B5xteton

My favorite OB interior color for sure.

medipedicman

Well two weeks later and I am diving back in. At some point in the last two weeks I realized that I have not disconnected the rear coupler holding the drive shaft. Of course, the bolt is facing up. I have tried every which way I can think of to change the orientation of the coupler.
a. rotating the rear half shaft while in neutral, then while in gear ----- nothing.
b. attempting to manipulate the coupler manually with a screw driver and a hammer.
c. attempting to manipulate the front coupler while in neutral and while in gear.

I am by my self today so that is a lot of up and down and kind of ready for a break and it is only 10:00 am

On the bright side, I have been playing with the box waiting to go in and when I turn the rear plates that the half shafts bolt to they both move in the same direction. Both of the other trans that I have laying around and all previous 5 sp I have owned will spin the opposite wheel in the opposite rotation. This one they turn together......... LSD (220).?.?.? I really am the luckiest guy that I know so it would not shock me if I lucked into this pretty cool bonus.

Any ideas on the rotating the main drive shaft?

Dean_Fuller

Not sure I follow...any way you could post a pic?

medipedicman

Yea, it is weird because I dropped the entire drive train pc by pc on the 79 parts car. I am just having a mental block.

This is the view of the rear of the TT and where it meets the manual trans. In the window there is a coupler that holds the main drive shaft to the trans.



The coupler has one bolt that hold it together. That bolt head is facing upwards. I need to rotate the drive shaft 180 degrees to access the bolt head and proceed.






Does that help?

Unrelated: While waiting I have removed all of the bolts holding the lower cross member. I have just removed the nuts from the tops of the shock towers. The rear cross member is being held up by a floor jack and scrap wood for now. I just dont want to lower anything now only to discover I have to put all this crap back together just to release the driveshaft.

Ducman82

if the trans is out of the car, just turn both axle stubs at the same time (in gear) the drive shaft will spin. if not, you have other issues.

medipedicman

The trans that I am removing (no fifth gear) is the one in the pictures. I am trying to rotate the drive shaft to access the coupler.

medipedicman

Well Duh...... Dean called and advised me to rotate the crank. As soon as he said it I remembered what a pain in the butt that was last time. I guess I just put it out of my mind.

Any way, Thanks for the heads up. It only took passing the bolt three times before I got it lined up right.










Now I am ready to drop the rear cross member and remove the trans. I am concerned about bending the drive shaft so I think I will strap the trans up before lowering the rear cross member. Hopefully I will be able to move the trans rearward a couple of inches and off of the drive shaft before lowering it any.

medipedicman

Well it looks like I am halfway there.

Dean_Fuller

Alright Brian !!! Looking like you are making some head way. Hard work on your own.

dr bob

Slide some plastic bags on the ends of the halfshafts with zip ties, and tie the halfshafts up out of the way unless you plan on clean/refurb. Those early CV's don't have the end cover/shield on them, unfortunately. Otherwise, there's plenty to clean under there in your spare time. (OCD under-car cleaner, can ya tell?)

medipedicman

Well after two days of working on the trans swap I am still on jack stands. The new trans is sitting in place however it is two inches rearward of it final resting place. It is connected to the drive shaft which was pulled rearward when removing the old trans. I have a strap on the rear of the box, a jack in the front of the box and a small wood block between the TT and the rear muffler hanger cross member. Everything is lined up and level but I can not move it forward a bit.

Any ideas or BTDT advice??




This is pretty much where I left it yesterday, so today I connected the sway bar to the drop links and reinstalled the shock towers. All of the bolts for the rear cross member line up fine but I have not tightened them down yet. (obviously the trans mounts do not line up)

I am at a stand still

medipedicman

Plan of Action:
1. Remove starter and clutch slave
2. Remove lower bell housing
3. Inspect front of drive shaft, front coupler, throughout bearing, stub, etc etc
4. Check for alignment on the engine side of TT/Driveshaft

5. Purchase longer bolts for the rear junction on the TT and the Trans and slowly draw the two pcs together.

With a helper in the front I anticipate being able to ease the drive shaft into the proper forward position. Of course all of this is subject to change based on what I find when I drop the lower bell housing.

Big Thanks to Dean Fuller and Stray Cat for their offline guidance.

outbackgeorgia

Brian,
I would really not do step 5. Tightening the bolts can easily break something up front. Extreme pressure can be exerted just by tightening the bolts.
I would just use a simple ratchet strap to help nudge the trans into place. It should slide easily into place, if not, something pulled away up front such as pilot bearing, clutch plate caught, not sure, but inspect thoroughly before using force!
Dave

medipedicman

Thanks Dave. The strap is a good idea. It might allow me to do the job myself. If I can secure a long strap and have the ratchet with in arms length of the front of the torque tube then I can have my own eyes on the front while tightening it together.

Ducman82

Trans input shaft pinch bolt is in, thats a big issue right there. DO NOT HANG ANY WEIGHT ON THAT INPUT SHAFT.