RamTip#2-webBy Archie Bosman

When installing a transmission, the first challenge is engaging the splines of the input shaft in the clutch disc and sliding it home into the pilot bearing without causing damage. But the complications are amplified when you have to mate the transmission with two clutch discs and the pilot bearing.

Plastic alignment tools are inexact in their dimensions, which add to the problem. However, if using a plastic alignment tool ensure it slides easily in the splines as well as in the pilot bearing as you tighten the clutch cover assembly to the flywheel—always using a crisscross pattern. If the alignment tool is tight, the transmission input shaft will be tighter! 

Ram-ClutchAlignTool-webUseful alternatives to plastic tools are Ram’s new steel alignment tools. Simple, inexpensive and convenient, they are precision-machined to fit the splines and pilot. More appealing still, they feature an open-ended design with a shank that is smaller in diameter than the splines, allowing you to load clutch parts onto the tool when it’s already engaged in the pilot bearing in the crankshaft.

In other words this device allows you the convenience of installing the flywheel on the engine, slipping the alignment tool into the pilot bearing and sliding the discs onto the tool one at a time with the floater plate sandwiched between.

For further information contact:
RAM Automotive Company
201 Business Park Blvd.
Columbia, SC 29203
Telephone (803) 788-6034
www.ramclutches.com