ahess77
05-19-2004, 02:07 PM
I dropped the trans last weekend to do J-Mod upgrades and add the PI torque converter. I was using the Ford shop manual released in July 2003. It is missing some minor info such as: there are 7 bolts, not 6, that retain the transmission to the engine, and if anyone has a grounding strap on their starter to the block please let me know because mine is missing.
In doing this I had some observations that may help you, or perhaps you can suggest a better way.
1. Transmission frame crossmember is press-fit into brackets welded to the longitudinal frame members. I just want to know what Ford engineer thought this was a good idea. I spend 1.5 hours trying to get the crossmember off. After I dislodged the free floating end spacers that prevent the bolts from bending the frame brackets I quit hitting it with a sledgehammer. There’s also a flange on both the frame brackets and the crossmember that has about a 1 inch gap, so I pried on this for a while until I had bent both flanges about 45 degrees and my prybar about 90 degrees. I finally ended up getting a log splitting wedge and driving it between the frame bracket and the crossmember on the top to force the crossmember down out of the bracket. Of course once one end was out the other end fell out and the whole thing landed on my leg. Let’s not forget, I don’t have a lift in my garage, I’m doing this laying on a crawler with the car up on jack stands.
2. Top two trans to engine bolts, the only way to do this is to lower the transmission about 3 inches in the back and use a 36” extension to reach the bolts from behind the transmission. I tried all kinds of swivels, gear wrenches, removed the plastic wheel wells, and thought about cutting some hoses, etc. until I finally figured this out. And again, what Ford engineer thought 13mm bolt heads were adequate for 100 ft-lbs of back-out torque? There’s plenty of room for 18mm bolt heads. I rounded off two of them, luckily not the top ones.
3. You would expect that the transmission would balance on the pan like all normal RWD transmissions. Apparently not. I’ve got a platform adaptor for my floor jack and I even cut a couple 2x4’s to fit longitudinally along the outside edge of the pan since Ford thinks there should be a 2” external dimple right in the middle of their pan (yea, yea, who cares if the pump sucks air or not.) So I get the last bolt out, the one the manual doesn’t tell you about, and the transmission decides to fall off the jack to the LH side. It doesn’t go far, the floor pan prevents it from rotating off the jack. But I gotta tell you when your laying on your back on a crawler under a car and a transmission starts falling toward you it’s somewhat surprising, or exciting, or wet-your-pants frightening, I haven’t decided which.
So anyway, I dropped of the transmission with my favorite shop today (Independent Transmission on 6 mi & telegraph if you live in Detroit), he said a couple of days and I’ll be ready to write my story on the woes of installation (doesn’t it get easier?)
In doing this I had some observations that may help you, or perhaps you can suggest a better way.
1. Transmission frame crossmember is press-fit into brackets welded to the longitudinal frame members. I just want to know what Ford engineer thought this was a good idea. I spend 1.5 hours trying to get the crossmember off. After I dislodged the free floating end spacers that prevent the bolts from bending the frame brackets I quit hitting it with a sledgehammer. There’s also a flange on both the frame brackets and the crossmember that has about a 1 inch gap, so I pried on this for a while until I had bent both flanges about 45 degrees and my prybar about 90 degrees. I finally ended up getting a log splitting wedge and driving it between the frame bracket and the crossmember on the top to force the crossmember down out of the bracket. Of course once one end was out the other end fell out and the whole thing landed on my leg. Let’s not forget, I don’t have a lift in my garage, I’m doing this laying on a crawler with the car up on jack stands.
2. Top two trans to engine bolts, the only way to do this is to lower the transmission about 3 inches in the back and use a 36” extension to reach the bolts from behind the transmission. I tried all kinds of swivels, gear wrenches, removed the plastic wheel wells, and thought about cutting some hoses, etc. until I finally figured this out. And again, what Ford engineer thought 13mm bolt heads were adequate for 100 ft-lbs of back-out torque? There’s plenty of room for 18mm bolt heads. I rounded off two of them, luckily not the top ones.
3. You would expect that the transmission would balance on the pan like all normal RWD transmissions. Apparently not. I’ve got a platform adaptor for my floor jack and I even cut a couple 2x4’s to fit longitudinally along the outside edge of the pan since Ford thinks there should be a 2” external dimple right in the middle of their pan (yea, yea, who cares if the pump sucks air or not.) So I get the last bolt out, the one the manual doesn’t tell you about, and the transmission decides to fall off the jack to the LH side. It doesn’t go far, the floor pan prevents it from rotating off the jack. But I gotta tell you when your laying on your back on a crawler under a car and a transmission starts falling toward you it’s somewhat surprising, or exciting, or wet-your-pants frightening, I haven’t decided which.
So anyway, I dropped of the transmission with my favorite shop today (Independent Transmission on 6 mi & telegraph if you live in Detroit), he said a couple of days and I’ll be ready to write my story on the woes of installation (doesn’t it get easier?)