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#1
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Advice for installing a 4-speed
I pulled the 4-speed tranny from my 69 RR to replace the clutch disk and throw-out bearing. What's the easiest way to put the tranny back in?
I don't have a transmission jack (just a regular pneumatic car jack) nor do I have a lift; it's just me laying on the garage floor grunting and scratching my head. I used the disk alignment tool to line up the clutch disk; the clutch cover with pressure plate is tightened down. After trying to thread the shaft through the throw-out bearing on the clutch fork, I gave up and pulled the bearing and stuck it on the shaft figuring I'll reconnect the fork once the shaft is in place. I spent about three hours this afternoon trying to finaggle the jack forward and upward to get the shaft through the bell housing and through the clutch fingers without the shifter hitting the crossmember (or the transmission turning or twisting). Man, it was easier installing the engine onto the transmission than installing the transmission on the engine!!! You guys have been there and done that. What advice can you give to help me get my tranny back in the car? HELP!!! Terry |
#2
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Those things are heavy, and I have to say I've never tried to do it...
But back in the old days I used to do a lot of this stuff by myself and I'm not strong at all. I used levers. I'd get the car up nice and high and have a beam of timber maybe ten feet long, put a pile of wheels and batteries on one end, sit the middle (or nearer the gearbox...) on a pile of bricks and have the other end under the box... usually with another short piece of timber there to ensure clearance with the floor. That, with a lot of effort, of course, took the weight, so all I had to do was guide and manipulate it. Think it through, you might be able to do something, but I'd recommend you actually make a cradle to sit the box in on the end of the beam. |
#3
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Work the clutch. after we pushed the clutch in the trans slipped right in.
We had to put the trans on the (regular car) jack, roll it under the car and lift it to where we had it is best aligned with the engine. then we started pusing while twisting, wiggling, and turning the tail end of the trans while the other watched the shaft and tried to keep it aligned. 69 RR 4-spd, nice car. |
#4
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The last time I did one, it was all brute force. I got the car up on jack stands and slid the tranny under the car. Once I was under the car, I got the tranny on my chest and bench pressed her into place. It took a couple of tries of benching it up and then twisting and wiggling until it went in.
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#5
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I've done this more than once. One time i bolted 2 sicsor jacks to a skate board and rolled it in. The other times i've used a floor jack with wheels and a coulple of friends. Make shure the clips that hold the throwout bearing in place dont jigle loose.
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#6
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i've done this a few times. man, those 833's are tanks.
rent a tranny jack - well worth it. jackstands under car - preferably all 4 corners. t/o bearing on fork, installed in bellhousing (make sure greased in both places). driveline slip yoke in end of tranny (wrap loose rear u-joint w/rag). get trans sitting nice and level to engine on jack. install tranny w/o shifter (you can install shifter afterwards). if input splines don't engage clutch disc, rotate yoke back/forth a little and/or jiggle tranny a little. tranny should slide right in. good luck! |
#7
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Thanks!
Thanks for the suggestions. This morning I'm eating Wheaties!
Question about the fork and throw-out bearing. Can I simply place the throwout bearing on the shaft first, then manuever the tranny into place, and THEN clip the fork into the bellhousing and throw-out bearing? Seems like the throw-out bearing becomes unclipped from the fork pretty easily if I try to thread the shaft through the bearing and into the clutch disk.... Terry |
#8
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you can put the clips on afterward if you have small hands. I never could do it. Just take your time putting the tranny in and the clips should hold.
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#9
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Terry,
I see you have a Road Runner, while I have a Duster, I can offer some advice which may or may not apply to your b-body. Yes, you can put the throwout bearing on the shaft if you want. On a small block Duster, there is little room to maneuver the fork to get it in place on the throwout bearing and it always takes me numerous attempts before I ever get it on right. I think once I got it in place after only a few trys so maybe someone with smaller hands could do it easier than me. I also agree with ChargerDan, get a spare yoke and put it in the ass end of the tranny so you dont get a facefull of gearoil. I just use a piece of string to hold it in place, then when you are done installing the tranny, you can just cut the string, pull the spare yoke out and install your driveshaft with a minimum of spilled gear oil. As for hoisting the tranny by benchpressing it, well maybe in earlier days when I was young and slightly more foolish than I am now, but now I use a tranny cradle designed to fit in the saddle of my floor jack, it's convenient, and cheaper than buying a real tranny jack, but when the tranny is chained to it, it has the tranny sitting about 5 or 6" off the floor, so you gotta get the car pretty high in the air just to wheel it under the car verses just trying to balance it on a floor jack. I would recommend buying some of the larger size jackstands for the extra height, you'll appreciate it later. The next time I have to replace my clutch, I'm buying some of those, after struggling with the 833 with the gear vendors unit on the ass end of it, I am not looking forward to clutch replacement anytime soon, and yet, I keep doing burnouts sidestepping the clutch, go figure. |
#10
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Here's how I do it. S.B.- remove distributor to lower engine more. I lay on a creeper with my feet to the front of the car, tranny laying on my lap. I put my knees under the front of the tranny and hold the rear with both hands. After that I roll to the engine and plug it in. When you hold it like that, it takes a lot longer to fatigue to the point where you have to set it back down, so you have a lot more time to be patient and wiggle it in. You can also make some pilot studs with allthread to hold the tranny between tries, just hold or prop the tail so you don't hurt the clutch disk.
torch |
#11
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It sure is easier with a transmission jack. I got one from Harbor Freight. Its a scissors type jack with a large cradle for the transmission to sit on. They have straps to strap it on so it wont' roll off. It uses a 1/2 inch socket wrench to adjust it up and down. This thing was worth its weight in gold. I used to struggle and cuss putting 4 speeds in but now its easy with the jack. This jack cost about $60.oo but I'm sure you can rent one for a lot less. Mine is curently out on loan. Everybody has been borrowing it.
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#12
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Done! In!! I'm dead...
Thanks again for your advice. Here's what I did (just to finish the thread):
1) I created a cradle of sorts out of 2x4s so the tranny wouldn't roll over easily. I bolted a piece of iron bar across the bottom front to lay across the cradle and prevent ANY movement. 2) I mounted the throw-out bearing onto the shaft (threading it would knock it off the clutch fork. 3) I jacked the tranny into place gently guiding the shaft through the clutch and clutch disc as I went along. 4) When I got to about 1/2 inch from my goal, I just couldn't go any further. I suspected the clutch disc was preventing forward motion so I loosened the six bolts holding the clutch cover until the disk could move. I turned the disk until it slid on the shaft and married with the splines. 5) WHAT I SHOULD'VE done next was connect the throw-out bearing to the clutch fork since I needed about 1/2" wiggle room but I didn't; I just wanted to bolt the damn thing together at this point -- which I did without a hitch. 6) After figuring out that I needed about 1/2" more room to squeeze the clutch fork onto the throw-out bearing (and not wanting the whole thing to fall apart when I loosened it) I temporarily replaced the tranny-to-bellhousing bolts with longer bolts (one by one so as not to drop the tranny. 7) I loosened the starter and slid the tranny back 1/2 in and popped the throw-out bearing pins into the clutch fork. 8) I bolted the tranny to the bellhousing with the original bolts and tightened everything (including the starter) up. 9) Before lowering the jack, I installed the tranny mount (and driveshaft loop) and tightened everything to specs. 10) I put the rubber boot over the clutch fork hole, connected the clutch adjuster to the fork and z-bar, and tighted the adjuster to remove play from the clutch pedal and installed the fork-to-bellhousing spring. 11) I reinstalled the shifter handle and connected the speedo and reverse light indicator connector. 12) I'll be a sunofagun but everything worked! (I started it up and slowly went through a few gears while the car was on jacks.) 13) After a drive through the neighborhood (a couple of miles of shifting), I readjusted the clutch adjuster since a bit more play had worked its way into the clutch pedal and things seem to be GREAT!!! Thanks for your advice! Whew!!!! I think next time I'll pull the engine! (Or buy/rent a tranny jack.) Something else I would do is use a jack to raise the front of the engine by an inch or so (as much as I could get without removing the engine mounts) since it was the angle of the engine that seemed to cause most of the problem; the tranny rear had to be high so the shaft could enter the engine at the correct angle and the rear kept hitting the crossmember.... Terry Terry |
#13
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God gave you a brain so you could work these things out, right?
Good work... perseverence paid off and you learned a few lessons on the way. Life's like that... |
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