Tranny removal... tips please

[jimmy18thing]

I have to put in a new flywheel... I have had the motor out before but never have taken the transmission out. Do you guys have any tips on removing one that can help with a smoother removal and installation? I just read another article on this so it looks like I will be separating the T-case and tranny, but on top of that any other tips? I have a dana 20 with a NP-435. thanks

 

[barronj]

I would rather pull the motor out.

Do you have a cherry picker or a transmission jack already?

 

[broncobran68]

Pull your fan or radiator first. That way the fan won't go through the radiator when you lower everything down.

Also there are some needle bearings to be concerned about.

 

[DuneBuster]

Unless you have the body already off, pulling the tranny is a pain,

Pull the radiator, carb and exhausts, get a cherry picker and a engine lift mechanism (I forgot what it is actually called but the top of it hooks to the cherry picker and has a screw mechanism to move one end of the 2 engine lift chains so you can change the engines angle as it goes out and in..

Now the engine is up in the air the flywheel is easy to swap out....

If you really want to go the tranny route, get a good transmission lifter. That D20 is pure steel and weighs a ton. so will your manual, as did my C4.
Then unless yuu have a 2" body lift (or more) the space to pull and realign for reconnecting is really tight...

 

[blubuckaroo]

Like was already posted, you need to pull the radiator. I like to put the front wheels on ramps or the frame on stands for enough room to sit up under the car. Disconnect the exhaust from the manifolds. Put a jack under the tranny and pull out the cross member. Lower the jack. Disconnect the TC adapter from the transmission. Carefully slide the TC off and drop it on the floor. Don't try to cushion the fall. You can't hurt the thing! Pull the tranny, bellhousing and clutch. The hardest part is putting it all back. I don't usually use a transmission jack for this on a manual shift. I usually can pull a C4 out by hand but need a jack to put it back. This is the only way I will do it. I've tried the method of pulling the entire assembly at once, and haven't been able to get the car high enough to accomplish it properly. This method has been done by most of the people on this board. It may make you sore for a couple days but you'll get over it.

 

[MattW]

Changed my clutch and resurfaced the flywheel a couple of weeks ago. Pulled the tranny and tcase as one. Pretty easy to take out. Putting it back in was a pain. Tried the tranny jack for a couple of days and finally hooked a come along to the roll bar and ran it down the tcase shifter hole in the floorboard. Piece of cake at that point.

 

[Bucky66]

drop the tranny and transfer case together if you have a cherry picker or such the likes. I did mine and with th top off the bronco gives you more room to work from the top. I put a strap the picker and wrapped around the tranny/tranfer unit thru the tcase shifter hole like MattW said. It was truly harder to bolt back on than coming off. The trick to bolting back on is "loosening" up the engine mounts ( I did not un-secure the engine all the way). Have some one that can tilt the engine back while you place the screws. This is what I found made all the difference in the world. This method allowed my girlfriend to help me and just the 2 of us did it. Hope that helps

Yes, I said my girlfriend helped me. She doesn't care for all my garage time but she lends a hand if I show her exactly what she needs to do to help, followed by her getting to ride in it. lol

 

[dbevans2249]

X2 to pull the Engine instead. You have had it out before so it should be easier than if it had never been done. I would only drop the trans if it had a problem. For a clutch I have always jerked the engine. For me the header bolts took the longest but I was still able to pull the engine by myself in 45 min. JMO

 

[supermottl]

drop the tranny and transfer case together if you have a cherry picker or such the likes. I did mine and with th top off the bronco gives you more room to work from the top. I put a strap the picker and wrapped around the tranny/tranfer unit thru the tcase shifter hole like MattW said. It was truly harder to bolt back on than coming off. The trick to bolting back on is "loosening" up the engine mounts ( I did not un-secure the engine all the way). Have some one that can tilt the engine back while you place the screws. This is what I found made all the difference in the world. This method allowed my girlfriend to help me and just the 2 of us did it. Hope that helps

Yes, I said my girlfriend helped me. She doesn't care for all my garage time but she lends a hand if I show her exactly what she needs to do to help, followed by her getting to ride in it. lol

sounds like a good woman! I'm lucky that way too! [cheers]

 

[jimmy18thing]

Alright, that's what I kind of figured.. Pulling the motor is no problem... Done it many times. But I didn't know if that was the best route or not. Thanks for the input... An eventful Saturday is ahead of me now;D

 

[Pa PITT]

After doing both I'd just pull the motor myself I'm getting to old to crawl under to do the trans work .. I like someone else said Last time I did mine I was out in about one hour .
...And then I could do all that clutch work standing up.