Jim Chambers

I am removing TT from my 90 GT. I am told that simply moving the 5-speed trans back about an inch will allow the front of the shaft to drop down and clear the bell housing.
I need some detailed help on what to do. Loosen trans mount bolts? Which ones? All 4 mount bolts?
Assume I should remove the rear clamp and most of the 6 rear tube to trans bolts so that once the front is clear I then only remove a couple of rear bolts to drop the tube. All suggestions appreciated.

dprantl

I thought I remembered reading that you don't really have to move the transmission at all, just lever the engine a little and it should come down in the front?

Dan
'91 928GT S/C 475hp/460lb.ft

Mrmerlin

you can remove the TT but first ,remove the pinch bolt from the rear coupler, Then the 2 bolts that hold the trans mounts to the crossmember,
Then jack the trans up a bit once the bolts are out and remove the shims from each pad make a note of them so they get installed in the same spot.
then disconnect the trans rear shifter coupler its a 13mm bolt then the coupler will slide out of the shift tube then you can push the trans back and then remove the 6 rear TT to trans bolts .
What you have to do is pull the TT straight out of the trans if this cant be done then you will most probably damage the input shaft , this is also the 5th gear shaft and if this gets damaged by bending sideways, you will be rebuilding the trans.
In the grand scheme of things its actually pretty easy to drop the rear crosmember then drop the TT/ trans as a unit then you wont have to worry about damaging the input shaft YMMV

Landseer

Can you reach the front TT/Bell housing bolsts without removing the clutch pack ?

Mrmerlin

IIRC you remove the clutch pack then the front bell housing

jon928se

Yes. Needs a selection of offset ring spanners as the available turning angle is very small and most ratchet spanners wont fit. Socket and ratchet won't fit either (too deep) but one of those ratchets that drives the outside of a socket may fit.

I'm reasonably certain that this applies to both single and dual disck clutchs as access to the bolts is behind the mounting boss for the relase bearing guide sleeve.

Edit

It's probably quicker to remove the clutch. Removing the top two bolts one 24th of a turn at a time takes a while.

Bill Ball

I've done it but I can't remember many details. I think we did slide the tranny back, but I'm not sure why. You definitely must with an AT dues to the long TT shaft, but I'm not recalling why with a 5-speed. I believe we dropped the clutch. Still, there is not much room to turn a wrench or ratchet on the front upper TT bolts inside the bellhousing. Barely 5 degrees of arc available to ratchet a Gearwrench. So, we broke it free with a Gearwrench, then used my favorite tool, the twist ratchet, to get the bolts out in 15 seconds despite no arc to swing a wrench. After that I don't remember any stumbling blocks or hazards.

Just jump in and do what you have to do. I would do it again this way rather than dropping the whole rear end.

Landseer

I've got a couple earlier manual cars here where I dropped the cross member, slid trans off TT and removed trans by itself. Just reinstalled one over the weekend. Hope I didn't bend the input shafts, but I don't think I stressed it too much. Left that TT in place.

The other car will need the TT rebuilt. Will try to remove 4 TT bolts from bellhousing using your methodology. Would prefer not dropping clutch again.

On the automatics its much easier to get to the front 4 bolts for the bell housing / TT, but very hard to get to the back TT bolts. They are the reverse of the manual cars in that regard.
For those, I've been dropping cross member, then removing TT and trans together as a unit.

Manual is more compact and easier to deal with and has more space around it in the rear of the car.

tlsmith1999

Is there a good write up on dropping a TT in an S4 AT? I have never tried it, but didn't realize you had to move the trans to get the TT out.

Jim Chambers

Thanks to all and more advice welcome.
Mrmerlin: one question. Can the shift coupler be disconnected using the allen set screw rather than the 13mm bolt, thus not requiring readjustment on assembly? I have used that method on 911's.

Mike Frye

I think you'll have to completely remove the coupler in order to make sure it's not hanging anything up. You might be able to manually 'shift' the trans back and slide the shaft forward enough to clear it with just that conical screw out, but removing it will definitely clear it.

I haven't removed the TT but I think you'll also have to remove the shifter boot from within the car too, right?
Otherwise I think it would get hung up when you drop the tube.

BTW- I replaced that damned conical screw with a 13mm bolt that I ground to a point because I kept stripping the conical screw allen head.

Mrmerlin

I guess you could remove the small pin bolt but if you strip it then you will be removing the 13mm bolt intstead

BPG_Austin

Tim, for the s4 AT cars I also think its easier to remove the rear subframe, suspension and drop the TT/Tranny as a unit. Its quite a bit of work but pretty strait forward. Pulling the combo out is still tough since you've got to slide the driveshaft out of the pinch coller while slowly lowering the back of the tranny to avoid contact with the gas tank. Lots of futzing around to get it out. I don't know if its even possible to remove the TT w/o pulling the tranny in an auto?