Okay so I finally got my transmission out of the car and the exhaust is out and the car is on stands still. I was planning on towing the car to a shop to have the rest of it done but now I'm thinking about just doing the rest myself even though just removing the transmission was a serious bitch with the coupler stuck on and having to cut it off.


anyways how many more hours should it take a novice mechanic like myself to take the torque tube out. not sure if I'll replace the clutch even though I have a clutch kit sitting right here. I just want to do the minimal work to get the car driivng again.

anyways I read clarks directions on removing the torque tube and I don't have any bricks to rest teh rotors on. do I just need two more jackstands to hold teh crossmember?


how many hours with the trans and exhaust already out should it take me to pull the torque tube out? I was wondering if I can do it this saturday in a whole day......

any tips? if I do it myself I'll probably save like 1500 bucks and I'm a student and only work 2 days a week so that's a **** load of money.

also right now I have the car supported at the rear crossmember ends so I'll have to support it elswhere.

what do you guys think? I don't want to attempt to do this myself on jackstands if it is too difficult.

I was told that removing the trans is only a one hour job but it took me like 2 weeks with that damn coupler stuck, took me forever to get that coupler out.

 

so what happened in the end with the splines? The torque tube and coupler splines are stripped?

 

Take it to a shop. You need two people to do it in a reasonable amount of time, but it's still not a one hour job. Having tons of jackstands makes the it way easier.

 

yup both torque tube and coupler are stripped.

why do you need 2 people? I removed the transmission by myself.

reading clarks instructions it looks like to drop the rear suspension is only like 6 or 8 bolts and brake lines then 4 bolts that hold the torque tube to the engine and then you can get the torque tube out.


obviously it's not going to be a one or two hour job.

I don't mind buying some more jackstands to support the rear suspension... jackstands are still much cheaper than towing the car to a shop and paying 100 bucks an hour for somoene else to do it.

 

but yeah I'd like to get some opinions. I dont' want to start dropping the rear suspension and then find out it's way too difficult and wish I had taken it to a shop.

saving 1000+ dollars in labour would be nice though even if it takes me a bit longer to fix it.

 

Let's put it this way... with the rear suspension (as well as trans out) it should take about half as much time as it took you to remove the trans. However, removing the suspension will probably take about the same amount of time as removing the trans.

Once the rear suspension is out of the way (lowered to the floor) - there's only 4 bolts holding the TT to the bellhousing, plus I think in the 944 you may have to do some funky stuff with the clutch? Then there's a couple of cross-body braces in there to remove (4 bolts each, easy job) and it's not a bad idea to also remove the shift lever first too...

Removing the rear suspension isn't the hard part IMO - it's reinstallation. It's quite a bit of a PITA to get it back up in the body, both due to its weight and getting the right alignment, not to mention getting all the bolts in - without stripping them. I recommend the use of two floor jacks (borrow one if needed) and having a friend to help does help a bit. It's just a good bit of maneuvering; the suspension wants to rotate to the back of the car, and has to be tilted forward quite a bit for things to line up.

It helps if you remove the rear brakes from the suspension, as this not only reduces the weight, but also shifts the CG forward substantially, making it considerably easier to rotate to the correct orientation.

Of course, that's only my recommendation - but I have R+R'd these many times, more than I can count.

 

+1 very good advice

 

Did it twice, first time a whole weekend, second time a day. Just be prepared with all the correct tools, jacks etc and follow Vaughan's advise^^.

You should replace this while you are at it otherwise you will curse yourself in the future:

 

Vaughn and Mike are spot on. If you got thru the hellish ordeal of removing the trans with a damaged coupler the TT will be almost like cake. When you need a 2nd set of hands .. get one!

Make sure the car is on stands properly

and do the clutch while your there!!

 

hmmm I forgot that my car is in my drivewa and not under a cover. It's november now and it pretty much rains everday so doing this in the rain may not be possible.

 

Ya like mike said, do the clutch while you've got it all out, you'll thank yourself later

 

Pansy.

 

Lol Rock knows exactly what this is like

 

If you get a chance could you post some pics of the damage to the splines? I'm interested in seeing how deep they sheared.

 

Since when? That's news to me. congrats. edumucation is good.

think about all the work you are doing to get to the bellhousing. all the work you will have to do again if your clutch goes tomorrow.

think about doing it once, doing it right.

you may be better off having a shop do it with the colder weather here.