6 hours trying to get my damn transmission on my car

[greddy_1700]

Ok, so I am fed up beyond all belief. I have just spent the last 6 hours trying to get my damn transmission on my car. How the hell do you do this! I have tried like 3 different angles and it never even gets close, something is always catching, or the shaft that goes into the transfer case gets caught on my pressure plate. How do you guys do this because I am all out of ideas...

 

[TwoLiterLaser]

I have done it two different ways:

1. Place the tranny onto a creeper in the position that it would be once it is under the car. Sit on the creeper behind the tranny and roll under the car. You need to have an extra person with some ass standing at the front of the car, because you and your friend are going to have to heft the tranny up. Your friend will hold it as good as he can while you wiggle it into position. With a FWD tranny, I have been able to do it this way by myself.

2. Using a motorcycle floor jack, put the tranny on the jack and roll it under the car, then jack the tranny up. Wiggle it into postition, put in a bell-housing stud, then remove the jack. MUCH easier than #1. You can use a regular floor jack, but the motorcycle floor jack has two rails that help to stabilize the tranny.

Make sure that anything that might be in your way is strapped out of the way or removed from the car completely. Good luck.

 

[greddy_1700]

Man, I have been doing #2 for so long and its just not wiggling into position. I can never get the bell housing to go around the clutch...

 

[snox135]

Did you just install the clutch? If so did you use an alignment tool when installing it?

 

[TwoLiterLaser]

You are using the same tranny that came out of the car right? The clutch and flywheel are turbo DSM parts, correct? I ask because the NT and Turbo trannies differ in bell housing size.

 

[boosted95clipse]

You may have installed the clutch wrong. Just a thought but i found it rather easy to put my tranny in.

 

[Dream On]

Assuming you did the clutch right and have all the right parts, get someone to help. It's so much easier when you have two people...or more. I did it with one person under the car when the transmission was jacked up, another person holding up the end of it from the passenger fender side, and a person up front trying to get the bolts in/wiggling it. It still took us forever (it was our first time...) The second time around, I just used an engine hoist. Went in in like 3 minutes.

 

[greddy_1700]

Ok, Well yes the clutch was installed properly with the alignment tool. Now this is not the transmission that was on the car, but this is one that I personally took off of my own 91 AWD parts car so I know its the exact same (Plus i looked them over for any differences...) Now there has been two of us but we just cant seem to get the bell housing any where close to the engine... Well tomorrow is trial number 2 but if anyone has any other tips I would love to hear them.

 

[link16]

I just wanted to crack a joke sortof:

Sell your turbo AWD for a 2g NT, they are more fun to work on.

I am just kidding.

Try moving everything out of the way, any wires or brackets that might be in the way will be more pain and agony than need be.

Also try to hoist the whole car up and than put the car down on the tranny while the tranny is on a different jack? Just a thought.

 

[Cs4g63]

Check to see if you can maneuver the engine a little so you can approach it with the tranny in a diferent position. Sometimes the engine can sag in a funny way so you dont have as much room as you thought you did.

 

[Dream On]

We had to put a block of wood under the oil pan and jack the engine up as well. Good call, I forgot about that.

 

[flyinghighlm]

I had to take a the upper motor mount out in order to set the motor at an angel and also if you are standing at the front of the car look at the back behind the left side of the tranny and there is a triangle shaped brace with 3 or 4 bolts in it. Remove that thing and it will give you a few more inches.

Have you seen this VFAQ yet?
http://www.vfaq.com/index-main.html

 

[greddy_1700]

Ok, so last night I got the thing almost on... There is about a half inch gap all around the bell housing and the block, and I cant seem to get it any closer. How do I get it to finish, I am on the home stretch but I need that last bit of advice...

 

[housegsx]

Wiggle the transmission back and forth while pushing towards the engine block until the splines go into the clutch disk.

 

[Rippinstock]

Wiggle, while someone pushes, or try to get some bolts on and start to try and tighten.

 

[twinturbo3k]

The best way I found out if you are doing it by yourself (I usually have to) is to hoise the trans up by the trans bracket until it hits. Put a jack under it. Undo the bracket and move the trans up higher, reattached the bracket and pull it into position. The transmission should be hovering right where it should go. I then sit right next to my passenger hub and use my feet (not kidding) to rotate and push (you get more leverage with your legs) and it will just slid on, when that happens you get all warm and tingly inside. Reattached your transfer case, axles, hubs, fill with fluid and blam! youre done.

 

[greddy_1700]

Well thanks for the help guys, Last night it finally went on!!! Now its just the little things left to put back on, then she is ready to hit the streets finally.