General Q on tranny swap

[tequilaiam]

My turbo400 has finally died so the time has come to swap it.

This is some thing I've never tried before so excuse my ignorance: is a Tranny jack necessary to do this outside or will a engine crane through the cab work?

I own neither and was planning to get a crane as its more versatile but is there some reason i shouldn't use it? Proper alignment of the new tranny or something?

Is this something i should photograph for the forum or is it the kind of thing everyone else knows already? I'm putting in a sm465 from a 4wd truck and have the adapters and bell housings from it so Itt should be straight forward to any serious mechanic I'd think. But I'm a total amateur that drives a desk for a living so what's a challenging project to me may bore rest of you.

 

[rtk]

What vehicle are we talking about ? if it's a CUCV , don't think they have a removable floor plate . Anything else , mostly . If it is a CUCV (400 trans) from the bottom with a tranny jack , on the ground or do you have a Lift ? I have done it both ways , up in the air IS much easier , especially if you are doing some fabrication work . just be safe when jacking your ride , bob k

 

[tequilaiam]

Its a 1009. No fancy lift or any room to even get it in the garage. So it's going from the bottom one way or the other

 

[richingalveston]

Northern tool had a tranny jack for about $75. I saw this after I installed mine the hard way.

I installed mine with a regular floor jack and a lot of wood blocks. The torque convert goes on the tranny first so you do not have to worry about damaging the seal. The tranny has alignment pins so you can muscle it into place fairly easily. once it is bolted up, you then slide the torque converte back and attach it to the fly wheel one bolt at a time.

The biggest issue you will have is fighting the dipstick tube. do not take the tube out and try to put it back on after the tranny is in place, that does not work.

I recomend the tranny jack but it can be done without. I did by myself with no helpers.

The t-case is another story. It is easier to remove both the t-case and tranny at same time but it takes a good tranny jack for that due to the weight and shape of the t-case.
If you look in my post about my 205 t-case install you can see the method I used for that. The 208 is much lighter than the 205 so it will be a little easier.

So

 

[cliffyp]

I use this el cheapo. It's worked just fine.

http://www.harborfreight.com/automo.../450-lb-capacity-transmission-jack-39178.html

 

[Warthog]

I use this el cheapo. It's worked just fine.

http://www.harborfreight.com/automo.../450-lb-capacity-transmission-jack-39178.html

I use this one also. I've used it to remove fuel tanks, hold door while I replace hinge pins, etc

 

[rtk]

Ya ,I got a trans jack from Harbor Freight , works great , I would recommend a good jack due to the off balance trans/tranfer case , or split the unit on the truck as Rich said . Just a word of caution , MAKE SURE you get the converter all the way on the splines on the front pump !!!! if it crushes your fingers against the case and converter you are good , if you do it wrong , the NEXT time you install the converter you will understand ! Just take your time and you will be fine , bob k

 

[tequilaiam]

Thanks for the tips. I picked up the cheapo tranny jack at harbor freight this weekend with a coupon for about $60. Looks like it will be a handy little device for that money. Good find cliffy and Warthog!

 

[ehinlein]

One more quick tip for installing. Get two long (~2-1/2") bolts with the (3/8"-xx I think?) thread. Cut off heads to make studs. Use them as sliders to guide transmision onto block. The guide pins on block are short. Remove and replace when done.

 

[tequilaiam]

OK, so can anyone spare another tip for a newb?

What's the best way to get to the top bolts on the bell housing?

I pulled the transfer case and used the cheapo scissor jack from HF to lower the tranny and rear-end of the engine. I thought the best bet for splitting the tranny from the engine would be through the hump/cover thing in the cab. I was following this guy's blog because of the pics http://morecoffee.me/index.php?view=bulletin&blog=74 and simple format.

The hump cover in my rig is glued and spot spot welded on though. So is there supposed to be another way to access the bolts on the upper side of the bell housing or should I just power through the welds on the hump cover? There's so much old paint on the thing that even after a good scrub with chemical stripper I can't see where the welds are to drill them. I got a few off by some brute-force and ignorance with a pry bar to find the welds to drill but I'm doing a pretty bad job of not tearing the metal up. It's going to be really bad on the lip closest to the firewall.

Anyway, so there's some real simple trick to remove this cover I'm not thinking of, or a way to get the bolts from the top? Sorry if this is a really stupid question but it seems so elementary that nobody has a good write-up on the internet.

 

[cliffyp]

I removed the air cleaner from the top of the engine and reached down with a ratcheting box wrench. It's blind so you just have to feel for the bolt and get the wrench on. It just takes a while with little turns.

 

[richingalveston]

once you lower the back of the tranny, you can use 4 or 5 socket extensions with a swivel on the end to reach the top bolts. with enough extensions you can turn the ratchet all the way around.

 

[rtk]

A 2 foot 1/2" extension with a FLEX socket should get you close , I forget if I added another short extension on that , and you can drop the back of the tranny a bit . Be careful of the transmission ears ,they are not all that strong . Make sure the transmission is square to the back of the engine BEFORE you tighten up your bolts and DO NOT use the bolts to draw in the transmission . bob k

 

[cameron8757]

I lower the trans down some and get the bolts with a 3 foot extension and my impact

 

[tequilaiam]

Thanks guys! I used the jack to raise the tranny and engine back up and sure enough I could get back there from the top if I climbed in the engine compartment. I'm a dummy for not thinking of that. I guess I never had my head that close to the firewall to realize it was possible.

TC and flexplate are next.....

Any pro tips or just get it one bolt at a time?