Transmission removal on my 98 VDP to correct a suspected bad A drum is at the point where the tranny will come out tomorrow. Today I got to the point where only the last 6 transmission to engine bolts are left to remove. Its now sitting on a jack ready for morning removal & then I should be able to bench it and figure out how bad & where the fault is.

Overall its been pretty easy & everything has unbolted freely - except that 3 of the the bolts on the top of the transmission were a real pain to get at because of things blocking access (coolant, fuel and A/C hoses under the throttle body make things pretty congested. I don't look forward to the re-install side of that part of the job. Other than that the most difficult job was getting the left side exhaust pipe behind the forward muffler to come free. That took a little persuasion as the flanges on the male end of the pipe were closed down pretty tight. Otherwise everything has unbolted freely.

As I wound down for the day I looked at what it would take for final removal but can't see where the clearance will come from for the transmission to be moved rearward so the locating dowels come clear of the engine - as the prop shaft is still fully engaged with the transmission and didn't release after the rear engine mount to prop shaft connecting bolts were removed.

From the parts diagram it looks as though there is a short shaft that rides in the centre of the Jurid which requires the transmission to move forward so it can clear & that is what is keeping the transmission engaged with the prop shaft.

The manual only says that once the last 6 bolts are out of the transmission the jack is lowered to remove the transmission, but I can't see this happening as there isn't clearance and the transmission is still effectively locked between the engine and the prop shaft. There isn't enough clearance to either disengage the dowels at the front end or the prop shaft at the rear I also can't see any way the prop shaft will articulate enough that it will clear. This makes me think that the unit will act as an assembly and just hang up at some point rather than come free.

Am I missing something & should I have removed more of the prop shaft mountings to get clearance for the shaft to drop so I can move the tranny back to free it from the engine? - or is the manual correct and all I need to do is lower the unit and clearance will be sufficient for the transmission to disengage?

Any insight much appreciated.

 

Answered my own question this AM. I decided to take off the centre bracket & rear X-member as they were easy to get at & then went to the Front
end & found the assembly pushed back easily. I don't know if
I was tired as I finished the day y'day or things slacked
overnight as I don't think I needed to remover the 2 members
after all.

At any rate, the transmission is now clear & waiting to go
on the bench, but I'm waiting for an extra set of muscles
before I try that lift. Over the next couple of days I'll
open things up for a look see & then post some pictures of
what I find.

It took 7-8 hours to remove & I figure it was only about 40-
50 bolts and a few hoses to undo but lots of moving around
to get at things. Having a second set of hands to help &/or
an overhead lift would certainly speed things up.

Scott