06 NSG370

[Chayton]

I think my throwout bearing is starting to bad and my clutch feels like it slips a little under load.
i've read where a lot of people just do a OE replacement with a LUK clutch.

what all should i look at buying before i tear into this? things to replace while i have the transmission out/replacing the clutch. i know i read a thread somewhere here where one should add an actual breather hose to the transmission.

i think LUK makes a kit that has mostly everything? is this a good kit or is there partial brand of something i should purchase instead. just looking for some advice. is there a website that has a pretty good kit already to purchase? thanks in advance!

 

[Jeepaholic]

I used a Valeo kit. Everything was perfect. Only thing I did as well was change the transmission fluid.

 

[Brantley]

I would get the Luk 05-065 kit from Amazon. I honestly wouldn't bother with anything other than just changing the clutch. Get some Emory cloth to sand the flywheel with by hand. Do not get the flywheel turned (resurfaced) or else that will ruin the special convex shape that allows the clutch to engage smoothly.

Maybe drain and refill with Redline MTL if your transmission fluid is getting old.

 

[Chris]

I second the LUK kit, which you can get here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CICYZ4/?tag=wranglerorg-20

While you're in there, I would look into resurfacing the flywheel (depending on it's condition). It also may be easier to replace the rear main seal while the entire transmission is out also.

 

[Brantley]

While you're in there, I would look into resurfacing the flywheel (depending on it's condition). It also may be easier to replace the rear main seal while the entire transmission is out also.

Resurfacing the manual transmission flywheel ruins the convex shape of it that allows the clutch to engage smoothly and gradually rather than being jerky as it's released. The FSM strictly states to avoid doing that. All that is needed is using some Emory cloth to sand it by hand. The only exception to this would be if the flywheel is so damaged that it needs to be replaced, which is 99% of the time not the case.

The RMS doesn't require the transmission to be pulled nor does the transmission really get in the way of it on the manual Jeeps, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. I easily changed my RMS 3 years ago in a few hours as a very novice wrencher. It would open things up and give you some more room to work with I guess but the transmission itself really doesn't get in the way enough to where I'd go ahead and change it simply because I was doing a clutch job. I'd just wait until the seal actually went bad and do it with the transmission still in the Jeep.

 

[Chris]

Resurfacing the manual transmission flywheel ruins the convex shape of it that allows the clutch to engage smoothly and gradually rather than being jerky as it's released. The FSM strictly states to avoid doing that. All that is needed is using some Emory cloth to sand it by hand. The only exception to this would be if the flywheel is so damaged that it needs to be replaced, which is 99% of the time not the case.

The RMS doesn't require the transmission to be pulled nor does the transmission really get in the way of it on the manual Jeeps, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. I easily changed my RMS 3 years ago in a few hours as a very novice wrencher. It would open things up and give you some more room to work with I guess but the transmission itself really doesn't get in the way enough to where I'd go ahead and change it simply because I was doing a clutch job. I'd just wait until the seal actually went bad and do it with the transmission still in the Jeep.

Thanks for posting that! Since I own an automatic, I wasn't entirely sure what the procedure was for resurfacing the flywheel. On a lot of vehicles they suggest doing it (or replacing the flywheel with a new one), but clearly the TJ isn't one of those!

As for the RMS, I know the transmission doesn't have to be pulled. However, with the transmission out and all that room, there's no doubt that it would be a bit easier to access things. I'm only suggesting that if the stock one is actually leaking really bad (which seems to be common among these 4.0 engines). If it's not leaking, then yeah, I would leave it alone.

 

[Brantley]

I'm only suggesting that if the stock one is actually leaking really bad (which seems to be common among these 4.0 engines). If it's not leaking, then yeah, I would leave it alone.

Somehow I've been lucky with mine, I guess. When I changed my RMS, it was actually a valve cover leak that was the issue. That was an 8 year old RMS and it's been another 3 years with the new one and it hasn't leaked a drop. I would almost be willing to put money on the majority of others having the same symptoms and changing the RMS as a result. I wish I would have done the valve cover gasket first because that was a whole lot cheaper and easier lol.

 

[Chris]

Somehow I've been lucky with mine, I guess. When I changed my RMS, it was actually a valve cover leak that was the issue. That was an 8 year old RMS and it's been another 3 years with the new one and it hasn't leaked a drop. I would almost be willing to put money on the majority of others having the same symptoms and changing the RMS as a result. I wish I would have done the valve cover gasket first because that was a whole lot cheaper and easier lol.

That's true. Often times when that valve cover gasket is leaking from the rear, it drips down to the bell housing and makes it appear as if it's your rear main seal!

 

[Jerry Bransford]

X3 to go with the Luk clutch kit which is what the factory installed. Luk's clutch is more than up to lasting over 200k miles. My OE Luk clutch was literally smoked many (!) times while rock crawling. Based on that, I did a pre-emptive clutch replacement at 162k miles and it still had a lot of life on it. Despite how often I abused it, I have no doubt it would have easily made it past 200k miles with the amount of clutch material still left on it. That was very amazing to me.

And X2 not insuring the flywheel is NOT resurfaced. Resurfacing is usually done to the pressure plate on most vehicles but it should not be done to the TJ's flywheel which has an unusual dome shape on its surface. Resurfacing it would remove that dome shape.

This is one of the times I smoked my previous TJ's clutch... yes, that smoke billowing out is clutch smoke.