What are the steps to replace the clutch in a 1998 Chevy S-10?

Answer 1

The 1998 S-10 is the easiest clutch job I've done. 1. Elevate truck. Put back tires on about 6" wood. Put front on jackstands. Make truck level. 2. Disconnect battery NEG cable. 3. Drain transmission oil. Catch in clean container so you can reuse it. Go to dealer and get a quart of Synchromesh Transmission Fluid #12377916. You need 17mm hex key. You can get it at Sears. Use a hose and primer bulb to pump fluid back into transmission at the end of the job. Get stuff out of the way: 4. Clutch hyd line. Using two small screwdrivers 180 degrees apart, push white ring toward tranny FULLY. Line will come out of slave cylinder. Place loose line under something toward the driver's side. 5. Exhaust pipe section. Use long extension to remove 3 nuts at manifold from below. Remove 3 nuts at front of catalytic converter. You will need to unbolt converter hanger to get some play. Remove section of exhaust. Tie converter with tie wire snug against frame rail. Make sure it's up, and not hanging down (ouch). 6. Wires. Unplug 3 connectors: 2 from tranny and the 02 sensor. Unbolt wire harness from side of tranny. Put wires aside. Unclamp fuel lines from driver's side of tranny. 7. Driveshaft. Remove u-clamps at front of differential. With large screwdriver/prybar move shaft forward. Drop rear end down. Slide front out of tranny. Don't let front end hit pavement, or damage rubber seal as it drops away from tranny. 8. Gearshift. Push rubber boot down, and with large crescent wrench crack loose locknut under the black part of shaft. Do not move this locknut any more. It will be your guide as to how far to screw the shaft back on. Turn entire shifter ccw until it screws completely off. 9. Crossmember. Carefully work 3 fuel lines from clip on crossmember. Do not crush, ding, or kink nylon lines. Remove nut from center that attaches tranny to crossmember. Working through holes in frame rails, remove 8 bolts. Use telescoping magnet to remove/replace bolts. Be sure 02 wire is detached from crossmember. Remove crossmember. Tranny is going nowhere, though it will flex, if pulled downward. 10. Shifter removal. Put truck in 3rd or 4th for the duration. Pull tranny downward leaving foam insulator against floorboard, and with small open end or box wrench (7mm?), blindly remove 4 bolts from shift cover. Go inside truck, tie a piece of wire below locknut, pull shifter up tight and tie off to grab bar on passenger side. 11. Tranny Bolts. Remove bolts from splash guards (bell housing covers). Remove the two lower bellhousing to brace bolts so you can slide these covers out. Do not remove or loosen the front brace to block bolts, if you inadvertently loosen one by moving the brace you'll need to retighten before you're done. These covers can get in a bind at re-assembly, so watch for that. Loosen all tranny to engine bolts, the upper most bolts will need all your extensions (2 feet worth) and a u-joint, and the tranny will need to be tilted down at the rear to access them. There are 6 more bolts. Take out all but two of them. Those 2 should be easy to access and across from each other. The bolt with the chassis-engine ground strap has a nut. 12. Position jack under tranny, near drain plug. Double check now to make sure no wire or anything will prevent you from lowering the tranny. Snug the jack up to the tranny. Remove the two remaining bolts. Roll jack and tranny back as far as you can and carefully lower tranny. You will probably have to take it off the jack to get it out from under the truck. But don't scrape it up. Set it off jack onto cardboard? TORQUE ALL NUTS TO SPECS WHEN YOU CAN GET A TORQUE WRENCH ON THEM!!! 13. Replace Slave Cylinder, it's worth it. Torque these little bolts to 80 INCH pounds. 14. To remove bronze bushing from the crankshaft: Take the new bushing to hardware store and find a large threaded bolt that will almost fit into it. Bolt should be 2.5" long. Attempt to thread this bolt into the old bushing, the old bushing will split and can be removed in pieces. 15. Remove clutch pressure plate bolts evenly even though you are going to use a NEW pressure plate. Mark pressure plate to flywheel relationship and put it back on the same way. 16. If you want to remove the flywheel and replace the oil seal now's the time. Hold flywheel with large screwdriver wedged near starter. 55 ft/lbs on the flywheel bolts, you'll need a 12 point socket. Maybe some loc-tite thread glue too. ASSEMBLY 17. Tap in new bushing until flush. Maybe a hair more. No more than 1/64" past flush. 18. Put disc in facing the correct way. It says "flywheel side" on it. 19. Use alignment tool to hold disc. Work around NEW pressure plate tightening bolts to 33 ft/lbs (NV1500, driver side fill plug) else 29 ft/lbs (NV3500 pass side fill plug). **Read rest of instructions before proceeding with installation. Particularly note on fuel lines.