Clutch Replacement: Lessons Learned

[panda_man22]

if your car was on a hoist would you still of chosen to drop the control arm and subframe?

 

[Cryptic1911]

After doing mine on my lift with the subframe still in, I would drop it next time. The subframe totally fucks up the whole deal.. it's just in the way no matter what you do. It would be a fairly tit job with it out.. I was just worried about the alignment aspect of it

 

[The Fed]

A "shadetree mechanic" to the max! Good for you.

 

[UG_GTI]

I agree with everything you said. I struggled to get that stupid box out of the car for hours before I realized I was just getting pissed and wasting so much time. Dropping the sub-frame and LCA took about 5 minutes; the transmission was out 5 minutes after that. Yes, it means buying 14 new bolts (~$50 from the dealer), torquing them up properly, and getting an alignment. Sucks, but oh well.

So you removed both output flanges and it was still hard to get out with the sub-frame installed?

Theres actually a good solution to that. VW sells a special tool thats around 50$ that will save the alignment of the subframe so that no alignment is need after reassembly.

You can also just disconnect the steering column and wire harness and remove the six largest subframe bolts to drove the frame. Then use a ratchet strap to hold it back out of the way.

This gives you tons of room to pull transmission without removing lots of one time use bolts/nuts.

 

[John/Cue\Publik]

I'm on clutch and trans 3 on my rabbit. Not sure what's so different but in the countless times I've dropped my trans I've never removed anything subframe wise and I only dropped the axles the first couple times.

Sent from my HTC Evo 4G Shift using Tapatalk

 

[UG_GTI]

I'm on clutch and trans 3 on my rabbit. Not sure what's so different but in the countless times I've dropped my trans I've never removed anything subframe wise and I only dropped the axles the first couple times.

Sent from my HTC Evo 4G Shift using Tapatalk

6spd is a ton bigger than 5spd

 

[NewToVW]

Wow, getting the output flange back on wasn't trivial. I figured I could do it under the car with the transmission in place (wanted to get the flange past the flywheel)... I figured wrong. The flange is spring-loaded... with a beefy ass spring! I couldn't push hard enough with the tx on the jack w/o it rolling around on the jack to get the bolt started. Solution: use the jack's ratchet strap and a piece of wood to press the flange back on enough to get the bolt started. There are so many steps in this job that would be aided by a second mechanic. If you can buy a friend pizza and beer for a day or two, it's worth it.

Here's the strap setup:

And here you can see the flange has plenty of room to get behind the flywheel. If you're installing a stock clutch, this will not work. Thanks Southbend!

 

[Cryptic1911]

I put both of mine back on with the trans in the car. I used a prybar against something else and pushed it in, then set the bolt real quick

 

[NewToVW]

I considered doing something like that. I guess you had the passenger axle already out? I've left mine connected at the hub, so I didn't think I'd have enough room to get that to work for this flange. The ratchet strap was quick and easy, but wasting time struggling under the car before that was another useless effort. Just trying to help someone avoid my mistakes in the future.

 

[Cryptic1911]

nah, I left the passenger axle in, I just used some mechanics wire to string it up out of the way.

 

[Goingnowherefast]

No. It was clear the stock TSI clutch wasn't up to task any longer. It lasted a year with the K04. It was starting to slip in 4th sometimes. I went with a Southbend/DXD Stage 2 Daily "Silent Design"... I hear the FSI clutches are stronger, so you might be alright with the stocker for quite a while.

Good write-up, can you report back with how you like the Stage 2 Daily "silent design" clutch? Mostly in the noise catagory?

 

[Zach L]

I did this job a month ago. Subframe removal is the way to go.

 

[Speeddemon96]

wow looks like you'll need some icyhot and advil after replacing that clutch.

but good job for doing it yourself and doing right. and saving yourself the $$. i'm doing more and more shit myself. tired of the thief's that are running them shops!

 

[Bimmersmith]

65K on my stock tsi clutch, most of which has been stage 2. No slipping yet(knock on the good wood). Hoping to hold out on this till I go BT, then do the clutch and an LSD together.

 

[vath]

subscribed

very nice write up, hope i never need to use it :biggrin: