TH350 Removal
 

Anyone ever try to take out their transmission with the engine still in the car? I know it would probably be easier to pull it all out as one unit but I don't have an engine lift. Any tips or tricks to make it a little easier?

You will need to rent or buy a floor jack with the transmission adapter on it. You also need at least four jack stands, and get her up high enough. Carefully support car so you can grab it and shack it hard with no movement of said vehicle.

Once you get it high enough and supported, then don't fool with floor jack adapters to make them work as tranny jacks. Floor jacks don't raise straight up, they move forward and back as the raise/lower. A real tranny jack is a must, as they travel straight up and down, and will make things much easier.
Remove your distributor cap so you don't break it when you lower the trans and the engine rocks back. Start by unbolting the trans mount, and then jack the trans up slightly and remove the trans crossmember, and the three torque converter bolts to the flywheel. Then lower the trans a bit until you can get at the bellhousing bolts. Remove them, and wiggle the trans slightly until it backs off the two dowell pins. Of course you should have the linkage removed prior to dropping the trans also.
It should drop straight down once it's off the dowell pins, and ready to come out.

^ You might want to fix your post before Gorn sees it and calls you out......it's a flexplate dammit, not a flywheel! ;)

I like living dangerously; I'm leaving it! :)

Thanks for the tips. I never would have thought to take the distributor cap off or take the torque converter bolts out first.

Don't forget to take the cooling lines, speedometer cable, and wires loose also. When you drop the driveline from the rear axle be very careful not to let the caps come off the u-joint. wrap the caps while still on the driveline with duct tape to keep them in place. If they do happen to come off there are many needle bearings inside, do not loose them. Smear a small amount of grease inside the cap and put all the needles back in place, (they stand on end and line the inner wall of the cap) if they are all there, there will not be any gaps between the needles. When you pull the front driveline yoke out of the transmission it will leak fluid out so be sure to have a container to catch it, or you will have the pleasure of laying in transmission fluid. Also it is VERY important to be sure when you re-install the transmission to have the converter seated all the way into the pump. slip the converter onto the shaft and rotate it and it will slide in a little ways, then keep rotating it back and forth and it will slip in one notch farther, now it should be in place. When the transmission is up in place on the dowel pins, LIGHTLY snug a couple of bellhousing bolts to hold it in place. at this point the converter should spin freely. If your bellhousing is flush against the engine and the converter spins freely all is good. If it does not spin freely then the converter is not seated properly and you will have todrop the transmission and seat the converter. Ifyou don't get ti seated and you crank the engine over YOU WILL destroy the transmission pump. Also your exhaust may or may not be in the way. I can't think of much more to tell you, hope it helps, Allen

Old post. Gotta look at the dates

whoops. oh well maybe someone else will use the info.

Digging up them bones!