Tranny removal

doctorjj · 03-05-07, 07:36 PM

I'm trying to take out my tranny/t-case together while leaving the engine in the truck. Any pointers on trying to get out the top bolt on the driver's side. Everything else has been not too bad. This is on my 1988 FJ62 with an A440. Thanks. BTW, I looked all over the site and tried several searches but came up empty.

JJ

theside00 · 03-05-07, 07:45 PM

There was a thread not to long ago about this but the biggest thing that will make it easy is to get about 3 feet of extension so that you can go in from the back and reach the top tranny bolts. Should take you about 45 to an hour to get it out. It isnt that hard just make sure everything is disconnected and drop away.

doctorjj · 03-05-07, 07:48 PM

I just bought another 18" extension today, thinking the same thing. I haven't had a chance to try it yet though. Another thought I had was to take the cross member off and let the engine/tranny/t-case tilt down a bit in the back to give a little room and a better angle. Of course I'd want to support it with a jack and not just let the back end drop all the way down. Is there any reason why that is a bad idea????

theside00 · 03-05-07, 08:02 PM

I kept the support on so I was able to control it a little bit more and move it around. I just let the jack down far enough to were I could get in there and it worked fine. Make sure to label everything just so it is that much easier when it is time to put it back together.

agent orange · 03-05-07, 08:09 PM

You may want to take the dipstick off, mine got hung up on it. Also, raise the truck up enough so you can slide it out on the jack, when i took mine out i had to take it off the jack under the truck and that was not fun or safe.

x2000 on the long extension, mine would not come out until i had one.

Be careful, its a big bitch.

doctorjj · 03-05-07, 08:14 PM

Thanks guys!!! I was planning on leaving the cross member attached to the tranny, but unbolt it from the frame and let it down a touch on the jack to let the engine/tranny rock downward to gain access. Once I get that top bolt undone, then I can jack it back up, reattach the cross member temporarily and then reposition the jack and then take everything loose and drop the tranny out. Does that sound like what you guys did???? Also, I bought some 15-24" jackstands today. Hope that's high enough!

theside00 · 03-05-07, 09:21 PM

Ya I forgot to jack it up and had to crash it off of the jack. Also do you have a tranny jack? I would say rent one if you dont becuase that will make it a lot easier then just a little floor jack. Also if you get one you wont have to keep bolting and unbolting the crossmember. Were are you located at also?

KLF · 03-05-07, 09:32 PM

I've R&R'd 3 A440s.

After you get all the other crap unbolted and disconnected, including the dipstick & TC, just unbolt the crossmember and let it droop. Access to the bolts is super easy now. Put the jack under it, let the jack take some of the weight, then take the last top bolts out. It will now come out very easily, especially with no pilot bearing to stab like a manual has.

doctorjj · 03-06-07, 05:43 PM

Wow! After unbolting the crossmember there truly is PLENTY of room. Makes all the difference. You do need a lot of extensions, though. LOL! Thanks for the tips, guys. Now I'm just waiting on parts (rear main seal, main bearings) that I'm going to throw on while I'm there.

PurpleFJ62 · 03-06-07, 05:57 PM

I have not taken the tranny out of my 62 yeat. But I do have a few questions for you and anyone else who has done it. First off, how exactly is the converter and flexplate hooked together. I think there is like dowl pins that you match up and thats how the power is transfreerd. Is there a spline interface as well?

If I were to do this I would find that my tranny cooler lines are very rusted looking. When I get to a rusted/seized bolt I go straight for the torch. Would this be the best approach on the cooler lines. I could see going with a small mapp gas torch for something thats in a tight location, like the cooler lines. But for the untimate in nut busting, you can't beat the oxy-acetelyne.

What do you do with the transfer case, disconnect the Vac. lines that go to the solenoids ( another area of mystery for me ) and a couple of wires and the speedo cable?

any veterans out there that would like to teach a rookie.

theside00 · 03-06-07, 06:03 PM

There are two inspection plates on the front side that you can get into the bolts that attach the flexplate to the torque converter. Just get in there spin the engine and take out the bolts. I think there are 8 of them not to bad. I would try with wrenches first before taking a torch to it. There are only two vacum lines thena ground wire in the back take those off and you are good to go.

doctorjj · 03-06-07, 06:26 PM

As theside00 said, there are bolts going through the flex plate and into the torque converter. There are actually 6 of them and you access them through an inspection plate on the drivers side about 1/4 of the way up. As for the connections, there is the speedo, the 4WD senors, a couple of other electrical connections which I'm not sure what they are, the shifter, the 4Lo shifter, and the 2 driveshafts, the 2 cooler lines and the 2 vacuum lines. Maybe something else I'm not thinking of.

As for the torch, my cooler lines looked pretty rusty too, but they came off pretty easily with 17 and 19 mm open ended wrenches. Didn't even need tubing wrenches. Try it first, if they won't budge you can probably just hit it a little with a plumber's torch.