Over the last month or so I installed a 26 spline input shaft and a Mcleod RXT clutch and thought i'd share!
The first issue, is that my D&D input did not come with a bearing. ( more on that later)
To start with, I have a pretty nice magnetic base and mount that I borrowed from work... It's a NOGA unit, one knob in the arms tightens all three joints. One knob tightens the end pivot point, and another knob is a "fine adjustment" that allows you to slowly move the head after everything is tight. I'm using an SPi contact indicator. Both seem to be great products... Much nicer than another setup I was going to try to use... .
I have read that end play should be .000 - .002. (inches correct?) This would convert to .00 - .05mm.
With the front cover bolts removed, the old input shaft easily came out.. At this point I was careful to remove the shaft so that I could take note of how the (blocking ring?) was sitting on the shaft. Turns out you really can't screw that up as it has notches that mate up. (the teeth point toward the front)
Looking at the stock throwout bearing sleeve, I can see where the bearing rode on the shaft, but when cleaning it off there doesn't seem to be any damage or heavy marks. I had plans to re use the stock sleeve .. but more on that later:
Stock 10 spline input endplay: (note .01mm gauge)
-------
A few days later:
I was able to finish things up this evening with the input shaft..
I was able to get a bearing at NAPA .. an 88048 SKF for around ~$15. I took the shaft back to work and the bearing pressed on pretty easily.
Using a vertical dial indicator I took measurements around the bearing race to ensure it was fairly square with the input shaft.. There was .007mm of variance.. thats .0002ish inches so I knew I was okay
I cleaned everything up as well as I could and put the trans together.. without changing from the stock shim.
I also ended up using a different indicator... It's still an SPi, but with .002mm incriments vs the .01 of the other one I was using.
Without silicone and with the bolts snug, I gave the input a few pecks with a wooden hammer, rotated it several times then pushed it as far toward the rear of the trans as I could.. I then set the contact indicator to 0 while allowing it to be under a load so it would read negatively and positively from zero. My Dad was around so I asked him to push on the output shaft... He basically used the handle of a hammer to press against the output moving the input outwards.. I would take note of where the dial went, then push the input inward and take note of how far it would go into the negative side...
I measured .0018", .0019, .0018, and .0019" of end play. With Spec being .000 - .002 I figured I'd pull it apart double check everything, give it one last cleaning then add a bead of RTV and bolt it up!
After bolting up the trans with the silicone, and bolts tightened to at-el-do it ft. lb I took end play measurements again..
.0014, .0014, .0011, .0017 ... an average of .0014 " total end play with the factory shim.. I doubted my self, but after doing some searching it seems that with the D&D shaft being made by Tremec it's pretty common for them to measure in spec with the stock shim..
So... it is what it is... I'm gonna go with it! If it makes weird noises or acts funny we'll know I should have took it somewhere lol
-----------------
A few days later:
Well being as I didn't have things ready by NMRA-BG I decided I'd go ahead and pull the trans back apart to install a steel Throwout bearing retainer sleeve. They are apparently weak, and if for some reason the throwout bearing gets in a bind they'll snap at the base raising hell on the input and clutch.
I took a block of wood and a rubber hammer and planned to drive the stock one out... It snapped off at the base! wtf!
So I took it to work to use the press to push the rest of the sleeve out, while I was there I took a look a the stock sleeve under one of our microscopes. The material thickness at where the sleeve broke was only .185mm !! No wonder these break. I argued with several people that there is no reason why they should break, and I still stand by that, but I suppose with something built this shitty only a hair of force will snap it off.
The new piece:
Back together and ready to go in ... finally!!!
The flywheel as returned from mcleod with the new steel insert... looks great! It's a pretty good alternative to buying a new one. The stock flywheel is a great design and a mcleod piece so to me it seemed like a good idea! My only complaint ... they drug ass for 3 weeks to get it back to me.
The RXT build quality is really nice. Everything is laid out and labeled to take any confusion out of the install. Everything went smooth (that I know of) We got to the point that where the alignment dowel pins have to press from the trans to the bellhousing and one didn't really want to line up. I was worried at first that one disk hadn't alligned correctly so we wasted a lot of time re aligning the clutch and bla bla bla..
After getting everything bolted back together it seems great! The clutch engages similar in position to the DFX. The clutch lever has plenty of room for travel (seems to be a concern with others.) I went for a quick drive and the thing drives great!
I can't claim that there is no shudder at all, because from a low rpm take off I do get a hint of it from time to time. Overall it feels great though... The clutch pedal effort is fairly light ( probably similar to centerforce) and from other's experience these things will hold tons of power.
Now time to put some mileage on this damn car and enjoy it for a while!
Flywheel and Disk 1:
Flywheel / Disk 1 / Adapter ring / Floater plate
Another view of adapter plate / floater ring / disk 2
the complete clutch torqued down:
Oh yeah... and last but not least A new cobra bob double thickness shifter gasket went on during the trans install. I will have to say the price is worth not having silicone smeared around the shifter. For one, silicone often makes getting the shifter off a true task... and secondly there it is almost guaranteed that silicone will wind up inside your transmission.
I'll have to say I do hear a reduction in transmission noise with the new gasket by cobra bob.. thanks for making a quality product at a fair price!
