Defender clutch change

Well my clutch slave cylinder leaked a while back with the wading plug still in and ruined the clutch that was in so i was faced with a £500 bill for my local indy to do it or about 140 for me to have a go so I thought it was worth a bash and spent a day doing it myself. After reading round and the great help i got on here i went and got the parts i needed and 8 am on a saturday i had rented an engine crane had a new borg & beck clutch kit, new clutch relese fork and bearing, a 3/8th socket set, few spanners, a trolly jack, car on level ground outside the house and i was off!

First off i chocked the wheels and removed both prop shafts, took the passenger seat, cubby box,bellhousing and gearbox cover off to gain acess to the gearbox. (Photo1)

the previous owner had helpfully hacked a chunk out of the seat box so it was easier to get the strap in to support the gear box (photo2)

I then put the crane in the passenger door and used an old truck ratchet strap to hang the gear box from it (photo 3&4)

Next i used my trolly jack to support the engine to stop it from moving too far when i droped the gearbox down at this point i noticed my camera had very little battery so the photos were kept for later as it is pretty self explanatory.

Now on to removing the gearbox mounts, with the engine supported and the crane holding the weight of the gearbox use a 13mm spanner on one side and a socket on the other and start removing the bolts ( photos 5&6)


once both mounts were removed i lowered the gearbox so it was resting on the cross member (photo 6&7) and then removed all the 17mm nuts holding the bellhousing to the engine carfully wiggled the gearbox free to reveal the clutch & pressuse plate ( DONT get under the box at this point as it is very heavy and if it slips your goose is cooked!) Photo (6)


Next you will find around 5 or 6 10 mm bolts holding the pressure plate and clutch on to the fly wheel, before you remove them make sure you have a feel for how it is all aligned and take note for reference when refitting later. remove the bolts and you will be left with this (photo 7)

Now for part two as it wont let me upload anymore files :doh:

Well done!!

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f7/defender-gearbox-removal-clutch-replacement-pics-136171.html

Now it is time to start refitting the new clutch (photo1) which for me was a borg and beck, some people i know fit a 130 clutch as the are a bit tougher but mine only does moderate towing and offroading so for me there was no need. As the gearbox is off i also opted to fit a new clutch relese fork (photo2) and bearing as they are known for poking through so as i was in there already it made sense to change it for a few quid extra. some photos of part numbers for those intrested.

first off i cleaned all the oil from the flywheel ready for the new clutch, next i put the new clutch into the pressure plate making sure it went in the right way round (Photo 2) and loosley bolted it back on the flywheel.

Now using your chosen alignment tool place it in the center of the pressure plate making sure it has gone throught the clutch plate and into the flywheel all nice and snug. the tip of the alignment tool should travel around 3" in if not then your out of line and try again as if its not inline when you come to put the gear box back in it wont go all the way in and you will be cursing and swearing!

At this point i would like to point out tat i was given the end of and old lt77 gear box to use as an alignment tool which would have been perfect but it turned out that it was one from an ldv so i fitted all the clutch and when it came to getting the gearbox back in it wouldnt go so i ended up using a 10 mm spark plug socket which worked perfectly! but here is a picture of the old gearbox end so you have an idea (photo 3)

once your happy it is all aligned nicely now nip up all the 10mm bolts on the pressure plate and thats it new clutch fitted

now to replace the relese bearing and clutch fork inside the bellhousing.

before you touch anything have a good look at how it all goes together and take photos if your not sure as a reference. (Photo 4)

now remove the relese bearing which just slides off and the clutch fork which is held in place by a little clip behind it ( take a look at the new one for reference) untill you are left with just the shaft.

Time to re fit the new clutch fork now so outside the car place the two new little oval bits to the fork at the wide end and at the other end refit the clutch slave push rod top tip when fitting the new clip that holds the push rod in place use a cable tie to hold it all snug or the clip will pop of later on and you wish you have. now just slip the whole lot back into place in the gear box making sure the clutch fork is cliped onto the gear box and it should look like this (Photo5)

now add the little greese packet to the end of the gearbox shaft and slide the new relese bearing making sure it locates properly into the clutch fork and you should have this (photo6)

Thats it! time to refit the gearbox to the engine and hope you have aligned the clutch properly

Now jack the crane back up to almost level and carefully get the gearbox shaft into the center of the pressure plate and try and push it home. At this point due to the weight of the transfer box it will try to list to one side as i was on my own and didnt have enough hands so i used a second ratchet strap from the crane to hold it level to allow me to concentrate on getting it into position (photo 7)

providing all has gone to plan it is now just a case of reversing the removal process. all 17mm bolts should be done up, next level the gearbox and refit the gearbox mounts, re attach the propshafts, replace all the internal tunneling, carpet and passenger seat and go get muddy

Any one with any better advise please chirp in as this was my first clutch change and im by no means a mechanic but i hope my experience helps.

sorry the photos are like they are i couldnt work out how to put them into the text

I forgot to add that some people like to weld a patch over the clutch fork to stop the push rod from the slave cylinder from poking through. im sure someone else will have a photo somewhere

You can buy them pre done, Its just a heavy duty clutch fork only a couple quid more than a normal one

very interesting indeed for me being a newbie would love to do my own when its goosed[probably go tomorrow now ive mentioned it] but would like an experienced hand to keep me right[sea dog sounds like a good call

Stick where your based in your user CP local people are always willing to help!

Lyndon said:

I forgot to add that some people like to weld a patch over the clutch fork to stop the push rod from the slave cylinder from poking through. im sure someone else will have a photo somewhere

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How long did it take you to do?

ratty said:

How long did it take you to do?

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I see where this is going

beardy89 said:

i see where this is going

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:d:d:d

about 8 or 9 hours

Lyndon said:

I forgot to add that some people like to weld a patch over the clutch fork to stop the push rod from the slave cylinder from poking through. im sure someone else will have a photo somewhere

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Ignore all this ****e i have spouted above as most of it is bollocks, what i ment was people like to weld a patch where the clutch fork pivots as helpfully shown in the previous photo, it had been a long day and my head was like jelly to begin with

Doing your way with gearbox resting on the crossmember it there enough room for me to take off the flywheel housing too ? So that I can replace the rear crank seal ?? Just wondering

no fancy alignment tools needed, a bit of 22mm coper pipe is spot on the right size

Taffy said:

Doing your way with gearbox resting on the crossmember it there enough room for me to take off the flywheel housing too ? So that I can replace the rear crank seal ?? Just wondering

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Yeah, no problem. Mine is lifted so I had more room to move around but you should be fine