2006 Jimny Clutch Release Bearing

I have seen pics. of crossmembers that have had the central section converted into removeable units. Is this done to make removal of the box that much easier?

Roger

I suspect it is to make removing the gearbox easier as the rear engine / gearbox mount is on the cross member. It would prevent a straight lower of the box as it would need to be dropped at an angle to get it out. It does not appear to help much on the Jimny for the work involved in modifying the chassis, but if you have the box in /out a lot I guess every little helps.
I Suspect it was born of the series Land Rover in which the civilian chassis has a similar cross member, however if you did not chop it the only way out was to remove the floor /seat base and remove the box from above through a door!
On the MOD version of the chassis the cross member was removable, facilitating a much easier and quicker box removal in the battle field. The Off road boys like this so some modified the civilian chassis to mimic the MOD one.

Cheers Scimike.

I removed the g/box on my SJ a number of times but I don't remember a problem with a crossmember so maybe it didn't have one at that point.

Roger

Update. I've got everything back together and am happy with the improvement. With adjustment the release bearing now sits a couple of mm away from the clutch pressure plate when the clutch pedal is out so it's quiet now, while also having enough cable/pedal travel to disengage the clutch. Fitting the 2 new springs (6 & 8) seemed to hold the clutch fork more securely and further back when the gearbox was on the floor. When it was refitted the improvement was still noticeable but not so much.
I noticed something else when adjusting the clutch cable - the end of the clutch cable kept sliding out of it's little dish and slightly further up the fork. See photo. So that was also preventing the clutch fork from going back another few mm. I cut one side of a washer and fitted it around the end of the cable and also crimped an electrical connector behind it so that the cable end is held in position. See 2nd photo. This also helps the cable to push back the clutch fork to it's resting place when the pedal is released.
I read a post saying the clutch pedal travel should be 140mm. Not sure if that also applies to the later R72 gearbox. Our travel was about 180mm so I adjusted it down to 140mm - it's a bugger to get at the adjustment bolt. However on our car that was not enough cable travel to be able to allow the release bearing to sit clear of the clutch pressure plate when in it's resting position and also to adequately disengage the clutch when the pedal was pressed, so I adjust the pedal travel back to 180mm.
One thing I wish I did while the gearbox was out - replace the dome headed bolt and the clutch fork itself in case they were worn. Both may contribute to the clutch fork not pulling back fully. The only other thing I wonder about is whether a new clutch cable might help in case ours is stretched. A job for another time.
All in all it's been a big job for me - a lot of work but all reasonably manageable. Some bolts are tricky to get to but all in all the Jimny is a straight forward car to work on. I think the fact that the gearbox had already been out last year helped since I never encountered any siezed bolts, in fact several were loose. I couldn't have done it without a transmission jack, my trolley jack wasn't high enough.
Roger - yes it's obvious which way around the clutch plate goes when you hold it up to the flywheel - it only fits on one way, bulkier side towards the gearbox.
I hope this helps someone. Thanks very much for your help everyone.
Regards
Dave