Well this weekend I installed my own clutch cause dealer wouldn't warrenty the flywheel cause he siad it was not bad. Let me ask you guys this if the old one i took out I can turn with no force just turning it with my hand about 2-3 inches before it stops ( I mean turning the flywheel plate and not moving the plate that bolts to the crank) I would say that that would be a bad DMF right???? Well I am going to take it back to the guy and show him that it is bad at GM and see what he says. Anyways I got it all together in 8 hrs. This included stopping to talk, drink beer, visit with some of my old friends that I hadn't seen for awhile, resting by the fan ( it was like 90 and 100% humitiy that day) andthat I had never did one of these before and the only help I had was to man handle the transfer case and trans. All the removing and installing was done just by me. I didn't think that was to bad seeings how I hear Craig took 23 hours on one but I under stand he ran into some problems getting the old DMF off. I had to take a pry bar to get the holes in the DMF to line up cause it was twisted so bad you couldn't get the alan wrench in there to get on the bolts. Those are some damn big bolts too! So far so good with 150 miles on her SBC said to break in the clutch for 200 hunderd miles with stop and go driving in town so I turned down the chip alittle. Didn't what to turn it off and let it think it was going to have an easy life):h . Well I hope it all works but for just taking it real slow and watching what I was doing I was pretty happy with my 8 hour job.:grd:

Post back once you get it broken in and have turned the chip back up, see how it holds or if it slips.

DF, Did you have to remove the transmission or just slide it back. I have a 2wd so there is no transfer case...in my setup, would I have to remove the transmission?

Planning ahead for one of the new SMF and SBC clutch setups!!!

MaxRock

well you have to remove the same amount of stuff to slide it back as you do to remove it. I had the trans on a stand and I just slide back and then lowered it down and pushed it out of the way. You have to remove all brackets and bellhousing bolts to slide it back. The only thing that you may beable to not touch the hydrolic line for the clutch if you slide it back. It is very easy and safe to undo the line though. Right up by the master cyclinder where the clutch resivoir is just below it there is a big plastic coupler and you should beable to see where you can get a pick to remove the little medal clip and pull it apart right there. It has a detent ball and as soon as you pullit apart it'll seal it off so you don't have to bleed the system after your done. When you don'e push them all the way back together and push the little medal C clip back in it to hold it close. It was not anywhere neer as hard as I thought it would be but I took my good old time and had alittle fun with some of my old neigbors and thats why it took me 8 hrs. If you good with tools you'll beable to do it easy. It's really not as hard as some like to make it sound.
I hope I told you what you were asking if not tell me what all you want to know but it was very easy as long as the flywheel isn't too badly turned. Like I said above I had to have a pry bar to turn the one clutch side plate of the flywheel to line it up with the other piece to get in there to get to the bolts. If you have ever seen GMs DMF you know what I mean.

Trust me I will let you know how it holds up. I'm going to silver lake, MI and pulling a small fourwheeler trailer up there on the 29th of this month. I will tell you this I won't be bias I will let you know just what I think of the set up. As of now clutch is just as easy as stocker when it didn't slip. Has just a very slight graby feeling on take off. Not very noticable though. But when I work on my truck I'm touchy about anything that acts different so maybe I am too critical on it but thats my though. Sometime next week I should be turning up the power to her again so I will beable to let you know more then.

Maxrock,

It's not that bad a job, I agree with Duramax Farmer. I spent more time worrying/dreading it than it actually took to do it. Make sure you get a tranny jack cause it's worth every penny. The worst part is getting the flywheel bolts out. My impact wrench wouldn't touch em. I am a little worried now cause I used the RED loctite on the new flywheel bolts, not sure how easy they'll come out when I need to take it apart again which I will have to do sooner than later unfortunately. :-(

Duramax Farmer,

My DMF was the same way, I think that means it's kaput, yes.

Tim

Thanks guys...I guess I'm a worry wart when it comes to big jobs like this. I have the "new" DMF installed in my truck. With the VA turned up to 70 HP and pulling my 33' 5er, I can make the DMF rattle pretty good when I put the horsepressure to it in the upper RPM range.

I know that it is a matter of time before this DMF bites the big one. I just hope it will be way down the road.

Thanks again for the info.

