Best way to swap your tranny?

[sporkHSP]

would you take the whole engine out and swap that way?
or would you drop it out the bottom?

if you drop it out the bottom how much room do you need? jacks and jackstands or a lift?

[Vanilla Sky]

if my tranny goes, i'll swap in a standard and a rebuilt engine... the thing is if you do pull the whole engine out, you have to unhook all the electrical and the exhaust and fuel...

up to you... take your pick

[thegreatdane]

Definately drop it out the bottom. I did it with 2 jackstands(holding up the body of the car), one big floorjack(I dropped out an auto tranny which is rather heavy and large so I used this floorjack to support the tranny) and one small floorjack (supporting the engine). Are you converting from auto to manual? If so, the worst part is getting the auto tranny removed. When it's time to put things back together again, only with a manual tranny this time, it's a breeze.

[sporkHSP]

yeah my auto is definatly dying... i can feel it slipping all over the place and rubbing in gears... i would convert to manual when i do this.... so you prop the engine with a jack and then use one to support the tranny (and the two for the car)... i might talk to you more about the process later... thanks man

[thegreatdane]

Yea thats right. But you might want to wait putting the car on the jack stands and then use the floorjack instead to lift the car up and down till you have everything disconnected in the engine bay and inside the car. And when there's only under-car work left, you can put the car on the floorjacks and take the parts of the suspension apart thats needed to get the tranny out. It can easily be done with jacks but of course it's easier if you can get access to a lift.

[Blue Impact]

Drop it to the bottom is your best shot. You only need 2 jack stands and a jack and you should do fine. If you wanna do it from the top you're gonna need a cherry picker and like Vanilla said, you're gonna unbolt/disconnect a lot of things. Good luck.

[AccordEpicenter]

yeah thats the way to do it, from the bottom. Also if you do it from the bottom, esp with 5 speeds, you can just get under the engine on your back and bench press the tranny up in and push it together, works like a charm.

[sporkHSP]

im not that strong... im a scrawny little 18yearold

[cvergi01]

lol

[thegreatdane]

yeah thats the way to do it, from the bottom. Also if you do it from the bottom, esp with 5 speeds, you can just get under the engine on your back and bench press the tranny up in and push it together, works like a charm.

But you might want one to steer it in place from the engine bay.

[AccordEpicenter]

thats up to you... ive done it enough times that it slides into place perfectly.

[thegreatdane]

As he said, he's not that strong :)

[Robs89LXi]

LOL. I even bought a stupid transmission jack from ebay when I dropped mine. What a waste of money! All it did was get in the way. My manual was not that heavy, and I was able to remove it by hand (no, I'm no body builder either) from the bottom. I imagine trying to install it by hand might be a chore though from underneath... just the thought of laying on my back, lifting and balancing the tranny, and trying to line up a bolt.... I think I'll use the lift for the install. Definately take it out from the bottom though, and no, do not remove the whole engine. It is not as bad as you might think.
PS Be sure to support the engine itself with a jack or jack stand before you remove the tranny mount.

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

Harbor Freight Tools sells a cheap hand-crank transmission jack for about 40 bucks. It might be very usefull when you are trying to get the tranny back up and mated to the engine. Hope this helps.