Freelander 1 Clutch replacement

htr · Saturday at 03:29

I started the work to replace the clutch in my '98 FL1 XEi [1.8 K series].
Was a bit concerned when I was draining the g'box & IRD oil. Both were quite dark and the IRD drain plug magnet had a coating of fuzz on it. Should I be concerned? It didn't feel gritty when I rubbed it between thumb and fingers - so I hope all is well there.

Those exhaust nuts just refused to move - they'd been wire brushed and sprayed with WD40 the day before but no way were they going to turn. I even managed to break a socket on one! Then I applied some heat - they gave up then

So onto removing the front cross member. Those bottom wishbone ball joints are refusing to pop out when I whack the housing with a hammer. Any advice there?

GrumpyGel · Saturday at 05:49

htr said:
I started the work to replace the clutch in my '98 FL1 XEi [1.8 K series].
Was a bit concerned when I was draining the g'box & IRD oil. Both were quite dark and the IRD drain plug magnet had a coating of fuzz on it. Should I be concerned? It didn't feel gritty when I rubbed it between thumb and fingers - so I hope all is well there.

Those exhaust nuts just refused to move - they'd been wire brushed and sprayed with WD40 the day before but no way were they going to turn. I even managed to break a socket on one! Then I applied some heat - they gave up then

So onto removing the front cross member. Those bottom wishbone ball joints are refusing to pop out when I whack the housing with a hammer. Any advice there?

Don't take it as gospel, but from what I've seen, the stuff on that IRD bolt looks fine.

Freddie17 · Saturday at 07:22

htr said:
So onto removing the front cross member. Those bottom wishbone ball joints are refusing to pop out when I whack the housing with a hammer. Any advice there?

I used a simple joint splitter….. you can get less damaging ‘screw in’ types, but I was replacing the old anyway. Came apart in seconds

xDParis64 · Saturday at 08:38

Freddie17 said:
I used a simple joint splitter….. you can get less damaging ‘screw in’ types, but I was replacing the old anyway. Came apart in seconds

This.

As long as you are replacing the ball joint these take 'em out in mere seconds.

Hammer it in.
Hammer it down.
Done.

htr · Saturday at 12:20

Happily both lower wishbones are quite new so I didn't want to wreck them. I got the to part - eventually.

xDParis64 · Saturday at 13:34

Let me know how the clutch goes, doing my one tomorrow!

htr said:
Happily both lower wishbones are quite new so I didn't want to wreck them. I got the to part - eventually.

htr · 2024-09-08T09:01:25+0100

I've had pretty good service from the parts supplier. Parts ordered last Thursday evening here [ your Thursday AM in the UK] and they arrived here [NZ] on Friday morning [ your Thursday night]. Not quite sure about the clutch hydraulic circuit. It looks like it has leaked a bit in the box. This is a sealed unit as per my '98 FL1 with the K 1.8 motor. Should any fluid have escaped? I'll leave the existing one in place at the moment as it is / was working satisfactorily.

So today I removed the IRD support. Man that bracket has a lot of bolts! Popped the drive shafts off and tied them back. Separated the IRD and gently pushed it out of the way.Those 2 bolts behind the IRD are a pain to get at. Would it be possible to attach some captive nuts on the IRD side and put bolts through to them from the gearbox side? G'box cam off quite easily but everything was really grubby.

The rear main oil seal has been leaking for a couple of years and inside the bell housing was black as and the outside of the g'box was no better. The fly wheel look OK initially but when I looked at it carefully I could see numerous cracks in the surface. The spare I've got was on a VVC motor I compared them: same number of teeth on the ring gear, both motors have the crank sensor on the rear of the motor just beside where the starter motor is located. They look near identical so I've given the replacement one a polish with some 120grit emery cloth and gave it a good clean. It's all ready to bolt up. I've just got to fit the replacement rear main oil seal.

xDParis64 · 2024-09-08T09:27:36+0100

htr said:
I've had pretty good service from the parts supplier. Parts ordered last Thursday evening here [ your Thursday AM in the UK] and they arrived here [NZ] on Friday morning [ your Thursday night]. Not quite sure about the clutch hydraulic circuit. It looks like it has leaked a bit in the box. This is a sealed unit as per my '98 FL1 with the K 1.8 motor. Should any fluid have escaped? I'll leave the existing one in place at the moment as it is / was working satisfactorily.

