Clutch replacement fairly straight forward?

I going to do it on my dads 1996 ranger 2.3L

Is it just the standard > Drop the driveshaft,tranny, Take giant nut off, Put new clutch on and align, reinstall everything etc....

Will the tranny come down without taking off the middle crossmember?
What size is the flywheel nut?

Thanks!!

If yu have not done this type work before, I suggest you get a manual of sorts and it will explain in detail how to and what you'll need to do a clutch job. I did it on an 83 Ranger 2.3L but newer Rangers I believe have a different set up.

I don't know what "giant nut" you're talking about? But yeah its pretty standard, I had the tranny out in my 94 about 3 or 4 times. you just drain the fluid (27mm?), pull driveline (12mm), unhook speedo, take off shifter (torx or 17mm, depending on where you take it apart), disconnect negative batt. cable, take off starter (13mm), take off bellhousing bolts (13mm), take off rear crossmember (18mm & 19mm), disconnect hyd. clutch line (if you dont have the special tool you can get barely enough slack to work on the clutch but it might snap, and i think the tool cost me $15), then drop the tranny, take off the six bolts that attach the pres plate to the flywheel (13 mm), then put it all back together. Make sure that you fill it with 5 PINTS of ATF, I can't remember which type, look in the manual. The first time I did it i added 5 quarts and didn't pull out the overflow plug to check if it was overfiled, not good. the first time I did it it took about 6 hours with a helper, the last time I did it it took about 4 hours by myself. Anyways good luck!

What special tool? to take the hydraulic line off? I meant the big nut that holds the flywheel onto the engine, then i need to hold the crank from the other side right? The flywheel is probably going to be a REAL BASTARD. I have impact guns but i don't know if they'll be strong enough. It's got 280,000k's on the original clutch so the flywheel will probably have to be machined right??? I have a fairly big digital laith and a milling machine in my shop.

Who's resurfaced a flywheel before?? whats to it?

There is a special tool required to remove the quick connect fitting from the slave cylender it is called a clutch coupling removal tool and the ford number for it is T88T-70522-A, all it is is a flat peice of metal with a half-moon shaped cutout at the end that goes around the coupling to release it. The flywheel is attached to the crank with six bolts I think they are 15mm. The last time I had mine out it had 240K miles on it and the surface was still nice and smooth, so all I did was clean it with brake cleaner.