Removing Transmission

[94 formula]

Today I tried to pull my transmission off my engine (engine and tranny are out of the car). I unbolted the bell housing from the back of the engine and the transmission slid back easily until it was about 2-3 inches back and then caught on something. I had the transmission level the whole way back and it slid easily till this point but will not come off. A friend of the owner of the shop I'm working at tried helping me and he could not figure it out. He's been a mechanic for 20 years and has built up some f-bodies and said he has never seen anything like this. Have any of you had an experience similar to this? Any advice?

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Can you take a picture of it?

[fastTa]

You might need to lift the front of the motor up.

If it is the stock pan, don't worry about draining it.

1. Unbolt and remove the tunnel brace / and A4 crossmember.

2. Unbolt the transmission mount / front torque arm mount.

3. Unbolt the rear of the driveshaft from the pinion yoke/ Slide out the DS from the slip yoke.

4. Now that the trans is slightly hanging down, you should be able to reach up and unplug the main harness plug on the passenger side of the trans.

5. Unplug the VSS Sensor (see below pic)

6. Remove the gear selector linkage from the side of trans. The end of the cable is just snapped onto the side of the trans gear selector by means of a ball and socket. Just pry it off. There are 2 bolts that hold the cable bracket to the top of the trans case. I would reccomend not removing the plastic spring clip that retains the cable housing in the mounting bracket. It is just much easier to keep the adjustment and not risk breaking the retainer clips.

6. Unbolt the transmission cooler hard lines from the passenger side of the trans. There are 2 (supply and return).

7. At this point it is a good idea to support the trans with something. Preferably a trans jack. Remove the 6 bellhousing bolts, leaving the top 2 last. Remove the transmisssion fluid dipstick tube. Get a good grip on the tube right at the trans case and pull up while slightly twisting back and forth. The easiest way to get the top bolts is to use several long extensions and work from the rear and over the top of the trans. An impact wrench will make life easy as well. You will want to just slide the trans back far enough to where there is enough gap between the bellhousing and the block to get a wrench in there to remove the converter/flexplate bolts. A large prybar can usually help here.

8. Remove the 3 converter/flexplate bolts on the outer portion of the flexplate, but leave the flexplate bolted to the crank.

9. Unless I have forgotten something , you should now be able to slide out the trans with the converter.

Installation just be pretty straightforward based on the above info.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Oh something I saw many years ago was a pilot bearing sort of weld itself onto the input shaft. It slid out of the crankshaft but stayed on the input shaft so it wouldn't slide out of the clutch. I can't remember what it was on but I remember a panel on the bottom of the bell housing that I took off and I unbolted the pressure plate through it. But you can't do that with ours. It would be a pain but you might could unbolt the pressure plate through where the clutch fork goes in. An air ratchet would be a big help. BTW I am assuming you pulled the clutch fork out and the front cover was unbolted from the front of the bell housing.

[94 formula]

I'll try to get a picture tommorow but you can't see a whole lot the transmission is only pulled back a few inches.

FastTA its a manual transmission and is already out of the car. I dropped the engine and transmission together out the bottom of the car. The engine is now sitting on the K member and and I have a jack under the back of the tranny.

[Trash man]

did u wiggle it a lil to see if that helps?

[fastTa]

Guess I should have looked to see that he had a M6.

[ws6drbob]

I agree with Jeff about the clutch fork. That is the ONLY thing that comes to mind that could cause what you are saying.

I am sure Jeff can post ya some pics if ya aren't sure what we are talkin about.

Not having pulled it out would cause it to be able to slide only an inch or so. If that is your problem I don't understand how a mechanic could have possibly not known to do that.

[Rob B (shoebox)]

The clutch fork is what holds everyone up the first time they pull a T56.

[fastTa]

The clutch fork does seem to be a common problem when pulling the T-56 the first time. Maybe you should have your buddy stand aside for the next go-round.

[Injuneer]

Hmmmmmm.... did you remove the shifter first?

[N20LT4Bird]

The clutch fork is what holds everyone up the first time they pull a T56.

Yup. Every time. Your buddy has probably never done a T56. After youve done your first, you wont forget. Give the clutch fork a big pull straight out. It will unclip and become real loose....then you'll be good to go.

[94 formula]

Well looks like clutch fork it is...thanks a lot for the advice everyone. The weird thing is the guy who was helping me has dealt with 4th gen f-bodies with the M6 I'm not sure if he was just having a rough day or what was going on. Again thanks for the help.