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How do i get a 1g awd tranny back in?

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plymouthlazer

10+ Year Contributor
31
0
Jun 14, 2012
columbus, Ohio
I had a hell of a time physically getting my transmission out of the engine bay. The part of the tranny that encases the diff kept getting hung up on the subframe directly behind it. its kind of hard to explain. i did not have anything supporting the oil pan, nor did i unbolt any of the mounts besides the tranny mount.

Any tips on streamlining this procedure? should the motor be jacked up? slightly hanging downward? certian way of putting the trans in?

thanks!
 
with the hump for the transfer case pointing up at a 45 degree angle raise the tranny up using a jack. once its past the subframe start to turn the hump to the correct position as you keep raising the jack handle. once you get it close to all the way up and the input shaft lined up try wiggling the tranny onto the shaft. it if moves a little and stops turn the output shaft for the transfer case to correctly line up the splines and push it the rest of the way on.

with one person its about 30 minute job because you have to keep an eye on the tranny to make sure it doesn't slip off the jack. with two people its like a 10 minute job.

then just bolt everything back up.
 
Did you remove the little brace that is in the corner of the subframe. IF you don't the transmission will get hung on that.
 
Easiest way is use a cherry picker.

start with transmisssion area where the xfer case bolts up at an angle.

bring the transmission up and tilted back a little ( bell housing facing the oil pan a bit ) with the upper portion of the bell housing right at the outer part of the clutch.

I personally slide the bell housing just over the clutch and once the tranny gets just over it, turn and then stab the trans into the clutch...

using this method vs man handling is a 1000x reduction in time ( 2-3 min max once you figure out exactly what i'm talking about )
 
Put it on a jack lift it up and over ,the sub frame , have a friend jack the jack up to rest the transmission on ,push and wiggle it should slide right in ...Make sure the bolt holes line up and the dowel pins..Also dont try to suck the transmission in all the way with bolts (i have seen a couple people try this it doesn't have good endings LOL)
 
Are you referring to the bracket in the corner that has 6 bolts through it? one through a rubber mount to the body? if so ill remove it. funny the haynes manual says nothing directly about removing it. (they do say vaguely "remove any remaining chassis or suspension components that will interfere with transaxle removal.") thank you guys this should make it easier. I just sold my cherry picker last year!
 
Are you referring to the bracket in the corner that has 6 bolts through it? one through a rubber mount to the body? if so ill remove it. funny the haynes manual says nothing directly about removing it. (they do say vaguely "remove any remaining chassis or suspension components that will interfere with transaxle removal.") thank you guys this should make it easier. I just sold my cherry picker last year!

Yes the little bracket in the corner that sits under the differential side of the transmission. Those manuals can be misleading sometimes. Sometimes they will tell you to remove more than is needed, sometimes they will tell you to remove less.
 
All i do is set it on a block or something and reach in over the fender, lift and stab the input shaft. works every time. No need to mess with a engine hoist or ten different styles of jacks. Just dont let the tranny hang on the input shaft without any bolts in. its not good for it
 
thanks guys.. that corner bracket did the trick.. me and a friend had it in in 5 mins.. unfortunatly im having issues shifting at high rpm into 3rd. i can get it in but it grinds pretty bad. if i shift straight in its okay. but from 2nd to 3rd hard it grinds. unless rpms are a little low and im careful.

3rd is the ONLY gear that has any sort of grind. this leads me to believe the the clutch is not the issue. however im still going to do the ss clutch line. i adjusted the master cyl for max travel, while maintaining the bleeder function for the slave cyl. clutch engages at about the 1/2 mark or maybe a little closer to the floor. the pedal assembly is good, as soon as the pedal starts to move so does the master cylinder rod.

its a shepard stage 2 trans, south bend 2200pp and kevlar full face disc. shifter fork is centered maybe a little to the drivers side. resurfaced flywheel, .600 step height. ive done the brass shift cable bushings. and i have no clue what to do next. im running the mt90 redline fluid.
 
You're step height is a little shallow for full disengagement. However, if it only affects 3rd then I would think maybe the synchros are worn on 3rd. That's what caused my 3rd to grind at any rpm above 3k no matter what I did.
 
welll 2nd is double syncroed. any last things i should do before i call them back?
im dreading having to pull this thing out again :ohdamn:
 
I can't believe you guys are saying this. I just attempted to do mine the other day and could not get my trans in at all. I had two people, a nice jack, and an engine hoist. I tried turning it every angle, jacking the motor up, removing everything etc. I ended up pulling the engine back out and putting them in as a unit.
 
I can't believe you guys are saying this. I just attempted to do mine the other day and could not get my trans in at all. I had two people, a nice jack, and an engine hoist. I tried turning it every angle, jacking the motor up, removing everything etc. I ended up pulling the engine back out and putting them in as a unit.

