Tranny swap...any tips?

[landtank]

Right after Easter I'll be finishing up the spring cleaning (maintenance) of the fleet of Toyotas I now own and the last on the list is to swap out the tranny in the LC.

I've never pulled one on a 4X4 before so I'm looking for any help or tips someone might have.

I have only the tranny to swap out so the T-case will need to be moved and the first question is that easier in the truck or out? Should I pull them as a unit?

I did try and make this a little easier on myself by getting a tranny jack from harbor freight. The site is down right now but I'll add a link to the one I bought later.

Thanks for any ideas

This is the Jack

 

[cruiserdan]

Our guys pull them married and split them and reassemble before going back in the truck. Change your rear main too. IIRC you have 80+k since your head gasket. I would swap the PHH too. It's a breeze with the transmission out of the way.

 

[Rainy Day FZJ]

I have exp in R&R my trans at least 3x's. the last time went very smooth. Tips include, removing the torque converter to flywheel bolts just after the removing the upper sway bar bolts. You can let the motor hang with the trans and transfercase still atached and fully remove the rear trans mount. it may seem odd but it can be done. then remove the t-case and d-lines before the whole assembly. it clears with no problems. this ia ofcoarse after removing the shifter linkages. The other hang up can be the 10mm bolt and bracket that holds the cooler lines to the upper portion of the trans and bellhousing, haven't perfected a way to remove it without bending it and just not putting it back with the replaced trans. Lastly you need to get the vehicle way and I mean way up in the air to get the trans out from underneath the vehicle with the trans still on the jack. 27" under the frame if my memmory is any good.
Lube the alignment studs on the trans with grease just before the install, makes it much easier on a difficult install.
Lastly purchase a long extention that has 1/2 inch at the ratchet end and 3/8 at the socket end made out of impact blackened steel. It wont flex like the cheap ones. It needs to be 24" long. This tool was the only thing that I could get to loosen the upper bolts 17mm.

Any other Q's let um fly.

 

[Rainy Day FZJ]

Dan your guys have the pleasure of a lift to get under it while standing. It works best to split it in the vehicle IF you are doing it on the ground. Great ideas on the reart main seal. The front torque converter seal and the trans output seal and the t-case input seal are all the same seal if I remember correctly.

 

[landtank]

Thanks guys. I already ordered all the seals on all the shafts.

Rainy Day, where did you find that extension, it seems a little odd in it's construction?

 

[semlin]

i obviously missed the post that explains why you are doing this. are you giving in and going 442F ?

 

[cruiserdan]

He has some reverse engagement issuses on occasion.

 

[landtank]

He has some reverse engagement issuses on occasion.

That's about it, plus I'm a nut for PM items.

Toyota documented in a TSB that the 343s have a reverse engagement problem which myself and maybe 10 others, over the years, have reported. As far as the 343 in the LC is concerned somewhere in the 97 production run, this slow reverse engagement issue was addressed.

So with 200k on the clock and having an issue backing out of a parking spot which required backing up a slight grade, I decided to start searching for a 97 tranny with the appropriate serial number to get around this issue.

Surprisingly Cruiserparts.net had just what I was looking for, for 750.00. For me this is a no brainer, bought the unit and it's going in this week hopefully.

 

[Rainy Day FZJ]

OH no not Cruiser parts.net, I had bad issues that finnaly got resolved from a used trans, sorry didn't meen to hijack this. Back on track, you should be able to purchase the tool from any tool guy, IE snap on, mac or cornwell tools. I will do a quick locate for ya, just give me a few

 

[Rainy Day FZJ]

Here ya go. http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...group_ID=12922&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

and http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...4&group_ID=414&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

make sure that you purchase the correct size as your bellhousing bolts. These are great tools to make a tight access very easy.

 

[Rainy Day FZJ]

And if you are really as much of a PM nut as me you will put one of these is as well. http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=2&Category_Code=inline-filter

I stood my used trans on end for 3 days to attempt to empty it all and drained and refilled the torque converter before it went in. Then flipped it on it's back to clean the trans filter screen and pan. Of coarse I'm a full on nut, if it is easier to replace on the ground I will go to great lengths to replace it. Good luck with your gently used trans.....;]-

 

[landtank]

RD, you mentioned that you let the engine/tranny just hang without the rear support. Did you disconnect the exhaust prior to that?

 

[cruiserdan]

Do excercise caution if you let 'er swing supported only by the front engine mounts. The motor will pivot and shove the fan into the top radious of the fan shroud if you are not careful.

 

[landtank]

Well got some time under the truck today. I have to say that not having the pressure of having a running rig Monday morning is quite nice!

Anyway I have the T-case ready to come out. Nothing much to report here except the loom anchor on top of the t-case. To avoid the shifting lever coming in contact with the wiring to the switches and actuator motor of the center lock, the wiring is anchored to the top of the t-case. The bolt that holds this in place is one of the actuator bolts. It's a 12mm head and easily gotten to with a standard box wrench. The problem comes in actually removing the bolt once it's completely loosened. To actually take out the bolt you need to lower the tranny/t-case assembly 10mm. I did this by loosening the cross member bolts.

I was hoping for some help tonight to get that heavy bastid out of there but if not I'll deal with it tomorrow.

 

[landtank]

Now that the t-case is out, I thought I'd post a few pics of that retainer on top of it that was giving me so much problems. Basically you need to be sure that the t-cast is in high range so the linkage is out of the way and using a small screw driver or similar blade you basically slide the blade into a slot and lift up to release the retainer.

 

[semlin]

that's the same as the one that holds the engine harness to the valve cover under the throttle body. i found the best way to remove that was to forget about it and accidentily tug on the harness. it gave me no further difficulties

 

[Rainy Day FZJ]

Dan I have checked both times that I let the engine "hang" on the mounts to see if the fan blades would hit and they didn't. As for the q on the exhaust that would have taken more steps and I wasn't interested in it. It was left in place and seemed to move a bit on the hangers. No problems were encountered during the previous technical repair. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it...

 

[landtank]

So the tranny is now sitting on the floor. No real surprises here except for one.

The 2 cooling lines that go up over the top of the tranny have a clamp of sorts that holds them in place at about the 10:00 o-clock position as looking from the rear forward. I didn't realise this was there until the tranny would not come out. Can this clamp which is held in place by a single 12mm bolt be put in from the wheel well after the tranny has been put back into place?

Also that jack I linked to works great. Plenty of height to reach the tranny on a truck with 4" of lift and 35" tires.

Now to get that bastid out from under the truck, should require about 8" of jacking to get enough room under the sliders.

 

[landtank]

Well I have been making steady headway on the project. As of last night all I had left was to bolt up the driveshafts, connect the kickdown cable at the throttle body and fill the tranny with fluid.

Major let down this morning. It would seem that when the tranny was removed at the yard they decided to simply yank the cable out of the throttle body instead of removing it. There is no ball on the end of the cable anymore.

So now I get to order a new cable, FPIG and repair the new to me tranny.

Maybe it's me, but I'd suspect harnesses and hoses to be cut but not a cable that is intricately mated to the tranny.

To say the least, I'm a little frustrated right now.

 

[Rainy Day FZJ]

If you were next door I would be happy to give you one of mine, that doesn't help you I know. But I fully understand your frustration and have been in your boat, let me guess cruiserparts.net? anyways that shouldn't change anything, but the cable is fairly easy to replace, it involves removing the pan again, and very small hands or small pliers to manuever the cable off of the kickdown pully. You are so close to being done yet it might as well be a mile without the correct part.