Changing tranny by yourself ????

v8killr

Registered User
I think i'm going to have to change out my trans in my 93 (auto) and if i do it will be by myself and while i think i can do it i know it's going to be a royal pain.I have changed out trannies before but not on these sc's.Just curious if someone else has done this?I know there are others who have i just wanted to get a little input on any things that will help with the process.

I don't want to pull the motor just the trans if possible so any input would help.
Btw if anyone has one they are selling let me know.
Thanks David
 
Its easy when you know what your doing, it's like a big boy lego set. I took out my 5 speed in 5 hours the other day. I took the auto out of it a year ago, same thing pretty much.
#1 rule PB blaster will help loosen any bolt if its a high milage car.
drain tranny and torque converter before beginning. about 12 quarts worth.

1. Take off exhaust from manifolds back. Need to take a little crossmember off in order to do this, you'll see it when you get under there.
2. Take off all heat shields. And remove the 2 driveshaft saftey loops.
3. unbolt driveshaft.
4. Lower gas tank (with a jack supported by a wood board, the bigger the better also helps if its 1/4 tank or less.) by the 4 bolts holding it on with 2 straps, also a good idea to remove the bolt from the filler tube right near the spring. Slide out driveshaft.
5. mount gas tank back in place.
6. remove negative battery terminal and remove starter, (BIG sparks if it's not unhooked)
7. unclip the wiring harness, and throttle body valve linkage. If I remember right it's not a good idea to take off the neutral switch.
8. remove bellhousing bolts leave 1 on each side to hold it in place for the time being.
9. remove fluid coolant lines
10. place tranny jack/ jack with a board on it to support the crossmember and pan at the same time, I found this to make it easier to balance on the jack.
11. support engine by oil pan with a block of wood to distribute the weight. unbolt torque converter from flywheel. you have to turn the engine over with a breaker bar by the crank pulley to get to the 4 bolts.
12. unbolt the crossmember by each side then take out the 2 bolts on the bellhousing.
13. have a friend hold the tranny steady while you SLOWLY slide it off the pins and lower it, as it goes down you can actually sit under the car.
14. reverse to install. remember that the throttle body valve linkage is very sensitive to adjustment DO NOT tinker with it or you'll be doing the same thing all over again real soon.

Someone correct me if I am wrong somewhere.
 
I've done autos on older cars before I did the one in my Cougar. I found it easy, the part that was a little different for me was the driveshaft over the gas tank and the shields/brackets associated with that.

Kurt
 
Yes, you can do it yourself. I have it down to 2hrs or less taking it out and about the same reinstalling it. Used to be a weekend job. And yes, that's by myself. Make sure you have the car up in the air enough and it makes it way easier to take your hood off and take out the cowl and wiper assembly....you can get to most of the bell housing bolts from the top. Makes it way easier and saves tons of time.

XR7Kurt said:
I've done autos on older cars before I did the one in my Cougar. I found it easy, the part that was a little different for me was the driveshaft over the gas tank and the shields/brackets associated with that.

Kurt
 
It's a good idea to mark the orientation of the torque convertor with respect to the driveplate. I like to leave them attached and just drain the convertor and slip a pan underneath (goes back together easier, too)

Make sure you disconnect the shifter linkage prior to step luckey 13.
It helps to pull out the dipstick tube, also.

I found that in order to get the driveshaft tail yoke off the pinion nut, I had to tilt the engine/tranny as an assembly after unbolting the crossmember. I used a tranny jack for this. Then, when the driveshaft falls, jack the tranny back up and loosely bolt the crossmember back in place.

Also, having a prybar handy for separating the engine and tranny can make it a lot easier to get them apart in a controlled manner. If they still won't separate, use the driveshaft as a big ramrod and hit the tranny in the starter hole :D

*** You may or may not want to attempt that last step (I did, but I didn't care about the tranny) ***
 
If you have a harbor freight in the area, I'd get a couple of sets of the big jackstands, and a tranny jack. I got the big jackstands on sale for $18 a peice and the tranny jack for $40-$50 bucks, cant remembre exactly.

That made the job much easier!

You may also consider rebuildign it yourslef. I've done two AODs, and no problems yet!

Kinda messy, the things you need special tools for can be done for about $5.00 at a tranny shop if you carry the parts to them (meanning getting the piston in the drums)

The HAYES AOD book is surprisingly good, as is a FORD service manual for thunderbird...

If you have any questions ona rebuild, let me know!

Good luck!
 
I dont know if anyone mentioned this, but removing the heat sheilds and dropping the gas tank is not necessary, (well at least in the early style tanks).
to remove the driveshaft, support the pumpkin and remove the 4 drive shaft to pumpkin bolts, then remove the 2 pumpking mounting bolts (2 nuts, 18mm i believe), lower pumpkin and slide the driveshaft backwards between the pumpkin and the underside of the body.
saves a lot of time
i dropped my 5 sp. alone on friday in about 3 hours.
i dont think that removing the hood, cowl and wiper assembly only to get at the bell housing bolts would save any time at all. these bolts arent too difficult to get at (unless auto bell housing bolts are different than the 5sp.), i got all 8 out in less than 10min and it would take me way longer to remove all that over stuff.
maybe it works for brandon, but i definately disagree with the saving time factor.
 
Maybe the 5-speed bellhousing bolts are easier to get to? I don't know, but I had a hell of a time getting at them on my auto. And considering my car doesn't have any wiper assembly on it, it works for me and it doesn't take too long to take the stuff off. I guess different things work for different people.

livn said:
I dont know if anyone mentioned this, but removing the heat sheilds and dropping the gas tank is not necessary, (well at least in the early style tanks).
to remove the driveshaft, support the pumpkin and remove the 4 drive shaft to pumpkin bolts, then remove the 2 pumpking mounting bolts (2 nuts, 18mm i believe), lower pumpkin and slide the driveshaft backwards between the pumpkin and the underside of the body.
saves a lot of time
i dropped my 5 sp. alone on friday in about 3 hours.
i dont think that removing the hood, cowl and wiper assembly only to get at the bell housing bolts would save any time at all. these bolts arent too difficult to get at (unless auto bell housing bolts are different than the 5sp.), i got all 8 out in less than 10min and it would take me way longer to remove all that over stuff.
maybe it works for brandon, but i definately disagree with the saving time factor.
 
I got out all the AOD bellhousing bolts out from underneath if I recall correctly, I know I didn't have to remove any cowling...

Its a 1990 SC....
 
Wait a second, mabye its because i did this, but when i removed my motor without the trans, i didnt have to drain anything... Is it vise versa that you have to remove all the fluid? remove trans vs. remove motor

jOe
 
I pulled the 4R70W transmission in my 94 SC on jack stands in my garage by myself with the help of a motorcycle/RV jack. That transmission is one heavy sucker and the motorcycle/RV jack made it much easier. :)
 
I just finished taking mine out to swap the TC, and I didn't bother draining any fluid. A small amount leaked out when I removed the dipstick tube, but other than that it wasn't a problem.

The bellhousing bolts on the AOD should be no problem to remove from below. You can't actually see them, but you can easily feel them and get a wrench on there.
 
I started to install my new lentech about the 22 of Sept.
I should be done in another month or so.

Go for it, its easy !

Randy
 
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