What's the easiest way to remove a transmission without a lift. I wasn't sure what is the best way to do it without getting yourself killed.

 

what did you do to your trany?

 

I did mine with car ramps and a floor jack.Make sure your jack is on a hard surface so you can move jack.

 

jack stands and a jack.... it's pretty straight forward once you get under the car....don't do anything that would seem questionable to your safety and you should be good

 

This works for the engine too:

 

Pay someone else to do it.

 

i've done it using arms and knees and letting it down on my chest. ever bench pressed a tranny?

 

Easiest way? Pull the engine and transmission the same time out the front of the car with and engine crane. I have pulled the engine/transmission out of my car before, rebuilt the engine, and put it all back together in less than 6 hours. Should only take a couple of hours to pull the engine and transmission out of the front of the car and put it back in.

 

yep. way way easier when you're in shape...

 

I used one of these guys to support the engine and then just lifted the trans onto my chest. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96524

 

i just use a floor jack if i'm on my back to gradually east it down. otherwise i call a friend to stop by to help me take the sucker down.

 

IIRC don't you:
-either leave the prop shaft in place (detach at diff)
or
-plug the tail of the tranny with (?????)
or
-drain it
before pulling it or you'll have oil everywhere....

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

I'm liking Ray Green's idea, Thanks for all the input guys. I need to replace the pilot bearing, and my Uncle's and friends Dad's lifts are both in use. Thanks for the help guys.

 

It's a low budget backyard method that works pretty well if you don't mind crawling under cars and getting greasy. As Michael indicates, plenty of us have bench pressed a tranny (although as Dave notes above, using a floor jack isn't a bad idea either).

A couple notes however. First, don't try to drive your 7 up on four ramps all at once, like it looks like I did in the picture - I didn't. Instead, put the front wheels up on the ramps, then jack up the rear under the pumpkin and insert the ramps in the rear. Do the reverse to get it back down.

Second, if you have a gravel driveway like I do, you'll need some kind of padding to work on. I have some 3' x 3' pieces of scrap heavy duty industrial linoleum for this purpose, enough to protect you from the gravel, tough enough to take lots of abuse and easy to move around to the spot you are working.

On the pilot bearing, get a pilot bearing puller first! You can rent one from a car parts store (some loan them for free) or borrow one from a friend. Getting the old pilot bearing out without a puller can become the biggest part of the job if you mess it up like I did on my first one. It took my neighbor and me two weekends to dremmel, chisel and beat all the little bits of bearing out of the seat. The puller should do this in about five minutes.

Also, as Sgt. Fox indicates, you will need to support the rear of the engine somehow while you pull out the transmission. I like that lift bar he's got, that would make it easy, but otherwise you will need to put a jack or some blocks underneath to hold it up while you do the job.

If I were you, I'd follow Stu's lead above on the details of removing the drive shaft. This is tricky and if you don't do it right you can drain your transmission oil out in the driveway, which really makes a big mess and then you need to add more transmission oil. Best to find a tutorial on removing the tranny (I'm sure there's one on the forum someplace) and read it over first.

Finally, and most importantly, as Bobo says, DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT MIGHT EVEN REMOTELY RISK YOUR SAFETY!!! TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED OR BADLY INJURED WORKING UNDER JACKED UP CARS AT HOME.

 

I dropped mine while the car was on my trailer and kind of lowered it through a combination of moves and with a plank of wood on a jack. This was done on a public street in Philadelphia.

As Hayes always says: "Installation is reverse of removal". Getting it back in, I did in a garage with a plank on a jack and pushing it into position. Aligning it was actually surprisingly easy once I got a couple of bolts to catch and used them to help pull it together (carefully).

 

Thanks for all the tips man. I'm going to do it on a Saturday soon when I'm able to get some friends over, and my one friends dad, who is a mechanic. It should be pretty easy with him here, since he knows what he's doing. I'm going to use the FSM and/or Haynes Manual when I'm removing the transmission, and follow it step by step. I do have a gravel driveway, so I will probably use some large pieces of cardboard for under the car. I have quite an abundance of cardboard, so it's a good time to use it. I've also read that the pilot bearing removal tool is a key part, so I will see if my friends dad has one, or I will see if I can just go rent one. Thanks a lot for all the tips though.

 

That must've been pretty hectic doing it in a public street. Haha.

 

Remove the driveshaft, then use the cap from a can of DW-40 (or similar) to plug the hole. Works great! (not my idea, I read it on the forum but it works)

While the tranny is out, drain the old fluid and refill it. Its much easier to fill the tranny when you aren't lying on your back under the car.





.

 

I thought of doing that, but I was afraid of making a mess. So I filled it once in. It really was not hard and took about 5 minutes with a good ($15) hand pump.

 

Sounds like a good idea Kentetsu, I will remember that, and whats the estimated time for a newbie to remove a transmission and replace the pilot bearing with the help of about 3-5 people?

 

time frame huh? well about three hours for a beginner. i can do it in an hour and a half if i have an extra set of experienced hands and a lift.. don't forget to remove the shifter when dropping the trans. it'll make life a lot eaiser. also, don't forget to fill the shifter well with the correct amount of trans oil. i think i'll do a writeup on this for future references and have it sticky'd.

 

Thanks man, I wont forget to fill it up with the right amount, and thanks to everyone else who helped me out in this thread.

 

i have done it by all the methods listed above but a motorcycle jack is the fastest way the jack
is made to pick up a bike on the frame so you have a good cradle for your tranny and keeps it level on the way down just have to get your car up far enough to pull the tranny from under the car

 

I removed/replaced mine and replaced a clutch in an afternoon by myself. It's not to hard, just make sure you give yourself enough space underneath to move around. This included a pizza break.

The bullet points.
- remove exhaust center section
- remove driveshaft
- plug output shaft hole (I used a rag and GENTLY pressed it in with a screwdriver. Don't mess up that seal)
- remove clutch slave cylinder
- remove shifter
- unbolt starter and all other wires (I think there's 4)
- unbolt from engine with rear of engine supported
- use jack or your own scrawny arms :P to lower trans.

 

Why would you have to remove part of your exhaust system? Mine is nowhere near interfering with the removal/installation of the tranny.

And you did your clutch R&R in an afternoon? Showoff! I'm coming up on 4 months to do mine!