Technical can you remove the 54 235 chevy truck bellhousing.....

an you remove the 54 235 chevy truck bellhousing without removing the clutch and fly wheel? Ive got the outside bolts out, but I know theres 2-4 up in there somewhere.

 

Nope

 

The clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel will have to be removed to gain access to the other bolts

 

do these need to be marked to go back in exactly the positions they are in now for any reason?

 

Drop the ******. Pull the motor and wham fully exposed bell housing as these are the support for rear of motor and hold the ******

 

I think the flywheel dowels are offset and only go one way, but it's been a long time since I put one together, so I could be wrong. I doubt the clutch is original still, so don't worry about getting it back how it was.

 

If I recall correctly (it's been awhile) there are a couple of small dowel pins that locate the bellhousing to the block. As stated above, there are bolts concealed behind (in front of) the flywheel and it must be removed to access them.

Edit. Reread your question....perhaps you were asking about the flywheel and pressure plate, not the bell housing. The flywheel may only mount in one position so that is not a problem. Regarding the clutch, I would look for holes that were drilled to lighten the heavy side of both the flywheel and pressure plate to balance them. If possible, I would mount the drilled area of the pressure plate 180* from the drilled area of the flywheel.....or as near 180 as possible. However, if you don't, it won't really matter...

Ray

 

yes pressure plate and clutch. orig q was removing bell housing w/o removing fly wheel. ill pull it all apart. not orig anything all rebuilt, so ill mark it to put it back the same. the issue is although the guy said it was in a 54 truck, the housing is flat like a car housing and wont go. the housing on my old engine is slanted like the cross member so im swapping housings.

 

Swapping bell housings shouldn't pose any problems. Most manufacturers tolerances were acceptable in that regard. One notable exception is Studebaker. The shop manual strongly suggest one 'center' the bell housing on the block with a dial indicator when making subs***utions.

Ray

 

One more dumb question and I'm golden. Throw out bearing on the clutch fork....it's got a thick and then end. Thick end against the pressure plate? W thick end against the plate, stuffs kinda tight.

 

not sure what you mean, but the side with the big round bearing has to bear against the clutch.

 

What can be used in place of a alignment tool to keep the clutch plate in the center when tightening bolts?

 

depend on cluch if it has co**** teeth or fine i dont think your replacing the clutch but usualy it comes as a kit if your buying a clutch.

 

This is the front side of the truck bellhousing if you don't have it out yet. I think that there are six bolts holding it on


Another shot from a slightly different angle.


Be careful when taking the clutch and flywheel off as they like to drop down and hit you in the face if you aren't careful or catch your arm if you are off to the side. Stick a pilot shaft or long 1/2 inch extension in the clutch and pilot bushing when you take the clutch loose to catch it if it tries to fall. There is a bit of finessing to get it out and back in too. The flywheel weighs about 40 lbs and you don't want that dropping on you either.

 

if you don't have an alignment tool, you can use an old input shaft from a transmission, or buy an alignment tool, the plastic ones are not very expensive.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/PIO0/TAT5301/02996.oap

 

Most of the clutch kits now come with a plastic pilot shaft. I have had an old input shaft that I cut off and welded a ring to in my tool box for the past 40 something years That I made up long before seeing the plastic ones with the rings on them.

 

They stole your idea! I still have the cut off input shaft I made decades ago, I never put a ring on it, but I never seemed to need one, either. it pulls out just fine without.

 

You really don't need the splines on the alignment tool. A tool can be made with a piece of round stock turned to fit closely to the inside of the spline and a step with the diameter of the pilot bearing. You're just making sure the diameters are concentric so the input of the trans slide through to the pilot bearing.

 

I've got one or two of that style of alignment tools the cut down input shaft I made, old input shafts and a set that I bought with various adapters to fit in the different pilot bushings that has a tapered cone to align the clutch disk and the splined ones work so much ******** better that it isn't funny.

 

I have a universal one that has a lot of different size collars, they are not splined, but they're not tapered, it works ok. I don't have to use it often.

 

got one at oreilley thanks

 

thanks for taking the time to take photos. yea, the flywheel fell and the teeth tore a hole in my show LOL. oh well live n learn.

 

I screwed up a thumb pretty bad years ago when a flywheel fell on it, they're dangerous! safety first

 

I carried the teeth marks from a flywheel ring gear in one of these trucks along my bicep for several years after it dropped when I was taking it out. That is one reason I stressed being safe doing it.