Hey gang, I'm about to be replacing the clutch in my 07 balt here right away. was wondering the easiest way to do it. I know theres the method of dropping the whole subframe out, but I dont have access to a lift so thats kind of ruled out for me. is there a way to just remove the tranny? Any help is appreciated! thanks guys!!

 

unfortunately you still have to loosen the cradle and then you can remove the tranny bolts and slide the trans over

 

is it possible to just do that with jackstands/jack etc?

 

It harder to do but possible with a jack and jackstands

 

okay awesome. Cause I spun a bearing in the motor about 6 months ago and I took the motor out from the top. and the was the biggest nightmare ever. Definately dont want to do that again.

 

Ya, if it was up to me I would drop the cradle and pull the motor out from the bottom, it seems easier, youre aware the build book has a chapter outlining and illustrating all of what we are talking about?

 

i dropped the cradle with one jack and two jackstands, clutch was done in 10 hours

 

drop it out the bottom very easy

 

yeah save yourself the headache;
when you pull the cradle, and drop the engine & transmission together, reinstalling hte transmission will be SOOOOOOOO much easier...

I'd wager this is like any other GM-FWD car;
the easiest is if you have acces to a cherry-picker (engine hoist);
jack up the car as high as possible... and then some;
support the engine/trans with the cherry picker;
carefully remove the cradle;
lower engine to ground, and pull out.

take care to mark your wiring so that you don't get confused when it comes to plugging it all back together.

and don't rush yourself - if you've never done this before, and you're doing it by yourself, expect it to take a whole long weekend;
if you rush yourself you will probably break something... please someone say that GM has gone away from the cheap plastic heater core tubes - as those I have repeatedly broken when I forgot the disconnect the heater core while doing a clutch job...

 

you dont have to have a lift. i had mine out the last time in 3 hours on jackstands in cramped garage

 

I pull the trans only but have an engine support I purchased from Northern Tool and a trans jack purchased from Harbor Freight. The chapter outlined in the build book is very helpful.

 

I just remember the biggest PITA part that any other GM-FWD car I've done a clutch job on was getting the input shaft to slpine up ~ and with the engine on any kind of angle, it seemed to amplify the difficulty exponentially.

 

its cake with 2 people and the engine at an angle. took us all of 30 seconds last time

 

awesome thanks guys! looks like the cradle will be the way to go. time is no object. winters comin fast so I pulled out the beater so I have all winter to do it. thanks for the awesome help guys! Any suggestions for a decently prices clutch to handle the 300whp range? (dont go by my signature its all changing this winter lol)

 

gmpp

 

^^^^Agreed best bang for buck and just go and spend the 80 bucks on a new gm flywheel. Resurfacing sucks on those flywheels.

 

I did mine with jackstands. Be sure to not pinch any wires in there, putting it back together.