Replace clutch Pull engine or Trans?

[handson]

i'm going to be replacing the clutch in my 93 Legacy soon. It's AWD. Is it easier to pull the engine or drop the trans?

Any opinions?

[stipro]

I find it easier to pull to tranny. There are less things to have to put back together. ie: vacuum lines, fuel lines, rad.............

[vrg3]

Are you changing or R&Ring the flywheel?

If not, I think it'd be easier to kinda pull the engine.

You can drain the coolant and remove the radiator, undo the four fasteners holding the engine and transmission together, and basically lift the engine slightly up and forwards still in the engine bay. You end up with several inches of space through which you can remove the old clutch kit and install the new one.

I did it on my turbo pretty easily but I imagine it'd be even easier with a non-turbo because in my case the exhaust crosspipe (which NAs don't have) was the part keeping the engine from moving another couple of inches forward.

You still need to remove the intake pipe and maybe undo a few wiring harnesses and/or hoses, but it's not a big deal compared to what you'd need to do to actually remove the engine.

[handson]

Forgive my stupidity. Does the engine have seperate mounts or does it mount thru the tranny?

[vrg3]

It has its own mounts, one on either side of the oil pan. Each mount has one stud going down into the crossmember. You can just remove the two nuts (one for each side) in order to lift the engine clear of the crossmember.

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~v/pics ... mounts.png

[handson]

Sounds a heck of a lot easier than pulling all the suspension pieces and dropping the exhaust , etc.

This car's from Iowa and has seen it's share of salt and winter crud.

[vrg3]

That's how it seems to me, too, but a lot of people say they prefer just popping the axles, driveshaft, and shifter off the transmission and unbolting the transmission crossmember from the car. Maybe it's just because I'm not as familiar with that stuff that it seems like the engine is the easier way to go.

[vrg3]

Oh, I should have also pointed out -- moving the engine like this does require more lifting tools than pulling the transmission probably does. I used a trolley jack to support the transmission and an engine crane to lift and move the engine.

You could, though, probably use a trolley jack -- or even better, a transmission jack -- to raise and move the engine. Stick a block of soft wood between the jack and the oil pan.