You can't believe people are saying what, that the transmission is able to be put back in from the bottom? It's true, and they are very easy to do if you know how to do it. I can have the transmission from the ground to bolted to the engine in less than 10 minutes.
 
tranny is a newly rebuilt stage 2 sheptrans. with maybe 200 mi on it. southbend didnt specify a step height. i could have the flywheel re stepped, but to get it taken apart, back together, and find it still grinds, would just kill me. should i try switching to some bg syncroshift before i go farther? im doing the ss clutch line this week. even if i deliberatly push the clutch all the way to the floor before i shift ~6k it grinds.
 
tranny is a newly rebuilt stage 2 sheptrans. with maybe 200 mi on it. southbend didnt specify a step height. i could have the flywheel re stepped, but to get it taken apart, back together, and find it still grinds, would just kill me. should i try switching to some bg syncroshift before i go farther? im doing the ss clutch line this week. even if i deliberatly push the clutch all the way to the floor before i shift ~6k it grinds.

I chased the same problem only it was more than a decade ago. 8 tranny drops in 48 hours. You have to ask yourself, how dedicated are you? Find out what the step should be. Honestly I'd start there.
 
Called southbend and shep..

southbend told me to have it at .610 factory height. but i told him mine was at .600. he suggested driving it until the disc wore down to spec. however its the kevlar disc and i dont inmagine it wearing down quickly at all.

shepard said get all four wheels off the ground, rev it to highest shift point in 1st with clutch depressed. if they move its a clutch issue. if not its possibly a tranny issue. they say 60-70% of the time its the clutch.

he said definatly get the f/w to correct spec. i asked if i could go deeper and he said he wouldnt go farther than .610. also said no shimming of the pivot ball should be needed with the 2200 pp.

i asked if i should just do the flywheel and re-check, and he said more than likely damage is already done to the syncro(s) and even if i get the clutch disengaging properly, it may very likely still grind, simply because its started to grind already.(even with only ~200miles on it!) they did say they would help me out tho, and if i bring my tranny back theyll put it at the top of the list, and go through it fairly quickly.

so what are all of your thoughts? im planning on taking the tranny back, and getting the step corrected. I just find it hard to believe that .010" makes that much of a difference! i cant believe these cars are super picky about tolerances!

should i throw a .030" shim behind the pivot ball for the hell of it? when my clutch is fully depressed now the fork is damn near touching the bellhousing(1/8-3/16") i have an extended rod here i could throw in for shits, but like i said the fork is really close fully released. I want to do this right and not have to tear back into it again.... please help!

just did the test, when i put it in 1st, with the wheels off the ground, they move a few inches. when i rev it, they move maybe 1/2 of an inch. I may have corrected a little bit of the drag when i bled the clutch a few days ago. the wheels start turning after the pedal is out 1 inch. how much more pedal will I get with .01" off of the flywheel? when i shift in 3rd at a high rpm somtimes i deliberatly push the clutch to the floor and it will still grind.

should i pull it and take the trans back to shepard and re step the flywheel? perhaps to .613-.615?

just called shepard back.. they keep telling me that i need to have my pedal assembly rebuilt. also they said the kevlar disc is heavy and wont shift well at higher rpms... should have done my research. he suggested i call southbend and see get their organic disc. that would help my higher rpm shifting.

i cut out the sound deadener behind the carped directly behind my pedal for a little more travel.


dont know what to do.. i supose ill live with it for now.
 
I just find it hard to believe that .010" makes that much of a difference! i cant believe these cars are super picky about tolerances!

There is a reason there is a spec and it's in thousandths of an inch.

Your fork is almost hitting the housing because the clutch fingers are farther to the drivers side because the step is so shallow. Step it to what they said, do not shim, rebuild the pedal, enjoy the car.

It's old....I'm afraid there is no other way.
 
I realize I am going against what has been said about shimming, but I don't agree that you should just not shim it and don't look back. I have had 4 different trannies, clutches, PP & FW in my car. New & used in all different combinations. I am yet to have one that didn't use at least 1 shim. The same was true for 2 other DSMs I completely rebuilt. AWD & FWD. I never used less than a 2600PP though. YMMV, but that's just my experience. IMO, see where the clutch fork sits in the window when you get it reinstalled and decide what to do then. http://www.roadraceengineering.com/eclipsetech/clutch/armcentered.jpg

Here is a good read on Flywheels. RRE's Clutch And Flywheel Tech Info

Out of curiosity, have you measured your slave cyl rod to see how far it moves when the clutch is pushed?
 
my fork is just about centerd in the window, maybe a hair toward the driver side. havent measured the exact throw though.
 
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