*** 20. Before installing tranny make sure release bearing WILL depress. If it's a new slave cylinder it will. If you aren't replacing the slave cylinder, open bleeder screw and let some fluid out. 21. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, NOT FOR A SECOND, MAY ANYOF THE TRANSMISSION'S WEIGHT HANG ON ANYTHING BUT AT LEAST 2 FULLY SNUGGED TRANNY BOLTS. The release bearing will contact the clutch cover before mating occurs. It will be a little difficult to hold the release bearing return spring depressed as you get tranny bolts started. But don't let the effort cause the weight of the tranny to rest on the new disc. Maybe get a helper under there with you. Get tranny fully mated with 2 opposite, easy to access bolts tightened to "snug". 22. In tilt down position reinstall shifter guiding the internal parts together, tighten 4 bolts working around the rectangle evenly, to 89 in/lbs. Good firm but don't overdo it. Install upper two tranny bolts, torque to 35 ft/lbs. (The use of a u-joint will make you have to set your torque wrench to a higher number depending on how much the u-joint is bent.) Install remaining tranny bolts to 35 ft/lbs. Torque all 6 tranny bolts to 35 ft./lbs. Leave bottom two brace bolts until you get splash guards installed, then torque brace bolts to 37 ft/lbs. 23. Install crossmember, get tranny bolt through center of it, torque 8 bolts to 34 ft/lbs. 24. Install driveshaft. Check rubber seal for proper contact. 25. Apply Teflon tape to drain plug. Tighten to 27 ft/lbs. A thread or two will show. Refill tranny oil to bottom of fill hole, and put fill plug in with teflon tape, torque to 17 ft/lbs. 26. Install wire harness and plug clutch line in until it clicks. 27. Bleed clutch. Start with a full reservoir of brake fluid. It doesn't hold much, so make sure it does not run dry during bleeding. The rubber thing on the bleeder screw should be transferred to new slave cylinder. It slides out to notch in bleeder screw and acts as spout during bleeding to prevent fluid from running down side of tranny. But I've never used it. Procedure: Have helper sit in truck, and you get under truck with 11mm wrench. Have the helper stroke the clutch fully 4 times stopping with the pedal on the floor. While pedal is held against the floor, open the bleeder screw and let air/oil escape. Firmly retighten screw after the discharge ends while pedal is still on the floor. Tell your helper to repeat the 4 strokes, stopping on the floor. Repeat this cycle about 3 times as necessary to get a clutch that "feels like new". A very small amount of air will work itself out over the next day or two. Other torques: Pipe to Manifold: 22 ft/lbs...Tranny bolts: 35 ft/lbs....Brace bolts: 37 ft/lbs (both ends)....Crossmember: 34 ft/lbs....Driveshaft to Companion Flange: 15 ft/lbs...Pipe to Converter: 26 ft/lbs. Clutch housing cover (splash guard): 62 inch/lbs. FUEL LINE CAUTION One more thing to save you from pulling this tranny again. While you are under there with the tranny removed, inspect the 3 metal fuel lines. They all 3 pass through a clamp on the passenger side held by the transmission bolt with the nut and ground strap. If you are going to reuse this clamp, be sure to get the tranny bolt through it when you bolt the tranny back in. However, I'm going to recommend you discard this clamp. It clamps the three lines very tightly, and being bolted to the engine, it transmits the torque forces to the more stationary fuel lines. The clamp will eventually rub through the metal lines and you will have a fuel leak. Move the clamp up or down the lines and look at the lines where the clamp was. You will likely see thin spots on one or more lines. If the line is not leaking already wrap about four layers of electrical tape around the thinned areas. I would then wrap a standard hose clamp around the three to bundle them and and pad the lines with cloth beneath this clamp. Do not attach this new assembly to the engine, but make sure it won't vibrate or bang against engine, and make noise. If a line is leaking, you will need to repair or replace it. Fuel pressure is about 45 psi. To test for leaks, have someone turn the key on and off several times, and watch the lines during the 2 seconds the pump runs. Be sure to disconnect the battery again after this test. The only line I'd repair rather than replace is the vapor line. But if you cut a section of fuel line out and replace with rubber hose, be sure that you push at least 6" of hose onto the metal, and that you clamp well. These lines are not cheap and the tranny must be pulled to replace them.