How many hours to replace clutch?
 

Assuming a very experienced professional mechanic...How many hours is reasonable to swap out the pressure plate, throwout bearing and clutch plate?

Thanks

Jeff

Four hours...excluding resurfacing the flywheel.

Well this ain't in your back yard mud shop with a factory jack!

And he did say experienced! OK 4.375 hours. :)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1094086402.jpg

Anyone with recent experience???

Jeff,

I saw your post about the losing power. I hate to say, but very few shops will charge the actual labor time for a clutch replacement. I think John Walker has the most reasonable rates I have seen and he charges by the job.

Nice set up. With that, it shouldn't take more than 3-4 weeks. You'll drain the oil, unhook the harness, decouple the shifting joint, drink a drink, leave the engine/tranny on the secondary jack as you lift the car up... up... and away....... and then you'll get hypnotized by the rear suspension leading you to replace the shocks with some kind of coil over. That leads to the front suspension... and so on... until you completely forget that you originally started with the idea of a clutch replace.

Yep... 3 - 4 weeks.

One whole day if you really know your car.

I can't imagine doing it in less than 8 hours without help from a buddy and rushing with the right tools.

No, no, no...a cutch job shoudl take longer than 3-4 weeks. An oil leak takes 3-4 weeks. With a clutch job, the tranny and engine get separated and then you have to take all the tin off for power coating, pressure wash the crude off the tranny and engine, and if you are lucky, you won't have to reseal the case..

But most shops charge 4 hrs just for an engine drop/install. A good wrench should be able to get the clutch in there in less than an hour once the thing is out.

Thaat's what I'm talking about... The zen of man and machine

I just did it a last weekend. It was my first major Porsche repair. If I didn't have to make a tool run for those darn "internal wrench" pressure plate bolts, it would have been quite quick. It took me just over 7 hours for my first time, with just a little help from the wife to hold the atv lift while I pulled the transaxle off the studs. I would only hope someone armed with more knowledge than Wayne's book and a first reading of a shop manual could do better. I bet I could get it down on an early car to 6hours next time (hopefully not for awhile though).

Thanks Guys

I won't even tell you what showed up on the bill.

Jeff

Please share....

Where did you feel gouged? Labor, parts or both? At least tell us how many hours he billed you for.

JW's cost is very very fair...and he fully guarantees his work. He just did my clutch for much less than other shops in town.

2 weeks for a 993, including the time to order / receive all the parts from Pelican that I ordered after the engine / tranny were out of the car. :p I had to keep Richard Leschander away so I wouldn't loose 6 - 8 weeks for various modifications he'd suggest. :D

Come on, please share.....Grief loves company. How bad was the labor hours charged out? If you don't care to share $$$, how about the hours so that us home mechanics can feel good in comparison to those skilled techs with all the proper tools.

I had someone quote me 15 hrs so I figured it would be good experience. So for it's only taken me 4 months.;)

here's how it is going for me...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/201198-shuddering-clutch-915-a.html

of course, when the car sits on stands for this long, the fuel pump gets relocated to the front, new clutch cable, adjust the rear konis, add rear sway bar, new engine/trans mounts, new plug wires, ahhhhhh!!!!!!!

good luck!

:D

word up

4 hours? seems a bit lengthy. Did this two weekends ago, drain oil in the tank, disconnect oil lines, throttle cable on tranny, electrical to starter, electrical in engine bay, unbolt tranny from motor, put a jack or lift or whatever under the tranny, drop the engine. A competent wrench can drop an engine in about 20 minutes, I have seen it. So now you just slap in a new clutch, TO bearing, bolt the engine up to the tranny, bolt it back on its mounts, reconnect everything and your done. Two hours seems failry reasonable.

"A competent wrench can drop an engine in about 20 minutes", I'd pay to see that...on someone elses engine. :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1081208268.jpg

I can drop my motor in about 15 minutes, but it is far from stock, the oil lines don't need to be disconnected, only the fuel and wiring

this thread is about a repair at the track that could have been a clutch swap, but was not, but the timeing is about right, 3.5 hours when I was rushed but fiddled around a bit in the middle.

thread

ACtual time and book rate vary. I wouldn't freak out for anything under 6 hours.... 4-5 is probably average.

However if you've done it a few times, as with Jims car, it goes faster. Myself, Souk, and a few guys did a main-seal replacement on my racecar in about 2.5 hours total.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1106243736.jpg

Honestly, two weekends ago I saw my dad's engine come out of his car in 20 minutes. Throw it on the lift, disconnect the engine bay wiring, oil lines after you drain the tank, throttle cable, 4 bolts on the tranny and the two motor mounts. Having a lift and steel welded engine cart help a bit.

I dropped the engine and tranny out of my 72 in about 40 minutes yesterday. Not much to it.

one of these days I am going to do the mod that allows you to pull the motor out without jacking up the car, without the back seat in, I can disconnect everything, so it would be alot easier to just unbolt and roll like the pros. Then it will be under 10 minutes to get it out.

OT: on our RX7 it was a 20 minute job to swap trani's, once had it done during a enduro, hardest part was not burning yourself on the exhaust or hot oil.

Jim

Jim

Me and an apprentice from work had my engine and gearbox sitting on the jack still warm from the drive home in a smidge over an hour. Only problem was I didnt have car high enough up.
It depends on how quick you need/want to do it. If you went balls out and didn't replace the spigot bush, helper spring or remove the flywheel then an experienced mechanic with right tools could easy do it in under 3 hours.

I've done it plenty of times and there's no way a first timer will get it done in 4-5 hrs. A pro with a lift can probably do it, but they'll probably charge you book rate and make the extra money for being good and fast. If clutch replacement is the ONLY thing you're doing and you really know your stuff, you can knock it out in under a day at home. Otherwise, plan on two weekends.