Luk is one of your best options and fairly inexpensive; get a new LUK flywheel at the same time.

Just a few notes offhand:
- I’m not sure on the 2.5, but the exhaust should disconnect without cutting
- You’ll be fine without a lift but will make it easier if you put the Jeep up on jack stands under the frame
- Be sure you have an E12 socket for the two upper bell housing bolts
- Buy lots of brake fluid to bleed the clutch hydraulic system
- Buy one of the Harbor Freight transmission jacks (small square red one) for $100, it works great
- Don’t remove the transfer case, it’s not hard to maneuver the trans and tcase together
- Remove your carpet, shift boots, and plate in the floor, it makes access much easier for a few parts of the job

Honestly...$815 sounds like a good deal to me. The clutch isn’t THAT hard, it’s just a lot of work. If you want to do it yourself and have a couple days, go for it!!


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Thank you for the info brentnclemson, much appreciated. I'll look into the transmission jack.

 

Also, I have gravelgarage here who is close by and willing to lend a hand.

Hell yeah let’s do it ourselves. I have pullers and an extra floor jack we can rig up to drop the tranny. I’ve got extra jack stands too and pneumatic tools. I’ll bring drinks!

 

Invite me!

 

I think the hardest part is lining up the trans shaft with the pilot bearing when you are putting it back together. Good to have 2 people to muscle it into alignment.

 

Figured I'd give an update on this since my original post. As of tonight, the clutch job has been completed. Since my original post I drove the jeep a few times and had some planned trips so I new I wasn't going to start this in February or March. I've spent the last 3 weeks, working on this as time permitted. This was a one man show as Gravelgarage gave me some excuse that he had angina last weekend ( Just Kidding Gravelgarage ). This was by far my biggest job to date. It was truly daunting with all that had to be striped before even getting to the transmission. I was lucky enough to have a family friend who had a transmission jack. I will say, I manly followed this Youtube Video

he did a great job of documenting the steps. I learned a ton on the way. Such as I have an AX5 transmission, although its not as good as the AX15, still good info to know. If you were to ask me what was the hardest part. Well, since this was my first crack at it. I would say at first it was the actual removal of the transmission from the bellhousing. Like I said, I just had normal tooling. I would get two or three bolts out and be stuck on the rest. I'd give up for the night and come back to it the next day and on the first try get it. It was certainly a humbling experience. Oh, how about the pilot bearing! The bread trick really does work! 2 pieces of bread and a ton of hammering and it came right out. Here is a youtube of that

Now, it was a pain to clean it all out, but dang it worked like a charm. I would agree with JMO69 as well. Pulling the tranny back in was a feat in itself. Took me 3 tries on my own. Once I had the angle right, I got lucky and it slid right in. The last 3 nights, I spent reassembling everything and had the starter and shifters left to install tonight. That push and twist mechanism for the main shifter is a bear to get. While I was at it, I did replace the 4wd shifter bushing as I could just pull it off the post. Glad that's fixed. Once everything was back together, it was the moment of truth, and to be honest I was a bit worried I did something wrong or missed a step. I will say, the clutch went right to the floor and I was worried. However is sprang back and I could feel the new clutch grab and I slowly crept forward. It drives completely different, but its so smooth now. When I pulled the old clutch, it was toast. I hope this one lasts another 162,000 miles. If you look back at my original post. I was quoted $815 and that was the best price I could find. Would I do this job again, or pay $815? That's a hard question, as I spent many weekends and nights doing this. Of course I did this as time permitted. If I only had an hour of free time, I'd skip working on the jeep as I needed a solid 2-4 hours to get certain bits apart. If I needed the truck quickly and time was of the essence, then I would have paid someone to do this for me. I will say, I learned a ton on how this machine operates. It's amazing on how you get into something and your like I need to replace this and that. I replaced a few odds and ends as I reassembled. Happy this job is behind me and I hope it lasts. Thanks to all the encouragement and this forum for a place to find information.


c-ya on the trails!!

 

Oh, I want to also add. I had to cut my exhaust to drop the transmission. I wasn't expecting that as well. I found a 2" exhaust clamp and some exhaust tap and It's back together. I wasn't keen on doing that, but I guess if I need to drop the exhaust for any reason, 4 bolts and its done.

 

It is not a bad one man job but couple key points
Never ever pull tranny last inch with tightening bolts you must wiggle it all the way on or risk damaging crank bearing

It really helps to have 2 long bell to block bolts with heads cut off to use as supporting guide pins while wiggling tranny home

For these bolts cut off heads grind cut end domed then grind a slot to let you use flat blade screwdriver to remove once other bolts installed


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Welcome to the Forum alirn1971,

Good Luck, L.M.