Quote:
Originally posted by kuoh
You make it sound so easy. Don't you have to unweld parts of the exhaust or something? And how high are your jackstands? I don't think my jack will even get that high let alone the jackstands.
KuoH
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It isn't exactly easy, but it is not rocket science. You do not need a welder or torch - you can unbolt the exhaust where it connects to the headers and take it out as a single unit (if you live outside the rust belt - otherwise you may need to torch the bolts off at the headers) and then at the other hangers on the way back. The driveshaft will just about fall out of the car once unbolted. The half shafts are easy if you use beav's advice to remove the 3 bolts underneath instead of prying out the balljoint. The tranny will come out pretty easy once you remove all the bolts, electrical stuff, starter, hoses, and then jack up the front of the engine. It is very heavy though, and my technique of balancing it on a regular floor jack with some short 2x4's to support it will end up with the tranny falling out and landing on the garage floor once it slides off the mount studs and its weight shifts. Not a good idea. Rent a tranny jack.
I had to jack the car up, put it on jackstands, then use 2x4's with the floor jack to get it higher and then set it up again on the stands. The car has to be pretty high for the tranny to clear the bottom of the engine when dragging it out but I only have 4 standard 2 ton jackstands and it worked - not sure how high they were but I had the front of the car jacked as high as they would safely go.
With months passing since I did mine the memory of what a pain it was may have dwindled some but I would do it again in the garage if I had to.
The satisfaction of completing it yourself is priceless.