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I am trying to swap a swap engine from a '78 to an '80, however the clutch in the 78 seems to be rusted to the transmission input shaft. We have the bellhousing and engine separated a half of an inch but can't seem to break it free.

Any suggestions?

try some sort of lubricating aerosol like silicone or some sort of white lithium grease in an aerosol can if you can get it to penetrate you should be able to get it out

beyond sone penetraiting oil all i could think of is take a pry pary and work it around the bell housing prying lightly all around it.

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1980 LUV 4x4, going under re-construction...

If you still have both in the truck I'd pull the engine/trans together and get it out in the open. Much easier to fight with it out of the truck. It sounds like either the clutch splines are fused to shaft, or the pilot bearing is stuck on the end of the shaft. It sounds like you just need to persuade it apart. There are areas where the plate on the back of the motor is up against the block, that would be your best bet as a place to get leverage without doing damage. As with anything, go slow and protect the parts you want to reuse. If say the trans is no good, that is where you hammer.

The only other thing I can think of it that you missed a bolt somewhere on it. Its not hard to miss one it you still have it in the truck.

I would agree with this part, when I last pulled mine I missed I think it was 3 bolts on the bottom of the transmission, they were smaller than the rest of the bolts. There was so much grease and dirt caked on my transmission I couldn't feel them, but I had much the same symptoms you are describing.

Take your time and just be sure to double and tripple check to make sure there aren't any more bolts and if all else fails, like 800 said, pull em both together.

Chad

There are a couple ways to attack this. One is to use your half inch to spray some penetrant in on the splines. I recommend some great GM aerosol penetrant that used to be sold under the name "Penetrant and Heat Valve Lubricant" but my newest can has a slightly different name. That stuff works wonders.

The second way, if your engine isn't seized, is to rotate the clutch pressure plate and undo one bolt after another until they've all been removed, then when you separate the tranny from the bell housing the clutch and pressure plate will stay with the engine and the tranny will come off the back. You'll have much better access to use penetrant to loosen and separate the clutch plate. The downside is that this may not help with a stuck pilot bearing, but they tend to be made of self-lubricating metals (bronze manganese, etc.) and I haven't heard of one that was stuck too bad to pull off.

Be patient, and good luck.

Scott

Thanks for all the help guys. We ended up using a couple different techniques and it finally broke free.

First thing Sunday morning, we pulled the engine and transmission together to be able to get better access. We beat and pulled and shook and sprayed with penetrant. Finally after about 6 hours of this it broke free. Our conclusion was that the pilot bearing was stuck to the shaft.

The truck that the engine and tranny came out of had been flooded with about 3 feet of salt water during Hurricane Isabel. So that is why they were locked like that. The engine looks to be in great shape internally judging by dropping the oil pan.

I am going to start another thread asking about installing the oil pan (gasket and torque question) in case any one of you guys reading this has done a oil pan on these engines before.

Thanks again for all the help.

I fought mine for about 2 hours last year... it finally came apart with several well placed pry bars, two people, and a dictionary. All with it still installed!