Jeep Wrangler YJ Hydraulic Clutch

I replaced the hydraulic master cylinder (MC), line, and slave cylinder (SC) in the jeep the other day.  I learned some things along the way.  If anyone is interested here are some details.

1.  Remove the hood.  Yep, that's what I said.  The MC is almost impossible to remove without making some more room to get the two nuts off.  The bottom nut is accessible to a socket wrench with an extension but the top one not so much.

2.  Detach the double cable set from the firewall and pull them out of the way.  Also remove the long rod that connects the firewall to the front of the jeep.

3.  I bought one of these flexible 1/2 inch wrenches to get to the top nut.

4.  Worked great.

5.  Took the bottom nut off with standard 3/8 socket and extensions.

Now for the learning part.  This all happened on the second time through this job.  The first time I bought a MC and SC set with a nice stainless steel line but I could never get it to bleed correctly.  Bleed.  Install.  No clutch.  Pull it out.  Bleed.  No clutch.  So I gave up.  Drove down to the AutoZone in Melbourne and bought one in a box that already had fluid and was properly bled.  Installed.  Pushed on the clutch once and all was well.  Jeep shifts like new.

Also, the OEM formed line did not lie on top of the forward propeller shaft like the stainless steel one did.  I don't think that I ever did get that line routed correctly.

6.  Put the hood back on.  I thought that this might be a little difficult as putting doors and hoods and things like that back on and realigned correctly is sometimes difficult.  I put the hood back on over the engine and then put the four bolts back in but didn't tighten them.  I then propped the hood up with the hood prop and realigned the hood where it was before by looking at the paint.  I then tightened the bolts.  Closed it down and it latched perfectly.  So far, so good.