Last minute tranny removal advice

OK..I have a 1994 Dodge Caravan with a 3.0 Litre engine and it has the

3 speed automatic transmission. Recently the transmission went up and I have been scouting around for a good junkyard transmission for it and found the one I want last week. I`m going to remove it tomorrow and wanted some last minute pointers on removing this thing in the junkyard. Obviously all the repair manuals assume you are in a garage or shop. Any advice about removing this thing in the yard with hand tools and just the jacks and discarded tires I will find there? Since it`s a junker I don`t have to be to careful about damaging unrelated stuff taking it off so I can clear a path to the transmission. My biggest concern is the final disconnect of the tranny from the engine and the weight/shifting.
Reply to
Sara Brown
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Hi,

I'm surprised no one has responded to this one yet...

First it is very helpful to cut your teeth on a junker, by the time you get to your own vehicle it should go smoothly. Though I have no experience with this exact vehicle I have pulled a transmission or two under less than ideal circumstances. Bring lots of cardboard to put down on the ground, the more the better. It's much better than crawling around in the dirt, and you can change it out when/if it gets soaked in transmission fluid. Make sure you have long extentions for your ratchet and sockets as well as a u-joint. Removing the drive shafts from the transaxle can be intimidating. Some sort of pry bar (or two) is essential, though even a tire iron scrounged from a trunk might work. They DO come out, just not necessarily easily. Try prying with two pry bars on opposite sides. Remember that your legs are much stronger than your arms, pushing with your feet or even kicking can be very effective at times. As for physically manhandling the transaxle out of there, unless you have a fancy jack with a strap and all that, there's no getting around the fact that it's heavy and awkward. Probably a two person job. Good luck, allow twice as long as you think it should take, and you'll get a huge sense of achievement when it's all done.

Peace, Harry

Reply to
"Harry Smith"

In article ,

The bad news is that dropping a transaxle like this is harder than dropping a regular transmission. This is not the easiest car to start out with at all. The good news is that at least it's an auto so you don't have a bunch of linkages to worry about.

My suggestions: bring Break-Free or some other powerful penetrating lube, the biggest breaker bar you have for your socket set, and some socket extensions.

Bring 2X4s and nails... you can make a platform under the thing and drop it slowly to the ground once you have it out. If you don't have a real transmission stand, 2X4s can make an excellent improvised one. Also bring rope or nylon strap that you can use to support the thing from above as you disconnect it.

If you have power and a Skilsaw, bring it. Sometimes it can be faster and easier to cut stuff off and unbolt it on the ground rather than to unbolt it in place. Oh yeah, and be really careful not to cut into something important. We've all done that.

Bring a second person, maybe even a third person. You want someone spotting you when you've got heavy stuff suspended above you.

Oh yes, and drain the fluid out of the thing if the junkyard hasn't already done that. You'll never get it all out, but every pound of fluid you get out is a pound that you don't have to lift.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Wear some thick leather gloves. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Thanks for the replies. After giving it thought and getting advice from nice people online I have decided to try to just lower the entire engine/transmission as a unit and take the transmission off it sitting on the ground rather than pull the tranny with the engine still in place. The junkyard will lift the front end with a forklift for you and put tires under the sides to keep it raised. Once that`d done I can just secure the engine/trans in someway from above..Disconnect the mounts and lower it down and begin disassembly

Reply to
Sara Brown

Ask the man if you can take the engine too for an extra fifty bucks, while you have it out. Maybe you'll need it someday.

DO NOT trust tires and improvised props to keep a vehicle from crushing you. Use real stands and supports and/or just keep out from under it as much as possible. Bring a spotter with you in case something goes wrong.

When I was a little kid, my father would bring me as a spotter. I wasn't very useful to help remove things, but I could get help if something went wrong, and in the process I learned a lot about cars. Also I learned a lot of new profanities that my father would never have used under normal circumstances.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Scott is right. Use something that is solid all the way through to support the vehicle.If you can find some 4' by 4' wood, or some similar big pieces of wood, that is much better that trusting tires.Don't use any concrete blocks, they can easily break and get you hurt. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Bring a broomstick or some such to run through the transaxle where the axles were. Seems like I heard about gears dropping, and a bear of a time getting them back in position.

Reply to
Steve Walker

The kids next door get "English lessons"...I even make them up as I go along...

Reply to
Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B

I learned some new words in 1964 in Vietnam, Vietnamese cuss words.I won't repete them here though. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Why? I could USE some new ones no one understands!

I was in the market the other day and this girl just about 20 or so dropped her keys, and said, "Son of a ...(then she noticed me...) SEACOOK!"

I laughed and said, I haven't heard that one for YEARS!!!

Reply to
Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B

A lot of these places will pull the tranny for you and have it waiting, maybe free, maybe for a charge.. Consider this. You can really hurt yourself rolling around out in the mud and cold trying to do something you dont know how to do, and dont have the best equipment to start with.

Reply to
hls

Ask them if they will pull the transmission for no extra money.If they charge about $15.00 to 20.00, I think it is worth it. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

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