So it occurs to me that I need to remove the transmission from a 91 Isuzu Trooper. If you must know, I want to replace the clutch because I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do for a friend on my vacation. So, we’re talking about removing a manual transmission.
I’ve got the front & rear drive shafts removed. I’ve got all the mounting bolts and shift levers & wires removed (as evidenced by my ability to spin the thing almost 180 degrees). What’s killing me is I’ve been able to slide the thing back about an inch from the engine and then no more. I can’t see anyplace where the body of the tranny is hanging up on the car. Is there any trick/internal gizmo that I’ve overlooked? Why can’t I get this damned thing off?
Hmmm. If you can spin it, it’s not any linkage or anything.
Don’t know much about the manual transmission.
Although I have removed Chevy truck auto transmissions before, a couple of times.
Do you have, or rent a transmission jack. It’s a special floor jack with all kinds of ears and adjustments to help you take it off, and more importantly line it back up to put it back on.
You may need to take some weight off of it to slide it back farther. The jack will do that. Is the transfer case still on the tranny?
It sounds like you have every thing disconnected. I would pull it to the place right before it stops moving and slowly spin the output shaft on the transfer case (lock it in 4x). Something may have gotten miss-aligned by spinning the whole unit (splined output shaft?). Long shot.
I really don’t know anything about that unit, but thats what I would try.
Ball bearings, actually. It’s all ball bearings these days. Chilton’s, not Haynes unfortunately.
Tranny jack. Yes, I think It will come to this. All of my burly weight lifting friends who could actually be of use to me right now have white-collar “don’t wanna damage my nails” management jobs. They won’t be troubled with getting greasy with me…
I’ve been wiggling the dickens out of it trying to free it up, but no good. The jack would definitely come in handy for installation. Yes, the transfer case is still attached. I’m not ready to deal with hooking it back up & the shop manual says, “Leave that dang thing attached. You *can * take it off first if you wanna, but then you gotta read chapters 4,5 8 & 9, burn a live chicken at midnight on a crecent moon and dance naked with red ochre smeared all over your nethers in order to get it back on.” This is Denver–we got ordinances about live animal sacrifices…for now.
No experience with this particular application, but…
Is the bellhousing attached to the motor or trans?
Has the clutch fork been removed from the bellhousing?
Can you move the trans forward easily or is it stuck at the 1" back position?
Can you see into the clutch housing at all?
If it’s not hitting the body somewhere and the throwout bearing is not binding on the clutch fork, I’d bet you’ve just got the pilot bearing and the clutch hub slightly misaligned. Or maybe there is a burr on the input splines. Either way, you just force it apart and fix the problem before putting it back together. Sometimes it takes some serious “persuasion”.
My best guess is what others have mentioned, binding from the tranny being cocked. You need the axis of the tranny input shaft/rear output shaft lined up straight with the engine crankshaft so as to not bind in the pilot bearing and/or clutch disc. With the weight of the transfer case pulling down the rear of the tranny, it can take some serious muscle to get things lined up right. This will be even more critical during installation.
Removing the transfer case will probably less of a pain than fighting the tranny out (and back in) with the transfer case still attached. It will also greatly improve your chances of not having your chest crushed when the combined weight of the transmission and transfer case fall on it once you do get it out.