For what it is worth a friend who has an '85 just puts the socket with an extension on the loosened clutch hub nut and smacks it with a hammer (4lb sledge). He helped me work on an '86 and it worked but we had to whack it a few times to get the clutch basket loose.

I'm not sure if yours has it but be on the lookout for a wood-ruff key. It is small and you can easily lose it. It is between the clutch basket and the transmission shaft (if your transmission shaft is smooth you have one, if it is splined you don't).

 

Double Post

 

For what it`s worth, beating on the mainshaft with a four pound sledgehammer is worth zero.

That method will beat the snot out of the bearings on the other end of the mainshaft, maybe crack the trapdoor...

Use the puller.

 

If it is worth zero then why does it work?

 

The puller is a simple device available for around $10 at an auto part store.

I used a 4 point steering wheel puller.

Once you tighten the puller's shaft snug, tap on the end of the puller with a hammer and it'll send a slight shock wave threw to "pop" loose the clutch drum off the tapered and keyed tranny input shaft.

It sounds like you haven't dissembled the clutch yet. Once you pull the outer hub and the clutch discs and plates the nut is no longer deeply seated inside the clutch, it'll be easier to get to.

BTW Trannys have multiple seals and often it's the I/O (input / output) shaft seal and requires special tools. You have a lot to disassemble to get to it.

BUT if the tranny seals are in good shape and have honestly been done correct then the other seal that's known to give issues is the inner primary seal for the I/O shaft. It's so enclosed in that area it's difficult to be certain which is leaking unless you use different fluids with different colors for the primary and the tranny. Also that bearing takes a beating and is often bad when you have a seal leak. One causes the other. That's a two part pressed bearing and requires specialized skills and tools to remove.

Good luck tearing into it and getting it fixed, and back together right. Torque ratings and the correct loctite are extremely important.

 

Just because you can get a hub off with a sledgehammer and a prybar does not mean it is a smart way to do it.

So you save a couple of bucks on a puller, but damage the ball bearing on the mainshaft and risk breaking the trapdoor...great idea.

It is a hack method of removing a part from a shaft.

You can find the proper puller for about 35 bucks.

 

Before you start correcting me you might want to get your facts right.
I never said to use a prybar.

As for damage to parts there is a '85 FSXT that has had the clutch hub removed 20 times using this method without problems.

While I don't disagree that getting a puller is an easier, gentler method.
To be perfectly honest it scared me to use this method the first time but it did work without damaging anything.
My whole point in telling this method was that you don't have to buy a puller if you don't want to.

You can call it a hack method if you like but that doesn't make it true.

 

No problem, I will call it a hack method, you call it whatever you want to.

Sorry about the prybar, I just re read the post and now realize you only used a 4 pound sledgehammer to beat on the mainshaft to remove the clutch hub.

 

So, I'm about to pull my clutch on a 94 FXSTC, I believe it has the splined shaft, probably the first time it's been off. Think I am going to need a puller?

Just wondering, and my apologies to the OP..

D

 

Your `94 has a splined shaft (splined mainshafts came out for the `90 model year).

No puller needed to remove the clutch from a splined shaft.