Clutch bolts and locktite

There is no perfect situation.

Either it's a Hanes or Chilton which covers too many models, or, it's the FSM which covers your model, but the factory re-used the diagrams from previous models so a good proportion are wrong.

The manual I'd write is EXACT since I would have done EVERY STEP, so it would be model specific for sure.

It would only pay, I think, for cars that I can get a junker for cheap, to tear apart, and it would have to be a "common" enough car to have a market.

The actual work would be easy, I think.

1. Buy a complete car (it doesn't have to run even, but better if it does)
2. Tear it apart, piece by piece, putting each piece back since my DIYS cover reassembly where it's almost never the reverse of removal.
3. Sell the book.

I think it "could" have a market, simply because it would be unique, as nobody does the detail that I do ()and I've had shop manuals since the dawn of my driving days).

I don't have Mitchells though, or AllData, so I don't know how good (or bad) they are. Clare might know more.

Hehheh ... that's a good point. The Bentleys are filled with that crap.

Agreed. I have the Toyota FSM and Hanes somewhere. They suck. My Q45 came with an FSM in the trunk, if you can believe that. I get them for my bikes. I have the Bentleys for my Bimmer.

They all suck.

Yet, they each suck for different reasons. None ever are as good as my DIYs. Never. Not even close.

You know why they all suck so I won't belabor the issue. Suffice to say they're better than nothing - but not much better.

Once, decades ago, I was doing the pitman arm, idler arm, and tie rod ends for a Dodge Dart of the 70's vintage, where, it was winter so I had to ride my motorcycle in the snow to get the parts, and, they gave me the wrong tie-rod ends.

I had to go back, in the snow, cursing them, and they didn't give a shit. They just handed me the right part and that was it for them. It's no skin off their back. But it's a lot of effort on your part.

I learned to bring in the old parts, which is how I knew all the pilot bearing tools would never work, because I brought the new pilot bearing with me this week. I even brought the old flywheel to match with the new one.

Short side note related to alignment... when I did the idler, pitman, and tie rod ends, I marked everything, as you can tell I am wont to do. Then I tried an alignment, but only did the toe (which was easy, of course).

Then I paid Sears to do the alignment, and when I got home, I looked and not a bolt was touched. I took it back to Sears and they tested it and found out the guy didn't even do it. He said his charts only went back 10 years and so he didn't have the numbers. And yet they charged me. I as livid, but in those days, I didn't scream bloody further. Nowadays I'd have told them to give it to me for free or I would go to the prosecutor (or at least the home office).

Can you believe that they just didn't do it, and didn't give a shit?

Mechanics, for the most part, I'm sure, are honest, but don't even get me started about the shysters at AAMCO and MIDAS. The point is that I learned that you can't trust any of them, unless they're related to you. I'm sure most are good - but plenty are bad (I have too much experience with MIDAS where I provided evidence which, (I'm sure with other data) got them kicked out of the TireRack recommended tire program, since I provided firm proof of what they were doing).

Again, don't even get me started on AAMCO. We old men have too many stories of how we were screwed when we were young and innocent.

I taught my kids that very many are crooks (AAMCO is the worst, IMHO). Sigh.

Same thing happened to me at a Firestone shop. I bought a '66 F100 and it was pulling a little to the left. I dropped it off for new front tires and an alignment. When I picked it up from their parking lot, first thing I did was crawl under it. Same grunge on the tie rod ends. Went back in and asked the desk guy why they didn't do the alignment. He shouted to the mech and the mech shouted back. "We can't do twin I-beam." I had him refund the charge. Pretty close to your experience.

Sure can.

snip

I heard the stories, so did some looking around when the trans went out on my '67 Skylark. AAMCO wanted $700 - hell, I only paid $475 for the car. Went to the used car dealer I bought it from and he told me what trans shop he used. They rebuilt the trans for $125.

Just avoid the franchise operations. Still have to deal with finding a competent mechanic, but when you do, you're set. Until they retire or die on you.

And this, in short, is why you go to an alignment shop with an alignment expert instead of to the tire store.

You are lucky that they didn't do the alignment, because the tire store has some high school kid who has been given basic directions to put the car up on the machine and follow the directions the machine gives him. He really doesn't know anything about the suspension geometry, but relies entirely on the machine to do the job. He doesn't check anything for wear, he doesn't check anything for damage or being bent, he just follows the machine.

If nothing is damaged, loose, bent, or worn, you drive away with the alignment better than it was when you drove in. If that's not the case (and it likely isn't, otherwise you wouldn't be getting an alignment anyway), then you drive away with the alignment made worse.

--scott

At this point, I don't remember your "suggestion" ... but ... bearing in mind very important facts:

1. I did the job so it's related to this newsgroup, and,
2. I have been posting to Usenet for decades, where
3. Cowardly bullies like Tekkie are a detriment to this newsgroup.

