Do you really need a trans jack for a clutch job?

I did my BMW with a regular jack, but it probably only weighed 55 lbs or so. Has anyone done this before and was it fairly easy? Any other methods

Not if you are doing it with the tranny in the car - but you'd have to pull the motor out. Unless you are gonna drop the tranny to do it, then the answer is an absolute yes. Our trannys are heavy as balls. From my personal experience. I had to get one from harbor freight for 70 bucks.

The only way to do it without a trans jack is if you have 2 strong friends. One will need to sit in the engine bay and pull it up (seriously), while the other is on the ground tilting it upwards.

 

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c20/burnout8488/SNC00192.jpg

Thanks for the input, trans jack it is. Now one more thing to take up space in my garage

And do NOT rent one of those adapters that supposedly work with a floor jack. They don't. The transmission (and adapter, tied together) almost rolled off the jack onto my friend who was under the car.

Yeah I looked into one of those. The other problem is that they add about nine inches to the height of your jack so your car has to be way high to be able to use one.

Yea, its all about the size of the tranny... (boy that sounds dirty, lol)

 

The safest bet is to use the tranny jack, but im sure it could be done with a floor jack or two. There'd be some obvious rigging mods to support it, but it "could" be done.

 

I cant remember where it is atm, but there was a guy who posted a whole video walkthrough of how to swap out the clutch. It was pretty detailed and if/when I have to swap clutches again I'll be watching it again.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Bw7RiBSmI]YouTube - 2005 Subaru Legacy GT Clutch Replacement (Part 1 of 2)[/ame]

If you can bench press 250 pounds easily you could do it with two people and no jack.

If you can bench press 250 pounds easily you could do it with two people and no jack.

 

Or if you can bench 135 and have a fat belly, you and a friend can do it...

I friend of mine with an 04 STI left the trans in place and pulled the motor! He manged to do it in his driveway in about 12 hours.

Done deal. If I did just the clutch it probably would have taken me a little over 12 hours. It wasn't nearly as heavy as I though, but not a job I'd want to do without a trans jack. Single mass FW + Exedy stage 1 =

I did it with just a floor jack in my 07 wrx. Not that hard to be honest. Just need to be careful it's not sliding off. Sure a tranny jack is ideal, but not needed if you don have he money

dunno bout the wrx... but our trannies are def heavy. it wasnt centered on mine 100% as i was lowering it and definitely tipped over. strapped to the jack and all. had to pull it out from under the car w/ a chain. lol

oh, its heavy as hell, but I did drain it first to make it a bit lighter. and you cant have it centered, you need to be about 1/3 from the front where the majority of the mass is and with that it came down pretty easy. what DOES make it a lot easier is to put a jack under the header/oil pan or whatever else on the front, and give it a bit of lift before you start the seperation... makes for a smoother removal, less jarring, and thus easier to use the standard floor jack.

 

again, I'm sure it is easier with a tranny jack, but it is not needed.

 

T

I've done a few clutch jobs on various Subarus, and I found that pulling the engine is far easier & more convenient - in most cases. A friend and I used a wooden beam & a rope, and lifted the engine out & in again - without too much hassle. : )

i did mine without it but i had my car on a lift. i pulled it out with my buddy, but to put it in we needed help of 3rd person.

did clutch job on 05 jetta vr6 this weekend an that tranny was bout half the weight of our trannys