1G Automatic Transmission Removal

[Devilsfutbol17]

I'm about to pull the engine on my 91 AWD auto and I have a question. I have never dealt with and auto transmission and I would rather not mess anything up or make the job much more difficult than it needs to be.

Does a VFAQ exist for removing an auto transmission? I searched and only found this http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/drivetrain-tech/94819-automatic-trans-removal.html.

That thread looks like its good enough to get the ball rolling, but in that thread the poster failed to remove the torque converter with the transmission. How do you make sure the torque converter comes out with the transmission? How is the torque converter connected to the transmission/engine block?

I'm sorry if this is a newbie question, but I figured I should put it with other automatic tranny threads. Here a picture of what I'm working with and why I want to pull everything.

 

[007jimmy]

There is a flex plate that bolts between the crank and the torque converter. Its 4 bolts to take off to seperate the converter and flexplate. To get to them bolts you pull the inspection plate off of the bottom of the trans and in there you will see the flexplate and conveter. Use a 1/2" drive rachet to turn the crank to reveal each bolt. If your timin belt is still on remember to turn the crank clockwise. Are you pulling the motor too?

 

[GDNF2ET]

After you remove all four flexplate bolts, push the converter in so the back of the converter will clear the bellhousing.. Drain all the fluid out of both drain plugs....
Are you raising the car and dropping the trans ?

 

[Devilsfutbol17]

Ahhh now that makes sense. I was initially going to pull the engine with the tranny attached, but now I don't know. It was a pain in the ass to pull the motor with the tranny attached on my galant, so I'll probably just drop the tranny first.

I didn't know there were two drain plugs, thanks for the info guys.

 

[black97spyder]

Try checking out this link, it is for a 2g auto tranny removal but is basically the same as a 1g minus the extra tranny mount.

This link is for engine removal with the trans attached. There is also a video on YouTube of the same guy doing just his transmission. Just look up jafromobile on YouTube!

[ame=http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tG8jHnKZYwo]Pulling the GSX motor (1080 HD) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[5150DSM]

IMHO, it's far easier to pull engine and trans together. Use a load leveler to tilt the trans as far towards the ground as you can while slowly raising the crane. As the trans clears the wheel well have a buddy start to carefully pull the motor toward the drivers side, while you level it out. If you slowly rotate the motor/trans clockwise as you pull it, it reaches a point where the assembly will pop right out.

 

[black97spyder]

IMHO, it's far easier to pull engine and trans together. Use a load leveler to tilt the trans as far towards the ground as you can while slowly raising the crane. As the trans clears the wheel well have a buddy start to carefully pull the motor toward the drivers side, while you level it out. If you slowly rotate the motor/trans clockwise as you pull it, it reaches a point where the assembly will pop right out.

^ I agree!!

Unless the cv shafts are seized in the hubs like both of mine were . Boy was that an experience!! Had to undo all my suspension and then had to take the hub assembly's, spindles, and cv shafts out all at once ... instead of just pulling the cv's like In the video above

But my case is a more uncommon one, it doesn't happen Like that very often!!

 

[Devilsfutbol17]

Hopefully I won't have to pull it any time soon. But if I do and I need to yank the motor too, I'll definitely pull them together.

I opted to drop the motor in, then pull the transmission up from the ground with the hoist and wow, that was a painful 4 hours trying to bolt the tranny to the block. I thought I had the converter in all the way the first time, but I didn't. Then I got it to go in some more so I thought it was in all the way, but it wasn't and it kept sliding out when I would lift the tranny. The third time I finally got the converter in all the way and everything bolted together quite nicely.

 

[SonySlave]

Hopefully for next time you can save yourself a ton of trouble by using the little "hook" on the top of the transmission. There is a little loop on the top of the transmission and if you stick a bolt through the hole and connect the chain from an engine hoist to the bolt, the transmission will stay perfectly level while you are bringing the transmission up! All you'll have to do extra is hold the converter in place while you're jacking the trans up and then just slide the trans into place. I did it this way by myself in less than 10 minutes. Works great!

 

[-red97rum-]

Sony hit the nail on the head. Dropping an auto is super easy if you have a cherry picker. Here's a pic I took of installing mine a while back.

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For the install, use a couple of large screw drivers to line up the two top bellhousing bolt holes. Then slide the trans against the motor. Also, when you reinstall the trans, make sure you seat the converter all the way into the trans before you start tightening the bellhousing bolts.

 

[DSMTyson]

Sony hit the nail on the head. Dropping an auto is super easy if you have a cherry picker. Here's a pic I took of installing mine a while back.

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For the install, use a couple of large screw drivers to line up the two top bellhousing bolt holes. Then slide the trans against the motor. Also, when you reinstall the trans, make sure you seat the converter all the way into the trans before you start tightening the bellhousing bolts.

What happens if you don't do that?

 

[johnnytsi]

An engine hoist, a bolt and chain from the top and these two little home-made tools make the job much easier:

The angle bracket is used to hold the converter in place as you hoist the transmission up onto the block. cut the angle to just the right length and it also serves as a guide to tell you when the converter is seated correctly.

The headless bolts are used as guides to make lining up the transmission a snap. Cut the heads off of two bolts. To make it easy to remove them, hacksaw slots in the end for a screwdriver. screw the two bolts into the very top two holes in the block. Careful not to get the bolts too long or there won't be enough room to back the transmission out over the bolts.

John-