Freelander 1 Clutch replacement

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htr

htr

Well-Known Member
Posts
1,568
Location
Central Otago, Southern New Zealand
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?
 

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

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

1725690091928.jpeg
 
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
Click to expand...
This.

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

Hammer it in.
Hammer it down.
Done.
 
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.
 

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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.
Click to expand...
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 😂
 
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.
Click to expand...
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!
 
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.
 
htr said:
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.
Click to expand...
That's typical!

Make a small, inconsequential, change so that the LR part number can be sold for more $!

Hope the fix works.
 
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Hmm - that was nearly a good plan. OK the car flywheel is different - it's slightly smaller. I managed to get the cover plate to fit on but then the bolt holes are not lining up. Sigh.

I'll have to see if the original flywheel can be machined and reused.
 
OK - flywheel machined and fitted, Clutch and cover attached and release bearing installed and parts greased.

But putting the g'box in is awkward! there's a hefty cast iron bracket that the IRD bolts to, and between that & the g'box is a pressed metal shield to keep debris out of the bell housing. It's beneath the starter and behind the IRD. I thought I could fit that after I'd got the g'box fitted but that looked problematic. So I fitted it and re tried to fit the g'box - what a faff! That shield seems to catch as I twist and wrestle the g'box into place. Have I got this wrong - is it possible to fit those 2 things after the g'box is in place?
 
I just did the same job yesterday. So far I have the subframe off, drive shafts out, exhaust off and the IRD is out.

I didn't need to split the bottom ball joints. I removed the two bolts holding the hub to the strut and this gives enough movement to pull the drive shafts out. Then I removed the wishbone and front hub as one unit to make the subframe lighter to drop that.
 
htr said:
OK - flywheel machined and fitted, Clutch and cover attached and release bearing installed and parts greased.

But putting the g'box in is awkward! there's a hefty cast iron bracket that the IRD bolts to, and between that & the g'box is a pressed metal shield to keep debris out of the bell housing. It's beneath the starter and behind the IRD. I thought I could fit that after I'd got the g'box fitted but that looked problematic. So I fitted it and re tried to fit the g'box - what a faff! That shield seems to catch as I twist and wrestle the g'box into place. Have I got this wrong - is it possible to fit those 2 things after the g'box is in place?
Click to expand...
That plate is the WORST! You're not doing anything wrong it caused me to have to take the gearbox out thrice before I finally got it, because otherwise you will either crack the bell housing when bolting it up or you won't have a clutch, I couldn't agree more the gearbox is a pain in the ass, never force it on though, it should just slip on once lined up, if it's not something isn't in line.
pscan.eu said:
I just did the same job yesterday. So far I have the subframe off, drive shafts out, exhaust off and the IRD is out.

I didn't need to split the bottom ball joints. I removed the two bolts holding the hub to the strut and this gives enough movement to pull the drive shafts out. Then I removed the wishbone and front hub as one unit to make the subframe lighter to drop that.
Click to expand...
Personally I dropped the Wheel hubs, connected to the ball joints connected to the subframe disconnected from the roll bar links and dropped the whole thing in one much easier to get off as gravity does the trick but much, much harder to get on as well Gravity I suppose 😂
 
Ha! yes I did that too - disconnected the wishbones & dropped he subframe, Removed the IRD bracket/s and moved that, drive shafts out & third out-of-the-way. G'box - out it came. That hefty bracket came off before the g'box was removed. All back together now.

I've a new problem! Putting things back together the clutch 'slave' rod has extended out. I haven't pushed on the clutch pedal but it doesn't want to move back so I can fit it to that bracket which I've rebolted to the g'box. I did buy a replacement hydraulic circuit - just in case - but the original was working perfectly. it didn't seem to be such a faff to change at a later date - not like the g'box.

I'm going to make a tool along he line of a brake caliber 'pusher' to push the clutch 'slave' piston back 25mm or so.

Can people advise on the please?
 
htr said:
I've a new problem! Putting things back together the clutch 'slave' rod has extended out. I haven't pushed on the clutch pedal but it doesn't want to move back so I can fit it to that bracket which I've rebolted to the g'box. I did buy a replacement hydraulic circuit - just in case - but the original was working perfectly. it didn't seem to be such a faff to change at a later date - not like the g'box.
Click to expand...
Yeah this happens to mine almost everytime, I just push it back in while having the clutch fork pushed all the way forward (into the gearbox) then with some grit it finally goes in and then just press the clutch pedal a few time and it'll be okay.

If you pressed it while it was out the worst that happens is the clutch hits the floor very quickly and the rod is harder to push back in but should be doable with your hands, depends on the age of the fluid I suppose...
 
Yeh, I think I cocked up the install and the rod popped out.

IIRC, I put the rod up to the fork, then pushed the slave forward (either pushing the rod in or the fork out a bit, and managed to get the slave slotted into the bracket. Think the rod kept wanting to slide off the fork at the angle it was at, was tricky, numerous naughty words, till I finally got it in and the clip clipped on to hold it.
 
GrumpyGel said:
Yeh, I think I cocked up the install and the rod popped out.

IIRC, I put the rod up to the fork, then pushed the slave forward (either pushing the rod in or the fork out a bit, and managed to get the slave slotted into the bracket. Think the rod kept wanting to slide off the fork at the angle it was at, was tricky, numerous naughty words, till I finally got it in and the clip clipped on to hold it.
Click to expand...
:D Oh yeah - lots of naughty words!
 
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