I'll tell you what, if the Polo's clutch needs doing anytime soon, it ain't gonna be me doing it. :notme:

 

Yeah I know what you mean. I'd have to do mine if it went as I couldn't afford the labour costs but I wouldn't look forward to it, that's for sure.

Couple of tips for anyone reading this in future.

 

(On this engine) you need a 9mm 12-point socket for the bolts that hold the cover plate/pressure plate to the flywheel, but make it a 3/8" or 1/4" drive one rather than a 1/2" like I had to use, as it's too fat to get straight onto them.  I got away with it, but I wished that all my small-drive 9mm sockets weren't 6-point.

 

Have a couple of the little captive nut thingies that the wishbone balljoint bolts go into, as well as half a dozen spare bolts.  It's muuuch easier to get the driveshafts out of the way if you can get both hubs out a bit from the ends of the wishbones.   As luck would have it, I did buy 3 bolts, and found 3 others and two of the nut plate things in a spares box, so I didn't have to go out shopping this morning.  Oh, and when you refit these bolts, after your 20Nm plus 90-degrees, grease the exposed threads above the nut, to make life better if you ever re-visit in the future.

 

If you don't have airtools or an electric rattle gun, don't mess about trying to undo the starter motor bolts or any of the M12 gearbox to engine bolts (3 of these, front below starter, rear above O/S drive flange and top centre) without a nice long breaker bar, only the top one came out for me without serious leaning on a 750mm bar.  The one above the O/S diveshaft is a pain to access, I ended up joining up about 5 1/2" extensions of various lengths so I could work from outside the right hand wheel arch. 

 

Sneaking the diff out/in past the flywheel and subframe was awkward even after removing the offside drive flange (6mm allen key bolt, right up the middle).

 

Removing the driveshafts from the drive flanges is easier if you have a bar that bolts into a couple of the wheelbolt holes in the hubs and braces against the ground to stop the whole lot rotating as you undo/re-tighten the bolts.  I had one that I made for my Golf, just had to file the holes inward a bit to take from it 4x100 to 5x100 fitting.

Edited 31 December, 20169 yr by Wino

Removing the driveshafts from the drive flanges is easier if you have a bar that bolts into a couple of the wheelbolt holes in the hubs and braces against the ground to stop the whole lot rotating as you undo/re-tighten the bolts.  I had one that I made for my Golf, just had to file the holes inward a bit to take from it 4x100 to 5x100 fitting.

 

Or you can just jam the brake pedal down with something, they're not that tight, I use a telescopic twist 'n' lock thingy, can't remember where it came from.

This has an 02T box, yours is 02R I think. Fill/drain plugs use 17mm male hex tool which I have. Locations sound quite different though.

 

Removing the gearbox without anything to lift or support the engine sounds like a neat trick, given that two out of three engine mounts have to be undone.

 

Genuine oil on hand, cheap @ £7/litre. :)

 

Fill plug's here, drain more or less opposite on t'other side of diff, lower down, more under the driveshaft than alongside:

 

 

Haynes says either. Garage who topped up gearbox said 02T and it took 2L ,SO AT £20, I'm not to upset at having new oil in . Drain plug was at rear of box, suspiciously near where engine drain was. Nice to know the size of the box fil/check plug though - I'll get one of those for next service.I'd have stopped and looked around, and I'd have loved to get under, but once down, I'd need a lot of help to get out.( Surprised me that the engine drain was not a star key)

Didn't see them use anything to support engine , but possibly I was in wrong line. I do know that the box was a two man lift. Must be a weight, as last one I saw that weight was on an old Vauxhall, where the bellhousing had to come off first as both were too heavy. I used to get my blacksmith mate to help- way better than a trolley jack. For alignment, and I've done a few, I've always used an old socket extension bar and a bit of fiddle way. Only time I came unstuck was on my mates Estelle, where I couldn't get the alignment right and fitted the box with the clutch slightly loose and tightened the bolts through the rear seat.

On ‎03‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 22:26, VWD said:

Haynes says either. Garage who topped up gearbox said 02T and it took 2L ,SO AT £20, I'm not to upset at having new oil in . Drain plug was at rear of box, suspiciously near where engine drain was. Nice to know the size of the box fil/check plug though - I'll get one of those for next service.I'd have stopped and looked around, and I'd have loved to get under, but once down, I'd need a lot of help to get out.( Surprised me that the engine drain was not a star key)

Didn't see them use anything to support engine , but possibly I was in wrong line. I do know that the box was a two man lift. Must be a weight, as last one I saw that weight was on an old Vauxhall, where the bellhousing had to come off first as both were too heavy. I used to get my blacksmith mate to help- way better than a trolley jack. For alignment, and I've done a few, I've always used an old socket extension bar and a bit of fiddle way. Only time I came unstuck was on my mates Estelle, where I couldn't get the alignment right and fitted the box with the clutch slightly loose and tightened the bolts through the rear seat.

 

This is the drain plug on 02T, so I'm pretty sure yours can't be that, cos that's nowhere near the engine drain plug at all, it's under the (RHD) nearside drive flange/shaft as I said earlier. That's a pic stolen from an ebay ad, don't worry, mine doesn't have dents in the end cover.

Edited 19 June, 20188 yr by Wino
pic fix

As promised somewhere earlier, the dimensions of the clutch alignment tool that were a lovely snug fit when shimmed with tape:

 

 

 

I also measured some of the removed bolt lengths (driveshaft, gearbox mount, gearbox- to-gearbox mount bracket, and wishbone balljoint) versus new genuine replacements, 'cos I wondered how many might actually be permanently lengthened.  Surprised me a little, to be honest . Measured with a height gauge to 2 decimal places on a granite 'flat thing'.

I'll collate the results that were noted down on about five separate bits of paper when I get a chance.  (Executive summary: replace)

Edited 19 June, 20188 yr by Wino
pic fix