The facts are I clearly removed, and replaced that clutch, and I just as clearly wrote the extremely detailed DIY (and am still working on improving that DIY so as to give back to the team - which is because I'm purposefully helpful and a great Usenet citizen), snapping almost a thousand pictures, of each removal and replacement step and describing for the next person, how to do what I did (with the purposefully helpful & timely advice from many others here).

So it's eminently clear that I responded to everyone who had purposefully helpful intent and am only now getting to responding to the worthless trolls who wouldn't know a clutch plate from a dinner plate.

Given that a. I actually did the job, and, b. I am very smart and can handle complex details, and, c. I didn't have time to shut the bullying cowardly trolls up,

If you feel that I didn't have an "interest" in your suggestion, then you can rest assured, since I'm rather intelligent and logical, that I most likely thought your suggestions were worthless and not even worth at response at the time that I needed help.

If you feel otherwise, then you're welcome to make a technically on-topic and technically valid post. I challenge you to do so, in fact as I do believe that even you have some value to add to the technical topic.

OOops. Correction (since I care about my credibility)...

Cowardly bullies like Tekkie *and* Trader4, are a detriment to this newsgroup.

Note: Wade Garrett is just an annoyance, like an annoying gnat.

Notice that the guys who are the dumbest on this newsgroup, always find something that is completely unrelated to the clutch job, which is teh topic here, to "complain" about.

The point here is that Tekkie has *never* once in his entire life added on-topic technical value to *any* thread. He's _that_ stupid, that he can't possibly add on-topic technical value.

Why do I say this now, after the clutch job is done?

Because Tekkie is a cowardly bully troll. a. He is a coward. b. He is a bully. c. And, worse, Tekkie proves how utterly _stupid_ he is in every post.

I confront cowardly bullies - in threads I care about - because I want those threads to come to a technical resolution.

Tekkie can be a cowardly bully on any thread that he wants to bully people on, and I let him be (yes, I read his idiotic posts all the time).

But that doesn't change the fact that Tekkie is a worthless cowardly bully. That fact is proven every time he posts - as he did here.

Meanwhile: a. I post a valid question, and I respond to all valid inquiries. b. Usually I have time to confront cowardly bullies - but not this time c. Yes, I care about my privacy - which is the only thing Tekkie sees.

Tekkie never once saw a 'clutch job' in this thread. Not once.

He's _that_ stupid (and it irks me that people are really as stupid as Tekkie proves he is every single time he posts).

Two related things irk me:

1. Cowardly bullies like Tekkie who have zero helpful intent, and,
2. Outfits like Sears/Midas/AAMCO who screw their trusting customers

I wasn't warned. It didn't occur to me to look. And that was *after* taking a high school shop elective in car repair.

The one beautiful thing about that high-school class though was the teacher, whom I thought was excellent, taught me about "systems".

I'm sure Clare, who teaches such things, would concur, where the "cooling system" is treated as a whole, and the "lubrication system" or "starting system" or "fuel system" or "emissions system" or "electrical system" or "drive train" or "suspension" is treated as a complete "system".

Having worked on both German (bimmer) and Japanese (toyota) vehicles, I can say that they both know individual "systems" well, where the Germans excel in integrating the "drive train and suspension" systems, but the Germans can't seem to make non-drive-train-related systems work while the Japanese seem to integrate all the systems well.

For example, in the bimmer, I can't count the number of silly things that go wrong (e.g., CCV in the emissions system), that just don't go wrong on the Japanese vehicles. Don't even get me started on the German "electrical system"....

This is good advice. I think Vic Smith said it well when he said not to go to the "franchises".

The problem, for a kid, like I was, is that the franchises are what are advertised the most. For example, I can still rehears the AAMCO advertising jingle even today, almost 40 years later.

I have to admit the only three franchises (is Sears a franchise? Probably not.) that screwed me are: a. AAMCO (they had to be liars because it was motor mounts) b. MIDAS (they literally did everything wrong on mounting tires) c. Sears (they charged me for an alignment they never did)

You can't really blame me for *trusting* them, since I'm sure millions of people trust them (I mean, it's not like I went to a local crack dealer to get my car fixed, nor that I went to a tire shop to get a transmission replaced).

But your advice is still valid not to trust them.

I agree with you that they don't even ask how you drive when you ask for an alignment, where, for example, I have to tell them to decrease the rear camber from negative 2 degrees to as close to zero as they can get - which is based on my driving style (I drive like an old man) and my care about tire wear (I rotate bimmer tires even though BMW doesn't recommend it).

I agree with you also, in that *most* alignment shops, even today, that I called, do NOT add the 500 pounds of weight that BMW says is needed to set the ride height to the "normal" position (lots of detail I'm omitting).

The only shop that I called, out of something like a dozen, that does use the weight, is the dealer themselves, and they do use the weight every time (it's not exactly 500 pounds but it's close enough because you put about that much in the vehicle until you get the ride height to the "normal" number of inches).

