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Can't get my trans back in

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TimF

10+ Year Contributor
823
5
Mar 14, 2011
Aurora, Illinois
I feel newbish asking this but I been fighting to get my trans back in my 1g for a while now. I pulled it out to change the clutch and had no issues getting it out but I can't get it back in. My first attempt it would constantly get hung up on the subframe, control arm, or front support beam (the one front motor mount attaches to). I took off a sheet metal bracket on the rear subframe and dropped that front support and not I have the bell housing over the clutch but the diff keep a hitting the rear subframe and won't roll down and line up. So what am I doing wrong , do I need to remove the rear mount to get the engine to slide more forward? Car has poly mount so not a lot of play in them. This is my first time doing this with the motor in the car
 

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Have you been lowering / raising the engine? That can help so you get it in the right position. When I do my transmission its usually me and my buddy helping. That makes a huge difference. It's usually me under the car and him running the jacks. It goes something like "lower the trans.......raise the engine......lower the trans......lower the engine......pull the trans jack toward you.....raise the engine" while i'm underneath spinning and pushing the transmission in.

The first few times you do it its a pain, then you get the hang of it. Especially after like your 15th time doing it LOL. It took me 3 days of non stop work to change my clutch the first time. And I still didn't do it right.
 
He is putting it back in. Not removing it.

I wasn't sure bc he said "but the diff keep a hitting the rear subframe and won't roll down and line up." Not sure what he means by this.

And yes, two person job makes life much easier.
 
I wasn't sure bc he said "but the diff keep a hitting the rear subframe and won't roll down and line up." Not sure what he means by this.

And yes, two person job makes life much easier.

He worded it poorly. He is basically just saying the the trans is hitting the subframe and wont go in. I noticed that the first time I pulled the trans on my girlfriends 1g. It is just a pita to line it up. But it will go with the help of some jacks and a little man power.
 
It is tight in that area, I remove the trans mounts completely including the top mount plate, it gives you more room, the spin it up in and lay the diff on the rear subframe with a jack under the transmission, from there take some 9 inch or so long rods and manhandle the transmission until you can slip one through one bolt hole in the transmission bellhousing and out the other side and into one engine bolt hole, then spin it further into position to start another rod and then you should be close enough to get it up on after some cussing and a few liters of lost blood and some of your favorite skin. Plan on a sore back.
 
Have you been lowering / raising the engine? That can help so you get it in the right position. When I do my transmission its usually me and my buddy helping. That makes a huge difference. It's usually me under the car and him running the jacks. It goes something like "lower the trans.......raise the engine......lower the trans......lower the engine......pull the trans jack toward you.....raise the engine" while i'm underneath spinning and pushing the transmission in.

The first few times you do it its a pain, then you get the hang of it. Especially after like your 15th time doing it LOL. It took me 3 days of non stop work to change my clutch the first time. And I still didn't do it right.
That doesn't really apply to a 1g since most of the mounts are on the engine.
 
That doesn't really apply to a 1g since most of the mounts are on the engine.

If I recall correctly I removed the front roll stop and maybe even the rear to help tilt the engine and make it easier to maneuver. I could be wrong.
 
You don't need to remove any mounts except transmission. You have to raise it very close to the pressure plate and have it rotated to the correct angle or it won't go. You'll hit the end case on the body etc. I've done it by myself at least 10+ times, sometimes I've had the same issue as you but I promise it will go. Go very slow with a solid platform on your jack. I use a cherry picker with a strap as extra insurance so it doesn't fall or screw up the clutch disc by accident. I literally go up less than an inch at a time and keep adjusting the trans each pump of the jack.
 
Yes a cherry picker and a strap around the transmission is also a big assist.
Ill do you one better. The two bolt holes that mount the trans on top. Ive used one of those to attach a lifting chain. I think the inner hole will lift the trans nearly level all by itself. Ive used a cherry picker alone to get the trans in. No jack at all. I lost count of my 1g tranny drops at about 50 over the last 26 years. 2g I use the same method but put a jack under the motor to manuever the motor. 1g trans stab is cake. 2g not so much. I also do not recomreco using any prying method through a trans bolt hole. Easy way to break something if it gets in a bind
 
Thanks for the input. I did have a friend helping and a hoist. I have not jaked the motor up or down at all I'll try that.
 
Not sure if this will work on a 1g, but on 2g's i like to go to the hardware store match up the two top tranny bolts about an inch longer then the factory ones. Then cut the heads off and thread them in the top two holes and use them as guides. Lower the engine, raise the tranny so the two top holes on the tranny line up with the make shift studs/guides and push, The studs line up the tranny with the engine. That's how i like to do it. Works for me.
 
Ill do you one better. The two bolt holes that mount the trans on top. Ive used one of those to attach a lifting chain. I think the inner hole will lift the trans nearly level all by itself. Ive used a cherry picker alone to get the trans in. No jack at all. I lost count of my 1g tranny drops at about 50 over the last 26 years. 2g I use the same method but put a jack under the motor to manuever the motor. 1g trans stab is cake. 2g not so much. I also do not recomreco using any prying method through a trans bolt hole. Easy way to break something if it gets in a bind
I definately dont recommend any prying on anything on any car or motorcycle engine ever, never ever, Im talking about using those holes with a long threaded rod though them to get the transmission lined up, in other words to set the transmission up on them not to move the rods themselves but to move the transmission onto them, thats how we do it in a proffesional dealership enviroment, and I myself have used a jack under the engine and a cherry picker on the transmission on a 2g to get things in and rolled into the right position, a load leveler on the cherry picker is good to have also, all good advice.
 
Not sure if this will work on a 1g, but on 2g's i like to go to the hardware store match up the two top tranny bolts about an inch longer then the factory ones. Then cut the heads off and thread them in the top two holes and use them as guides. Lower the engine, raise the tranny so the two top holes on the tranny line up with the make shift studs/guides and push, The studs line up the tranny with the engine. That's how i like to do it. Works for me.
Which is what I was describing with using threaded rods, works well!
 
2g was a complete pain in the ass, my advice is to get it as close as possible, and hang it loosely off the trans mount on the passengers side. Once it's loosely threaded on that side put the cross member back on with the mounts bolted to the trans and not the cross.

Once the trans is just resting on the cross it gets much easier to wiggle, most of the time just lifting the cross brace back into position under the trans moves the front motor mount enough to rotate the back of the trans to line up on the dowel pins

As mentioned it took me the better part of 3 days for the clutch job, majority of the time was lining the damn trans back up on the dowels, and finding out my new trans had a stripped fill plug. Nothing says rage spiral like getting everything finished under the car and going to fill the trans and finding the fill bolt rounded
 
Did you ever figure it out? I replaced my clutch recently and my son used a jack to help and I used a strap to lift the trans from the bottom to align. Took me a while but I got it

PS this was on a dirty, rock, unpaved drive way

The hf scissor jack helped a lot. Also k member support bracket should be removed.

Are you talking about the gusset on the passenger side?
 
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