutch fork and pivot pin. I probably could have kept the old fork... but after 240K miles, the pivot ball pin thing was definitely flat on top...
10. Oh yeah, this one probably should be like #5, but I was freaking out before the job about the engine tipping backwards and crushing the distributor... turns out there is a natural balance point and I eventually removed the jackstand from under the oil pan. No distributor crushing, no drips runs or errors. put a jack or block of wood under the oil pan just in case if you want to.
11. Well, this one should be like #1, but who's counting. I jacked the front wheels onto ramps first, AND put good jackstands under the front jack points. Piece of mind. If you flip the ramps around the other way, you'll have room to jack the car and put the ramps in AND put the jackstands in.
12. Twice (for removal and reinstallation) I needed to jack the rear end of the car up to turn the driveshaft so I could remove an install the driveshaft-transmission coupling. With the car jacked the way it was, it didn't move a bit.
13. I used a 20" 1/2" extension to get at and remove the upper transmission bolts... there are three of them that are sitting on top of the tranny. Even with it tilted down, I still could just barely see them. If you get under the car the right way, you can "feel" the bolts, then place the socket (19mm) over them... with the ratchet sticking between or behind the shift linkage.
14. While I consider myself fairly adept at mechanical procedures... this was a tough f-n job. Lying on your back is hard... frustrating. But doable. I would have gone a bit easier if I had a second person around. I think if I didn't get hung up on the little things, I could have done it in 7 or 8 hours.
Dunno... that's my story. I hope someone gets some use from it.
here's a list of absolutely essential tools:
snap ring pliers
tranny jack ($50, harbor freight)
long 20-24" socket extension ($15, craftsman)
clutch alignment tool ($2, napa)
6-pt 19mm socket for the driveshaft bolts
good jackstands
cold beer
air conditioning
lots and lots and lots of GOJO
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