Only then are the numbers that BMW provides accurate.

NOTE: I don't know if Hunter *compensates* for lack of ride height or not. (Clare might know more.)

I agree that alignment has two different situations: a. When you suspect something is 'bent, and, b. Just checking periodically (to ensure nothing got loose).

Next on my list is alignment at home, where I'm only talking the very few things you can change by simple adjustment, which, for example, on the bimmer, is front toe and that's it for the front (sans adding aftermarket camber plates).

For the rear, it's toe and camber and that's it.

IMHO, after having thought of this problem for years, the real issue is the mental effort of figuring out how to convert BMW degrees of toe to centerline to something that you can measure in inches.

Camber, on the other hand, is easy to measure, but you need to get your level away from the tire bulge, which you *can* measure in degrees, but only if you can reliably keep the level away from the sidewall bulge and still perfectly parallel to the wheel.

If you measure by inches, e.g., if you use a plumb bob, then you're stuck doing trig again.

So of the six jobs almost nobody does at home, the alignment check is the one that makes the brain hurt the most - which is why - I think - nobody does it at home. (I could be wrong - but that's what I think unless someone can give me their reason - which can't be that you need $100K of equipment so please do not say that because it's just dead wrong and yet I've heard it a thousand times).

Why don't most people periodically *check* their alignment at home? (I think the answer is that it makes the brain hurt to figure out how.)

o buy used ones on

years old when I

o replace the

I used one of those big Chilton multi-year/model manuals to change the timi ng belts on a Subaru. It was simple enough except they left out a step wher e you turn the crankshaft 360 degrees after installing one belt. This meant that one cam was 180 degrees out of phase with the other cam. It also mean t that your engine wasn't going to start. That was a very bad mistake.

I'll amend that about franchise shops. Tire shops like Firestone, Just Tires, etc. have good alignment equipment, or at least should have. My son worked for Just Tires for a few years, and now works at an independent shop doing mainly heavy truck suspensions. He talks to old mates at Just Tires, and sends me there when I need alignment work, which is rare. So far they've done a fine job as far as I can tell. I've had 4-5 exhaust systems replaced (family cars) at a local Meineke at fair prices. But they screwed up a brake job - left off the e-brake lever on the rear drum. It all depends on management and personnel. Just be aware of that, and that a competent mech can point you to competent shops. This has always worked for me, when I can't do it myself.

I had an early Audi that was a lot of laughs. I was in upstate New Hampshire headed for Canada when it stopped raining. I turned the wipers off and they didn't. Fortunately I found a phone to call the dealership and ask where the relay was. The alternative was to remove the arms but that wasn't as easy as it sounds. Then there was the plug wires. At around 15,000 miles that car wouldn't start. No warning, no rough idle, just no start. I learned to keep spares in the trunk.

VW was also in the learning process of swapping ends from rear engine/rear drive to front engine/front drive. That didn't go well.

Finally, there was the national 55 mph speed limit that got slapped on us. The car wasn't geared to do 55 except as a momentary point on the way to a reasonable cruising speed.

That was my last German car. Audi must have improved quite a bit.

I might be one of the few members of my generation that never owned a beetle, never rode in one for more than 5 miles, and never drove one further than 50 yards. The design philosophy fascinated me though. You could pretty much take a few apart, mix and match, and put them together again. In an era where US manufacturers were doing their best to make sure every model year was utterly incompatible with the previous, that was something.

I still get irate at times. How many frigging oil filters that almost but not quite the same does the world need? Those little plastic bits?

Fortunately, Bentleys have never been on my menu. My fling with British sports cars was enough. Damn Whitworth and all his descendants.

With age comes wisdom... One winter when the pickup was acting up I bought a used Geo figuring I'd deal with it in the spring. The Geo turned out to be a durable little ride. Its only problem was it was sort of cactus green. I drove it down to Arizona and when I went hiking in the desert I was careful to create a GPS waypoint. It could vanish completely in a saguaro thicket.

Speaking of tires, a neighbor had a catastrophic flat today where she called me to help but I was at the hospital getting stitches for my arm:

I couldn't help her - so I gave her my wife's AAA card number where she impersonated my wife and the tow operator changed the tire for her.

The tow guy said the tire is in great shape treadwise, and he said the tire is 3 years old based on the serial (3415) and when I asked her to read the numbers, she said it's a Toyo Eclipse P205/65R15 92T (yes, I know what all those numbers mean) with markings of CDE3415 and DOTN39L.

She's not the original owner but she has had the car for a year.

Do you know how to complain to the government that this tire should not have blown out like that? I know she didn't abuse it, where it's on a typical Japanese sedan but when you see that picture, you'll be amazed.

She said she was going about 80 and the tires were checked just last week for air pressure, and she immediately pulled over to the side of the road within ten seconds.

Have you ever filed a complaint with the government for a 3 year old tire?

One good Internet DIY is better than the shop manuals, except for the torque specs (IMHO).