So today I removed the IRD support. Man that bracket has a lot of bolts! Popped the drive shafts off and tied them back. Separated the IRD and gently pushed it out of the way.Those 2 bolts behind the IRD are a pain to get at. Would it be possible to attach some captive nuts on the IRD side and put bolts through to them from the gearbox side? G'box cam off quite easily but everything was really grubby.

The rear main oil seal has been leaking for a couple of years and inside the bell housing was black as and the outside of the g'box was no better. The fly wheel look OK initially but when I looked at it carefully I could see numerous cracks in the surface. The spare I've got was on a VVC motor I compared them: same number of teeth on the ring gear, both motors have the crank sensor on the rear of the motor just beside where the starter motor is located. They look near identical so I've given the replacement one a polish with some 120grit emery cloth and gave it a good clean. It's all ready to bolt up. I've just got to fit the replacement rear main oil seal.

Nice Job, doing mine today, Your Sunday night to Monday morning?

Me personally would get a s*** load of brake clean a wire brush / sponge and go to town on the engine around the gbox mounting, looks like but hey, like it to be shiny

GrumpyGel · 2024-09-08T09:55:43+0100

htr said:
I've had pretty good service from the parts supplier. Parts ordered last Thursday evening here [ your Thursday AM in the UK] and they arrived here [NZ] on Friday morning [ your Thursday night]. Not quite sure about the clutch hydraulic circuit. It looks like it has leaked a bit in the box. This is a sealed unit as per my '98 FL1 with the K 1.8 motor. Should any fluid have escaped? I'll leave the existing one in place at the moment as it is / was working satisfactorily.

So today I removed the IRD support. Man that bracket has a lot of bolts! Popped the drive shafts off and tied them back. Separated the IRD and gently pushed it out of the way.Those 2 bolts behind the IRD are a pain to get at. Would it be possible to attach some captive nuts on the IRD side and put bolts through to them from the gearbox side? G'box cam off quite easily but everything was really grubby.

The rear main oil seal has been leaking for a couple of years and inside the bell housing was black as and the outside of the g'box was no better. The fly wheel look OK initially but when I looked at it carefully I could see numerous cracks in the surface. The spare I've got was on a VVC motor I compared them: same number of teeth on the ring gear, both motors have the crank sensor on the rear of the motor just beside where the starter motor is located. They look near identical so I've given the replacement one a polish with some 120grit emery cloth and gave it a good clean. It's all ready to bolt up. I've just got to fit the replacement rear main oil seal.

Not sure how the clutch hydraulics could leak in the box, it never goes inside the bell housing and I'd have thought it impossible to run down the release arm, let alone through into the bell housing.

If the hydraulics are looking OK, I'd say there's no need to change. I would say though that it would be worth giving the slave bracket a thourough inspection for any signs of cracks. When the clutch went on mine it was because the bracket fractured alowing the slave to fall off. Not only lost use of the clutch and needed a new bracket, but the rod came out of the hydraulics and needed that setup replacing as well.

I was lucky with mine, my parts car had brand new bracket and hydraulics just installed and never even used before the previous owner gave up and outed it through Turners. The little plastic clips holding the rod in were still intact! I think that was because the clutch actuation was totally seized - they probably tried to use it, but couldn't!

andyfreelandy · 2024-09-08T18:00:13+0100

Fluid in bellhousing on a 1.8 sounds like front input shaft oil seal ??

htr · 2024-09-09T10:36:51+0100

No hydraulic fluid leaked; that system was working without any problem. I purchased a replacement and will keep it just in case. It doesn't look too complicated to swap the old setup with a new one and certainly doesn't require the g'box off.

Replacing that oil seal was very easy. I fitted the replacement flywheel and tried to fit the clutch cover & friction plate. But guess what? That flywheel is slightly different! The spacing of the three locating dowels around the circumference is about 2mm smaller than on the FL1 flywheel. Hmm, a small problem. OK - solution - I will use my Dremel and a T/C burr to slot each locating hole in by 3mm. Those locating pins are just to get the cover plate in position and then we use the clutch alignment tool to make sure everything is lined up accurately so it should be ok.

Thoughts on that solution please.

Freelander 1 Clutch replacement

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