Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) New clutch, need info/pointers please

[Mundgyver]

I have ordered a new MU 1947 Con OFE from South Bend along with a matched flywheel with the heavy duty bearing to replace my stock clutch that has 179,000.



I need to know what if anything to watch out for or any recomendations that will prevent me from making a mistake. Bell housing nuances and approach techniques that might help. This will be the first big work I have done on the truck and I am looking for any pointers to take the possible headaches out of it.



Will be doing this with a full drive on lift and sliding phumatic transmission jack that is built into the lift system, so the grunt work on the ground is eliminated.



Thanks in advance for your recomendations.

 

[darkhorse]

I watched mine being swapped out with less equipment than you have. The biggest trick seemed to be getting the cross member out. Mine was whacked out with a heavy wooden mallet but I've heard some like to spread the frame rails with a jack. Good luck. You're going to like your new clutch.

 

[n7gxz]

A port-a-power helps with the cross member. Also keep the bolts for the skid pan well away from the bell housing bolts. There are four bolts in the skid pan that look just like the bell housing bolts except for one small difference, the bell housing bolts are 3/8x16 thread and the skid pan bolts are 10mx1. 5 metric thread.



Oh another thing, I don't know if you you are planning on doing an oil change but if so and you take the shift tower off get a long neck funnel and in put the oil in that way instead of through the plug in the side.



Kevin

 

[Mundgyver]

Good stuff The bolts in particular. I had just changed the oil about 10,000 ago. I am thinking about replacing the seals though. Not sure what the part #'s are. The clutch and fly wheel are suppose to be delivered tommorrow.

 

[Supermod56]

No real issues, except the flywheel weighs a ton, watch the fingers in between it and the bellhousing adapter!! Also a good idea to put a rear seal in the motor while you're in there. Shift tower will come off anyway, so you can do the oil if you want to, I like to do trans work with it empty. On the crossmember, you can either use the Ford tool (sledge hammer), or spread the frame rails with a porta-power, not much, just a little.



Tom

 

[Mundgyver]

Rear seal on the engine sounds like a good idea, guess I will call Cummins Northwest in the morning and see if they have one. What about the seal on the transmission side, can that be change out without too much problem

 

[Tiger Rag]

The NV 5600 is a heavy SOB. Be careful. I think we estimated it close to 400 lbs. We had 4 of us escort it on the transmission jack to the shop table just to support it.

 

[Mundgyver]

The nice thing is I will have a full drive on 18,000 lbd lift with a full between the rail rolling tranmission lift. All I will have to do is safety strap the transmission. No lifting or balancing to worry about there. I am headed for Cummins Northwest to pick up rear seal in a few minutes.

 

[PC12Driver]

When the transmission is removed the engine will tilt forward, so have it braced. To make it easier to get to the top couple of bellhousing bolts, lower the transmission a couple of inches after you get the crossmember out of the way. That'll give you some room to actually get a hand between the body and the transmission (and be sure to support the front of the engine after you lower the transmission).



Oh, and leave the transmission in a gear so you can turn the output shaft to align the input shaft with the engine. Higher gears are easier to turn.

 

[Mundgyver]

Sounds good, think I will print out all this info before I get started and have it with me for review. On a more stunning note, I just got back from picking up the crankshaft seal kit from Cummins.



I was absolutely floored when they brought it out. The size is was what startled me, a full 5 inch inside diameter was just a :--)



And for your enjoyment we have included pictures

 

[darkhorse]

The nice thing is I will have a full drive on 18,000 lbd lift with a full between the rail rolling tranmission lift. All I will have to do is safety strap the transmission. No lifting or balancing to worry about there. I am headed for Cummins Northwest to pick up rear seal in a few minutes.

You should have seen Aron sling my NV5600 on some nylon straps while he was on a creeper on his garage floor. :-laf :-laf You guys should have it made.

 

[Mundgyver]

Yippie Oo. the parts just arrived. Will spend the rest of the day working on my deck and then review the factory manual and plan the insall for tommorrow. I will take pics. Oo.

 

[Mundgyver]

Well we got it in. I got out to my friends shop this morning about 7 AM and we started in on it. Got all finished at about 4:45 PM with an hour for lunch. The only problem we had was with the adapter for the started. Peter at South Bend indicated I would not need the adapter. So we got the flywheel in and remounted the starter and found we had about 1/16 in of interferance. Took the started back of and we then took and milled down the started adapter from 1/2 to about 3/16ths inch thickness and 3 1/5 inch inside diameter. Worked well. I have included some pictures of the process. Ed is doing the Mill work while Dave was playing parts monkey. We put a new seal in the tail shaft as the old one was leaking pretty good. All in all it went very smooth. No big surprises and the equipment worked like a charm. Note: the last picture in this series shows the bell housing and if you look close you will see the wedge shape on the frame rails. Guess it was designed as a safety should you loose a bolt.

 

[Mundgyver]

Mill work. Ed on the mill and lathe

 

[Mundgyver]

We used a porta power to spread the frame to get the cross member out and back in. At first we could not figure out why it was so hard to do this, but after removing we discoverd that the frame is actually angled inward where the cross beam ties in and acts like a wedge. Overall things went very smooth.

 

[Mundgyver]

Between my beloved truck and the working with my CNC plasma cutter, I do not know which one is more fun.



I spend the money I make with the cutter on the truck. It tis a never ending vicious cycle it is Next mod is to build myself a 100 gallon fuel tank.



Talk to you all later.



-Wally-

 

[PRout]

Excellent!! Always like to see a happy ending too.

You're a talented man Mundgyver. .

 

[BPickerel]

How much time did you have wrapped up in the install? Just asking because it might be my weekend project. Like it or not.

 

[Mundgyver]

I started at 07:00 in the morning, took an hour and half for lunch at noon and we were done by 16:30 in the after noon. Tools and shop were cleaned up by 17:00. Where we gained speed was by keeping the transmission and the transfer case together as a unit when we dropped it. It is brutally heavy and we had the lift with a built in jack and the transmission jack both engage. The longest part of the job was milling down the starter adapter to set the starter to the right depth for proper engagment. When we bought the clutch I was under the impression that we would just need to remove the adapter and mount the starter with out it. But this proved not to be and we had to keep the adapter but make it thinner.



I did my trip up through the San Juan Islands towing my 8 x 16 cargo trailer with no problems, playing support vechile for the Boy Scouts. I did have some starter problems which popped up which I took care when I got back with LarryB's Starter Contacts. Do the starter contacts at the same time.



So the clutch lasted 170,177 miles, the starter rebuild was at 171,700 miles and this next week will finally be installing a new set of brakes and slotted performance disk at 172,800. Not bad for OEM brakes. Will be interesting to see how long my VP last. It is the OEM also.

 

[moparguy]

Well, you just jinxed the VP, LOL, might as well pick one up.



RR