Another 46 to 47 project!

[DreamsOfA47]

Pry it with a screwdriver? I’m trying that currently and nothing seems to be happening with that…

Should I try to free it form the fork itself at the flat spots on the sides?? I’m quite stumped

[BDA]

I have a feeling you are thinking that there’s more to the throw out bearing than there is. What you’re looking to do is take a bearing off the carrier.

Check out this picture (http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/tcparts/q/tcqa.pdf). You want to slide the throw out bearing (6) off of the carrier (5).

[DreamsOfA47]

Yes that would be great, but it seems that I can’t Somerset 5 and 6 on an S1 or Renault powered car. Maybe the bearing is just frozen on the carrier but I’m really not sure. I’ve tried to separate them but it’s not cooperating

[BDA]

Oops!! I zoned out! I thought you had a TC. Sorry!   

Here is the page for the clutch in the workshop manual (http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/s2work/q/s2q.pdf).  Unfortunately, the parts manual doesn’t seem to mention the throw out bearing.

It isn’t obvious how it comes out but it appears that you pry it out of the carrier but the bearing is deeper in the carrier… but you surely already know that.

Sorry I can’t be more helpful…

[jbcollier]

On the 336 transaxle, you can't swing the clutch arm far enough to get the release bearing assembly off.  You have to remove the pins in the actuating arm to allow the arm to swing far enough.  The pins are hardened and tapered.  They do not come out easily.  Naturally, there is a factory tool for the job.  You won't have one, no one around you will have one, so you have to get them out another way.  Look carefully at the bell housing on the other side from the pins.  Drill two holes and drive the pins out from the back side.

Once you have the assembly off, use a press to change the bearing.

[DreamsOfA47]

JB that is not welcome news...
I'll start looking into that and seeing what I can make happen. The new T/O bearing I purchased is already pressed on the carrier so if I can get they arm to move far enough forward I may be able to slide it off and replace the whole assembly. I'll let you all know how it goes!

[DreamsOfA47]

Today I managed to get the spring off of the clutch arm and was then able to move the arm outboard enough to free the fork from the shaft and replace the entire bearing barrier assembly! The gearbox is reassembled and after installing a new right-side output shaft seal I have the gearbox back in the car. The left rear suspension is mounted up and the rot pin is in the output shaft but the right side is now fighting me and winning... 

No matter what I do I'm not able to get the pin-hole on the gearbox to align with the hole on the shaft. The pin gave me a little trouble on removal for this side but but nothing that would indicate the holed were misaligned. Also I made sure to tighten the finned seal nut to exactly the same tightness to ensure the bearing preload is retained so I don't think the new seal would cause any alignment issues. No matter how I try and align the splines the holes never seem to line up properly. and no amount of manipulation of the swing arm has helped either. I'm tempted to drill out the hole to a fractionally larger diameter but that would mean the whole in the transaxle output stub would no longer be round but oblong. The new roll pins from RD are slightly bigger diameter than the old ones, too... maybe drilling need be done

Any advice or cautions for me, y'all?

[TurboFource]

Rotate it 180 degrees and try it…seemed to matter on mine…you did check to make sure it is shimmed correctly too?

[DreamsOfA47]

I tried that more than once as well but to no avail. There weren't any shims on the axles when I removed them. If anything the axle seems to be too far outboard but I can't tell what it is thats preventing everything from lining up. I spent hours trying to ensure the splines lined up appropriately and it seems that they are but maybe somehow they aren't?

[Richard48Y]

Tapered punch to line it up?

[DreamsOfA47]

I'll have to acquire one but that was going to be my next move. The problem with that is it's proximity to the gearbox itself may make it hard to get the punch in there and angled correctly.

[GavinT]

Yep, it's tight in there - often easier to get a straight shot from underneath.
Perhaps just grind down a short bolt to fashion a tapered punch? It's only for temporary lining up purposes so doesn't have to be super accurate.

The roll pin holes are slightly offset from centre so the the yoke and the shaft will only line up in a single orientation. I'd advise not to drill out the holes.
Measure the new roll pins. Perhaps try one in the yoke while it's detached so as to assess the fit.

If the axle appears to be "too far outboard", there's something wrong.
Maybe the spacer is hung up on the O-ring because it's not correctly seated? The shim pack needs to be determined before driving in the pin.

[DreamsOfA47]

I was thinking of getting creative with a Dremel tool and a chem screwdriver to fashion a punch! I'll be sure to try and reorient the axle and output shaft to ensure I have the right orientation, but I've tried rotating it more than once and I believe its in the more aligned orientation. I'll have to give it another go.

I've seen many references to the shims and the o-ring. I don't think I noticed them while working on the gearbox. Where are the supposed to be in the assembly? Where do they go? Did someone neglect to put them on my car, perhaps?

[jbcollier]

Ok, let's back up a bit.

- First, congratulations on getting the release bearing changed without pulling the pins.  A LOT less grief that way.  Hopefully that will work for others as well

- You said you changed RH output seal.  How did you do that?  Did you mark the nut and carefully count the turns?  With the tranny already out, it would have been best to pull the bell housing and set things up properly.  Still, it might work out.

- No shims?  It is deliberately designed to require shims.  Make sure everything is clean and the seal-run spacer fully seated, and check again.

-  The o-ring is on the output shafts, it goes on first and then the seal-run spacer pops over it.

6140 and 6141 in the diagram below:

http://www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/s1parts/f/f6.htm

[DreamsOfA47]

Ok let me explain better:

-Thanks! It definitely was a lot less effort than trying to remove the pins but it still took some problem solving to get everything apart without damaging anything. Getting it back together was pretty straightforward.

-Yes I did change the right output shaft seal and yes that’s exactly how I did it. Here’s where it gets interesting actually: the finned nut (6141) already had a yellow painted mark on the nut itself and the gearbox case. Also many fins on the nut itself were broken off previous to my attempting anything. I think someone had worked on this gearbox/shaft assembly before and didn’t do the best job. I changed the seal with the gearbox laying on its side on the floor of my garage and was very careful to count the exact number of turns and to make careful note of all the parts in the assembly. There wasn’t an o-ring on the shaft; that may have been the cause of the really bad leak from that assembly come to think of it. Because 6140 wasn’t present when I took everything apart I didn’t install one. Bummer it looks like I’ll be draining the oil again tomorrow and taking that nut off 
That all being said the leak I was trying to fix is gone and the gearbox appears to be sealed and not leaking currently.

-I did not see any shims of any kind. That’s really strange. Seeing as this has been taken apart before I wonder if the previous tinkerer forgot to put the shims back in. Come to think of it I don’t recall any on the left side either. Where do these shims go? Between the axles and the output shaft of the gearbox?

Edit: I just checked this diagram to confirm and no spacers were installed on my car. Also the roll pins holding my axles on didn’t have the inner pin, it was just the larger outer ones it seems. Weird…
http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/s1parts/d/index.htm