The first issue, is that my D&D input did not come with a bearing. ( more on that later)
To start with, I have a pretty nice magnetic base and mount that I borrowed from work... It's a NOGA unit, one knob in the arms tightens all three joints. One knob tightens the end pivot point, and another knob is a "fine adjustment" that allows you to slowly move the head after everything is tight. I'm using an SPi contact indicator. Both seem to be great products... Much nicer than another setup I was going to try to use... .
I have read that end play should be .000 - .002. (inches correct?) This would convert to .00 - .05mm.
With the front cover bolts removed, the old input shaft easily came out.. At this point I was careful to remove the shaft so that I could take note of how the (blocking ring?) was sitting on the shaft. Turns out you really can't screw that up as it has notches that mate up. (the teeth point toward the front)
Looking at the stock throwout bearing sleeve, I can see where the bearing rode on the shaft, but when cleaning it off there doesn't seem to be any damage or heavy marks. I had plans to re use the stock sleeve .. but more on that later:
Stock 10 spline input endplay: (note .01mm gauge)
-------
A few days later:
I was able to finish things up this evening with the input shaft..
I was able to get a bearing at NAPA .. an 88048 SKF for around ~$15. I took the shaft back to work and the bearing pressed on pretty easily.
Using a vertical dial indicator I took measurements around the bearing race to ensure it was fairly square with the input shaft.. There was .007mm of variance.. thats .0002ish inches so I knew I was okay
I cleaned everything up as well as I could and put the trans together.. without changing from the stock shim.
I also ended up using a different indicator... It's still an SPi, but with .002mm incriments vs the .01 of the other one I was using.
Without silicone and with the bolts snug, I gave the input a few pecks with a wooden hammer, rotated it several times then pushed it as far toward the rear of the trans as I could.. I then set the contact indicator to 0 while allowing it to be under a load so it would read negatively and positively from zero. My Dad was around so I asked him to push on the output shaft... He basically used the handle of a hammer to press against the output moving the input outwards.. I would take note of where the dial went, then push the input inward and take note of how far it would go into the negative side...
I measured .0018", .0019, .0018, and .0019" of end play. With Spec being .000 - .002 I figured I'd pull it apart double check everything, give it one last cleaning then add a bead of RTV and bolt it up!
After bolting up the trans with the silicone, and bolts tightened to at-el-do it ft. lb I took end play measurements again..
.0014, .0014, .0011, .0017 ... an average of .0014 " total end play with the factory shim.. I doubted my self, but after doing some searching it seems that with the D&D shaft being made by Tremec it's pretty common for them to measure in spec with the stock shim..
So... it is what it is... I'm gonna go with it! If it makes weird noises or acts funny we'll know I should have took it somewhere lol
-----------------
A few days later:
Well being as I didn't have things ready by NMRA-BG I decided I'd go ahead and pull the trans back apart to install a steel Throwout bearing retainer sleeve. They are apparently weak, and if for some reason the throwout bearing gets in a bind they'll snap at the base raising hell on the input and clutch.
I took a block of wood and a rubber hammer and planned to drive the stock one out... It snapped off at the base! wtf!
So I took it to work to use the press to push the rest of the sleeve out, while I was there I took a look a the stock sleeve under one of our microscopes. The material thickness at where the sleeve broke was only .185mm !! No wonder these break. I argued with several people that there is no reason why they should break, and I still stand by that, but I suppose with something built this shitty only a hair of force will snap it off.
The new piece:
Back together and ready to go in ... finally!!!
The flywheel as returned from mcleod with the new steel insert... looks great! It's a pretty good alternative to buying a new one. The stock flywheel is a great design and a mcleod piece so to me it seemed like a good idea! My only complaint ... they drug ass for 3 weeks to get it back to me.
The RXT build quality is really nice. Everything is laid out and labeled to take any confusion out of the install. Everything went smooth (that I know of) We got to the point that where the alignment dowel pins have to press from the trans to the bellhousing and one didn't really want to line up. I was worried at first that one disk hadn't alligned correctly so we wasted a lot of time re aligning the clutch and bla bla bla..
After getting everything bolted back together it seems great! The clutch engages similar in position to the DFX. The clutch lever has plenty of room for travel (seems to be a concern with others.) I went for a quick drive and the thing drives great!
I can't claim that there is no shudder at all, because from a low rpm take off I do get a hint of it from time to time. Overall it feels great though... The clutch pedal effort is fairly light ( probably similar to centerforce) and from other's experience these things will hold tons of power.
Now time to put some mileage on this damn car and enjoy it for a while!
Flywheel and Disk 1:
Flywheel / Disk 1 / Adapter ring / Floater plate
Another view of adapter plate / floater ring / disk 2
the complete clutch torqued down:
Oh yeah... and last but not least A new cobra bob double thickness shifter gasket went on during the trans install. I will have to say the price is worth not having silicone smeared around the shifter. For one, silicone often makes getting the shifter off a true task... and secondly there it is almost guaranteed that silicone will wind up inside your transmission.
I'll have to say I do hear a reduction in transmission noise with the new gasket by cobra bob.. thanks for making a quality product at a fair price!
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