I have taken on the monumental task of replacing the clutch in my 98 2.8 litre quattro. Tomorrow I am almost ready to drop the tranny but I have a question. Does the starter really need to be removed? It comes in from the front to the flywheel and just doesn't seem to me that it needs to be removed. This is my first clutch job, so please excuse my ignorance, but I would like to avoid removing the front bumper/radiator/alternator if it can be avoided.

 

unfortunatly yes, from my understanding the starterteeth or flywheel teeth can be damaged if not removed. you can try to get drop the tranny without removing the starter but i wouldnt suggest. also theres a way to take it off with all the other stuff its just a PITA to remove the bolts.

 

Thanks for you reply. I went out this morning and looked at it again, yesterday I removed all the tranny bolts except the bottom two, including the two going thru the starter. This morning I just simply pulled the starter forward out of the trans and it is just resting in there, there were no other brackets holding it in place, so maybe it was not a problem to begin with.