ok boys so i'm good there, thanks dukeboy. but now i'm extremly frustrated!!! i've got it all mocked up and the input shaft is in the clutch, except shy from being flush by about 3 inches! i've worked for 5 hours trying to get it the rest of the way on and bolts in it. why is this? i've leveled it with the previous bolt holes so it shouldn't be binded from boing in, in fact i can push it in up to the point of about 3 inches gap. i've spun the output shaft as to try and line up the input shaft splines, but that doesn't seem to work. i've compressed the clutch to see if that would give me some room, helped a little but still shy. can't quite get the bolts to start threading. i've tried everything but no success. what could be holding her up? should the clutch be compressed for the re-installation process? i've spent 5 hours and i had to take a shower just so the wife would let me on the computer....

 

that is the hardest part of putting a clutch in. are you sure you are centered. if you are try turning the flywheel a little.

 

Are you sure you have engaged the clutch? Is the tranny in gear or in neutral when you spin the output shaft? Other than making sure the trans is level with the engine I don't know what to tell you. Just make sure there is an even gap all the way around between the engine and trans. You could also buy some longer bolts to help line up your trans but you shouldn't use them to draw your trans to the engine.

Also check to make sure the clutch is centered with the pilot bearing. If you have a clutch alignment tool that would be best. Other wise your going to have to eyeball it. Unless you backed off the pressure plate or bumped it(you would have to bump it pretty hard) the clutch shouldn't have moved. Good luck.

 

If you dont have the trans completely level with the engine its not going to slid in.

 

i just put a new valair clutch it my truck. it went super easy. used the tranny jack at school got the imput shaft in, then has the tranny/bellhousing flush in 15 seconds. had the tranny in and all bolts threaded and torqued in 3 mintues . but you definatly want the alignment tool like kazairl said. makes everything easy. if not it will be hard to eyeball.
thats just my 2 cents

 

well he may not have bumped it prior to install, but once he depressed the clutch the disc may have dropped and now he does need to align it (worst case scenario) by eye balling it you can usually tell if it's off center abit... as for eyeballing to line it up... isnt as easy as it seems

 

he lost the alignment when he pressed clutch down, 3 inches, the shafts not even in the disc yet., what you need to do is pull it back(yes its a bitch, had to do it myself twice, aint fun), realign the disc and pilot bearing with each other. then what i did is got some 5 inch long stainless, grade 8 carriage bolts you need 4,when i got the trans input shaft just inside the bellhousing, i put the bolts in, this helped align the trans and just required some slight wiggleing to get it into the disc and then into the pilot bearing. Leave trans under it to support the wieght and another trick i found after pulling the trans and clutch bout 3 times this year is to put a jack under the front of the motor and use a wide flat piece of wood and level the motor out. the cummins is front heavy without the trans so it tilts forward sometimes and makes it harder yet to get everything aligned. if you get stuck, pm me and ill give you my number and ill try to help you where i can. Between my 2 trucks and the 2 farm trucks, ive pulled a crap ton of clutches. The worst are dual disc, i hated putting those in.