Using old pressure plate as a flywheel puller and other flywheel questions

Joester · Oct 14, 2012

Well I was having trouble getting my flywheel off. It would rock back and forth but it just didnt want to come off of there, so I made a flywheel puller out of my old pressure plate!

VICTORY

Here is picture of my flywheel. It was grabbing really badly, so I have a new pressure plate and clutch disc from south bend, but I'm just getting this flywheel resurfaced tomorrow.

I have a few questions regarding this.

#1: How does my flywheel look? I haven't seen that many flywheels in my day, so I don't know if this looks good or bad.

#2: Do I need to replace the flywheel bolts with new ones or can I re-use the bolts that were there?

#3: Do I need to replace my pressure plate bolts, or can I re-use the bolts that were there?

Thanks!

Fix_Until_Broke · Oct 14, 2012

New big bolts that hold the flywheel to the crankshaft

I think you can re-use the smaller bolts that hold the PP on the flywheel, but this might vary by manufacturer?

Fix_Until_Broke · Oct 14, 2012

Oh - and cool puller idea as well.

Joester · Oct 14, 2012

Thanks for the info. I'm confused as to why the bolts didn't come with my clutch kit. South Bend says that for their warranty to be valid the flywheel must be new or resurfaced so its only logical that I would have to take the flywheel off and re-install it.

Birdman · Oct 14, 2012

The first time I replaced a clutch and PP. I did not resurface the plate because it looked fine. A 1000 miles later I was pulling the car apart again to have the PP resurfaced, it chattered like crazy and was not smooth when starting off each time. Now I do every one, it does not cost much I think I paid 40 dollars to do my G 60 which came from a wreaking yard. Just cheap insurance IMO.

PDJetta · Oct 15, 2012

That is a slick puller you made. How did you weld it? (arc or gas).

The flywheel looks to be in great shape, but you need to have it turned on a lathe. Its great insurance to prevent the possibility of doing the job twice. You always replace both the flywheel bolts and pressure plate bolts when replacing the clutch on VWs.

I'm going to install a South Bend Endurance soon myself. Have it sitting on my work bench. I was thinking I would skip having my current flywheel machined, but the comments I got from this list were "don't do it, even if it looks fine". BTW, machining where I live is over $60 and you have to drop it off and it gets done in order of the jobs. It could take several days

. Machine shops are few where I live and I looked at ratings for them and most got poor ratings from people who took stuff to them (Washington, DC area). I may just buy a new one from South Bend so I don't have the hassle of getting the old one machined. The hassle factor is why I was tempted to forgo the machine shop work.

--Nate

Abacus · Oct 15, 2012

PDJetta said:
I'm going to install a South Bend Endurance soon myself. Have it sitting on my work bench. I was thinking I would skip having my current flywheel machined, but the comments I got from this list were "don't do it, even if it looks fine".
--Nate

Have it turned. I installed my SB about 80K ago and the flywheel looked fine, I could find no imperfections and the LUK never chattered. Mine started chattering on take-offs a few K later and has done it ever since. It's not bad enough to take apart to turn it, but I will always have them turned from now on, and I have one ready to go for when the wife's ride needs a new clutch in a few months. The SB also chatters pretty good when in neutral, but I'll take it out when there is a problem since it seems I am always working on one of the B4's for something and never seem to get any rest.

Joester · Oct 15, 2012

PDJetta said:
That is a slick puller you made. How did you weld it? (arc or gas).
Lincoln MIG welder (something everyone should own)

The flywheel looks to be in great shape, but you need to have it turned on a lathe. Its great insurance to prevent the possibility of doing the job twice. You always replace both the flywheel bolts and pressure plate bolts when replacing the clutch on VWs.
I'm going to get new flywheel bolts so I might as well just get new pressure plate bolts too. Thanks for the info.

I'm going to install a South Bend Endurance soon myself. Have it sitting on my work bench. I was thinking I would skip having my current flywheel machined, but the comments I got from this list were "don't do it, even if it looks fine". BTW, machining where I live is over $60 and you have to drop it off and it gets done in order of the jobs. It could take several days. Machine shops are few where I live and I looked at ratings for them and most got poor ratings from people who took stuff to them (Washington, DC area). I may just buy a new one from South Bend so I don't have the hassle of getting the old one machined. The hassle factor is why I was tempted to forgo the machine shop work.
I have a machine shop near me that does really good work and its going to be $50. I probably just would have bought a new flywheel if I didn't have a good machine shop near me.
--Nate

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Using old pressure plate as a flywheel puller and other flywheel questions

Joester

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Fix_Until_Broke

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Fix_Until_Broke

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Joester

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Birdman

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PDJetta

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Abacus

That helpful B4 guy

Joester

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