MaxRock

Like luvthesmallofdiesel said I worried for ever about doing it. But it wasn't that bad and yes the bolts were hard I have one of the new Igersal Rands Titanim 1/2 impacts that make 1,000 ft/lbs in reverse and there were a few that I had to hammer forward and then reverse a couple time to get them to break loose. I was suprsed to see the bolts were that big but after fightinh with them I was glad they were so I didn't break them. At work a guy cross threaded a wheel nut on one of our Chevy HDs and couldn't get it back off and that impact broke the wheel stud so they are strong impacts. One cam off like it was only 25ft/lbs :mad: and the top nut that holds the transfer case on was loose I took it off with my fingers :eek: . The last time a dealer or anyone could have touched it was at 30,000 and its got 70,000 now:confused: . So if your going to do yours I would try to find a very strong impact like that or something cause I don't know how you got them off otherwise. Right now I am trying to find out if I have the right fluid in my trans cause GM didn't have any of their stuff. You guys know anything about it???:help2: Oh and red loctite I don't know about that it could be bad cause you are suppost to use heat to remove anything put together with red loctite. I used blue. Good luck

I have an older IR 1/2 impact, but I don't believe it is a strong as yours. So far my DMF and clutch are ok, I'm just planning for the future.

You heard the same thing I did in reference to the red loctite...heat it up and it will break loose.

In reference to the tranny fluid...full synthetic (same as Allison) was the only way to go. If you are doing any towing or planning on increasing HP...I would change it...IMHO.

Thanks for all of the info.

MaxRock

Thanks for the info on the red loctite, I should have used blue, live and learn I guess. Hopefully I can supply enough heat to the bolt heads to get em out w/o wasting the rear seal. If I don't and the bolt heads break off or strip, then it'll be a drilling the bolts out of the crank flange session, bet that'll be fun. :-(

I bought the Allison Transynd from Eric a while back.

Duramax Farmer -- I had nearly the same thing happen, the uppermost bolt holding the tranny to the engine was finger tight most likely from the first time the DMF was replaced at the dealer since I had never messed with the bolts before the SMF installation.

Tim

Yeah I scraped up the money and got GMs Syn trans. fuild. The dealer gave me a good price. He showed me that the dealer payed $9.20/ qt and he sold it to me for $10

Yeah I scraped up the money and got GMs Syn trans. fuild. The dealer gave me a good price. He showed me that the dealer payed $9.20/ qt and he sold it to me for $10

I didn't see this until now, but I'd have gotten some Schaeffer's from down the street and put it in.

Maybe $12/ gallon or a little more.
IMHO one of the best oils and some guy in MI likes it too :ro)

. . . only thing that you may beable to not touch the hydrolic line for the clutch if you slide it back. It is very easy and safe to undo the line though. Right up by the master cyclinder where the clutch resivoir is just below it there is a big plastic coupler and you should beable to see where you can get a pick to remove the little medal clip and pull it apart right there. It has a detent ball and as soon as you pullit apart it'll seal it off so you don't have to bleed the system after your done. When you don'e push them all the way back together and push the little medal C clip back in it to hold it close. . .


I have a slightly different opinion about the hydraulic lines. You can take them apart but the clip pins (c clip) are fragile and easy to lose on a re assemble. the dealers and hardware stores don't carry these clip pins in the correct design. they come from GM as a prt of either the master cylinder or slave cylinder. Hydraulic line and clips and check valve are not seperate parts. As far as the detent ball ??? I never saw one on mine and when disconnecting the hydraulic line it leaked all over the floor. the male connector from the MC has a check valve that keeepst the reservoir from leaking and the check valve on the top end of the hydraulic line (take the big clip not the small clip off) and it will not leak. but if you remove the hydraulic line from the slave cylinder it will drain. . . trust me, I hadd a lot of fun learning about this stuff :eek:

BTW, I just got some pin clips for the hydraulic line. $4.09 each for a 17.5 mm pin clip!!

For any interested members: concentric slave cylinder (and hydraulic hose with check valve) costs $180~. The under hood portion of the mastercylinder is $130~. I didn't check the in-cab part of the master cyl.

BTW, I just got some pin clips for the hydraulic line. $4.09 each for a 17.5 mm pin clip!!

For any interested members: concentric slave cylinder (and hydraulic hose with check valve) costs $180~. The under hood portion of the mastercylinder is $130~. I didn't check the in-cab part of the master cyl.

is this price from your steeler??

is this price from your steeler??

yes. I know of no where else to get these.

BTW, I got it all back in and it is working better that it ever has . . . I made a few mods to the dual disc installation and the clutch holding seems much stronger, the shifting is easier, and the pedal is a lot softer than it has been since the first install. The pedal softness may be a result of a new slave cylinder.