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Crap, posted this in the wrong forum, this is a copy.
If anybody wants pics and a full writeup, I'll put one together. As common as these two items are , I found it difficult to get detailed info about the whole process.
1. Tranny removal
Pretty straightforward. I took off the starter first to get to the exhaust manifold easier, then pulled the whole exhaust out to make room.
Removing the crossmember had my confused for a few as I didn't have a body lift on at the time, so getting a wrench on the driver's side crossmember mount was a bitch. Duh, took out the 4 9/16" bolts that hold the crossmember mount to the frame. This paid off later....
As my tunnel was already cut up by the P/O. I used an engine hoist to drop the tranny and transfer case as a unit. Worked great. 1st tip, I put a piece of steel plate on the ground with some PVC conduit underneath for rollers. Dropped the whole thing on the plate and slid it right out.
I bought an NP435 with a Dana 21 attached. It still had a speedo gear and a threaded end on the output shaft. I was told by a few sources that the threaded end had to go - lucky for me we have a portable bandsaw at work, cut it in about 10 seconds. Also cut the snap ring and the speedo gear enough to pop them off with a screwdriver.
Tried to put it back in as a unit with the hoist, not worth the effort. Also found that there was no way it was going in without a body lift, my old mounts were shot to hell.
Bought the WH 1" kit, great quality kit. For newbies, there are 4 mounts on each side: Front mount is under battery tray and horn. 2d mount is in your floorboard, and probably rusted to hell. 3d mount is behind seats, 4th mount is right in front of tailgate.
1st and second mounts: My experience was that I could get them to come loose, but eventually they would just spin. The quickest way I found to get them off in that case was to take a 4 1/2" metal cutting wheel and go in at an angle to cut off the bolt and the threaded part of the bushing. Even if the bolt does come out, the bushings did not come apart due to rust. A 7/8" bit will drill out enough to release the lower part from the center column and it will just fall part from there.
The 3d and 4th mounts have a plate at the bottom that keeps it from spinning. Don't freak if the bolt breaks off at the threads, you can pull it from the bottom. Gotta pull the back bumper to do so.
Hi-lift worked much better than floor jack for me. Put a length of 4x4 under the rocker panel, with the floor jack it set the body down off of the mount holes due to the arc of the jack arm. Higher mounts mean the body comes down in a different place. The Hi-lift will put it back down in the same place.
I used a straight-jawed vicegrip to hold the nuts for the 3d mount while I turned the bolt from the top. Also, DO NOT forget to cover the hole UNDER the 3d mount on TOP of the frame or you will lost a bushing down the rabbit hole. I cut some cardboard for that purpose.
Bought a Harbor Freight tranny jack on sale for $99, this thing worked great. The table on it is big enough to get the tranny on, obviously, but also the adapter/transfer case assembly will fit with a piece of 4x4 under the high side so you can use the leveling screws to square everything up.
The tranny jack made the install a breeze. Had to have one of the kids put the clutch in to make the last inch or so, I guess the pilot tool wasn't enough. I put the tranny on the jack on it's side to slide it under the rig and then tipped it upright once it was in the tunnel. The TC/Adapter rig barely fit under the frame rails while on the jack. Install was straightforward.
The crossmember - I have seen some comments about flipping the bushings, but not clear about why. I figured I wanted things as high as possible, and since I had taken one side off earlier it was easy to wrangle the crossmember around to get them on with the thick bushing on top. No way it would go otherwise.
All in all, a lot of work by yourself but easily the most bang for the buck I have ever gained on a vehicle. Total cost - ebay adapter, $200. Tranny, $150 and I have a Dana 21 that might sell for a few bucks to reduce that. Tranny jack - $99, and it is available to any NorCal guys that want to use it.
Not sure if that helps anyone, but if you want more details let me know.
If anybody wants pics and a full writeup, I'll put one together. As common as these two items are , I found it difficult to get detailed info about the whole process.
1. Tranny removal
Pretty straightforward. I took off the starter first to get to the exhaust manifold easier, then pulled the whole exhaust out to make room.
Removing the crossmember had my confused for a few as I didn't have a body lift on at the time, so getting a wrench on the driver's side crossmember mount was a bitch. Duh, took out the 4 9/16" bolts that hold the crossmember mount to the frame. This paid off later....
As my tunnel was already cut up by the P/O. I used an engine hoist to drop the tranny and transfer case as a unit. Worked great. 1st tip, I put a piece of steel plate on the ground with some PVC conduit underneath for rollers. Dropped the whole thing on the plate and slid it right out.
I bought an NP435 with a Dana 21 attached. It still had a speedo gear and a threaded end on the output shaft. I was told by a few sources that the threaded end had to go - lucky for me we have a portable bandsaw at work, cut it in about 10 seconds. Also cut the snap ring and the speedo gear enough to pop them off with a screwdriver.
Tried to put it back in as a unit with the hoist, not worth the effort. Also found that there was no way it was going in without a body lift, my old mounts were shot to hell.
Bought the WH 1" kit, great quality kit. For newbies, there are 4 mounts on each side: Front mount is under battery tray and horn. 2d mount is in your floorboard, and probably rusted to hell. 3d mount is behind seats, 4th mount is right in front of tailgate.
1st and second mounts: My experience was that I could get them to come loose, but eventually they would just spin. The quickest way I found to get them off in that case was to take a 4 1/2" metal cutting wheel and go in at an angle to cut off the bolt and the threaded part of the bushing. Even if the bolt does come out, the bushings did not come apart due to rust. A 7/8" bit will drill out enough to release the lower part from the center column and it will just fall part from there.
The 3d and 4th mounts have a plate at the bottom that keeps it from spinning. Don't freak if the bolt breaks off at the threads, you can pull it from the bottom. Gotta pull the back bumper to do so.
Hi-lift worked much better than floor jack for me. Put a length of 4x4 under the rocker panel, with the floor jack it set the body down off of the mount holes due to the arc of the jack arm. Higher mounts mean the body comes down in a different place. The Hi-lift will put it back down in the same place.
I used a straight-jawed vicegrip to hold the nuts for the 3d mount while I turned the bolt from the top. Also, DO NOT forget to cover the hole UNDER the 3d mount on TOP of the frame or you will lost a bushing down the rabbit hole. I cut some cardboard for that purpose.
Bought a Harbor Freight tranny jack on sale for $99, this thing worked great. The table on it is big enough to get the tranny on, obviously, but also the adapter/transfer case assembly will fit with a piece of 4x4 under the high side so you can use the leveling screws to square everything up.
The tranny jack made the install a breeze. Had to have one of the kids put the clutch in to make the last inch or so, I guess the pilot tool wasn't enough. I put the tranny on the jack on it's side to slide it under the rig and then tipped it upright once it was in the tunnel. The TC/Adapter rig barely fit under the frame rails while on the jack. Install was straightforward.
The crossmember - I have seen some comments about flipping the bushings, but not clear about why. I figured I wanted things as high as possible, and since I had taken one side off earlier it was easy to wrangle the crossmember around to get them on with the thick bushing on top. No way it would go otherwise.
All in all, a lot of work by yourself but easily the most bang for the buck I have ever gained on a vehicle. Total cost - ebay adapter, $200. Tranny, $150 and I have a Dana 21 that might sell for a few bucks to reduce that. Tranny jack - $99, and it is available to any NorCal guys that want to use it.
Not sure if that helps anyone, but if you want more details let me know.
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