Need a How To on getting tranny out

tw91 · Mar 3rd, 2003, 04:04 PM

I'm replacing the clutch in my daughter's '91 pickup truck. It's the 4 cylinder with 5-speed tranny. From my search results I'm realizing that I'm not alone in feeling that this is more difficult than any other clutch I've worked on.

I've unbolted everything and have pulled the tranny back so the input shaft is out of the clutch. BUT the back of the tranny is above the truck frame under the bed, and it doesn't look like it is physically possible to move the front of the tranny down without catching the rear between the frame and bed. It looks like the only other option is to unbolt the tail section from the transmission and take it out in two pieces (but I'm not sure how many other pieces would fall out if I do that).

I must be missing something. What's the trick to getting that thing out?

Thanks a million,
Tim

nastynissan · Mar 3rd, 2003, 06:35 PM

Have you tried letting the whole Tranny/engine Combo tilt to the firewall before you pull the tranny back???? Its been a couple years since I did one .....Trying to remember how........

tw91 · Mar 3rd, 2003, 10:49 PM

I unbolted the exhaust pipe from the cat to make sure that wasn't limiting tilt. I'm wondering if I have to drain the radiator and disconnect the hoses to get a few more degrees. There's got to be some trick to it.

nastynissan · Mar 4th, 2003, 08:49 AM

Thats bout all I know to tell you. I did a Q45 once, when I finally got the tranny out, the intake was resting on the firewall. Id say to loosen motor mounts and anything else that will get you a few more degrees of tilt.... Wish I coulkd help more!

Tolleyy · Mar 4th, 2003, 10:50 AM

I know on the 4x4's you need to remove the torsion bars and drop the front crossmember. I don't know if you need to do that on 2wd's though.

tw91 · Mar 6th, 2003, 02:40 PM

Raise the rear of the motor while man handling the tranny out.

Basically the extension housing is already above the truck frame that runs across the truck when the transmission is in place. In other words it can't just come straight down or be tilted before backing it out of the clutch.

So I had to lower the transmission until the extension housing almost touched the truck frame to get enough room to move the transmission back far enough for the input shaft to come out of the clutch. The front of the transmission is resting on the tranny jack and the back on the truck frame.

Now by raising the rear of the engine (it helps to have the exhaust disconnected from the cat for all of this) using a block of wood under the oilpan and another jack, I was able to get enough clearance to lower the front of the transmission while the rear was still resting on the truck frame. When the top front of the transmission is below the level of the crankshaft you can again lower the rear of the engine to get more clearance. Once the front of the transmission squeeks past the exhaust pipe and torsion bars and clears the bottom of the engine you can slide the transmission forward enough to drop it past the truck frame.

Good thing these transmissions aren't that heavy.