Get'n Gription

To prevent destroying the disc, you should always resurface or replace your flywheel when changing the clutch. Ours was hashed, so we took the opportunity to step up to a heavier Hays flywheel for better off-road performance. You should make sure the face depth of the new unit is close to the stocker before bolting it in. Ours was bang-on.

We checked our pilot bushing for roughness. It felt good, so we left it. Replacing it would be cheap insurance, but we like to live dangerously. We reused the flywheel bolts with a dab of Loctite and torqued them to 55 lb-ft. Use a prybar or long screwdriver strategically placed to keep the crank from spinning as you tighten the bolts.

Douse the flywheel, clutch disc, and pressure plate with brake cleaner. It's crucial to the life of the new clutch that there be absolutely no dirt or grease on these components. Using the alignment tool to center the disc, install the supplied pressure plate bolts, and torque them down.

Borg and Beck-type (three-finger) pressure plates come shipped with these metal blocks. Don't remove them until the pressure plate is torqued down or it could bend and get destroyed. Conversely, don't forget to remove them after it's torqued or they'll come loose and destroy more than the pressure plate.

We had a bit of trouble getting the factory aluminum bellhousing over the new Hays flywheel because the starter teeth were in a slightly different location. After we ground the bellhousing a bit, we discovered that we're boneheads and were just angling it on wrong. Some applications may require bellhousing spacers or aftermarket scattershields for proper fit. Ours didn't.

With the bellhousing bolted on, use a dab of heavy grease to lube the contact points of the clutch fork. The Hays throwout bearing is a sealed unit and shouldn't be lubricated.

Lube the clutch fork ball stud with some heavy grease, then slide it through the bellhousing. It should snap onto the ball stud securely. Try not to let the grease on the end of the clutch fork get on the pressure plate fingers.

Slip the throwout bearing onto the end of the clutch fork and attach the pedal linkage to the clutch fork. Don't adjust the clutch pedal play until the transmission is installed.

After cleaning our NP435 and cast-iron adapter, it was unceremoniously heaved back in and the clutch pedal free play was set. Our application called for a 0.050-inch air gap between the disc and flywheel with the pedal depressed, and a distance of 0.250 inch between the throwout bearing and the pressure plate fingers with the pedal at rest.