Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 13:01:20 -0400
Reply-To: Hans Achter <hansachter@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Hans Achter <hansachter@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Auto Trans Install - Take Out Engine?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Craig,
You're very welcome.
Do lower the front of the engine as others suggested. That helps a lot.
However, first thing when you get home, lower the van to the point where you
can just turn your body sideways under the van next to the transmission. I
find it's actually much easier because you can really get some leverage and
man-handle the transmission, the jacks can actually lift it all the way up,
and it doesn't take much lift to get the transmission into the hole which
prevents it from tilting. I know it's work to do all that jacking and
resupporting, but it will make the transmission job much easier.
Get a bunch of big wood blocks (larger than 2x4s will work much better) and
use them to hold the pan end (front) of the transmission up pretty high off
the ground. (Spend a few bucks and go to Home Depot and get some if you
have to, they are always handy.) This will also prevent the transmission
from tilting sideways. Then use the jack to lift the differential (back)
end up and mate with the engine. If you have a helper to run the jack,
orient the jack so it's under the engine, and once it's at the right height
you can roll the jack backwards and slide the transmission on the blocks to
mate up with the engine.
Sorry, I should have gone into this detail a while earlier...
-Hans
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Oda" <craigoda@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: Auto Trans Install - Take Out Engine?
> Hans, thanks for the advice. Also, thanks to Robert Fisher and Zoran
> Mladen for their advice on this. I get really motivated when people
> try to help me. It's sometimes a bummer at night to not get the job
> accomplished. However, it's really uplifting to come into my day-job,
> pop open my email and see the encouragement from people. awesome.
>
> Right now, I have the engine supported by straps connected to a 2x4
> hung above the engine on the engine bay. It's not too easy for me to
> lower the engine for adjustment.
>
> I do have a second small automobile hydraulic jack that may work if I
> put lots of wood bricks under it. Right now, I have the van too high
> for the smaller jack to reach under the engine and support it.
>
> Robert's idea of jacking up one edge of the transmission to rotate the
> level of the two mounting holes is appealing. Is there a good jack
> point where I can put the secondary jack on to raise and lower only
> one side of the automatic transmission? I'm thinking of maybe putting
> a piece of sheet metal on one of the CV joint bolts and try to use
> that as leverage to lift up one side of the trans. Not sure if this
> will work, though. I don't have the tranny in front of me now. Like
> Robert, I seem to be able to consistently get one of the two lower
> mounting studs lined up with one hole on the transmission housing. I
> just can't line up second hole. Yet.. It seems tantalizingly close.
> Once I get that second stud on, I think it will be a relative piece of
> cake to bolt the tranny and engine together and attach the front
> tranny to the frame.
>
> Thanks to the warm encouragement from the people on the list, I'll
> probably go home tonight and try to lower the engine a bit and/or
> figure out some way to use a secondary jack to raise/lower one edge of
> the transmission.
>
> Regards,
> Craig
>
>
>
> On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 10:24:05 -0400, Hans Achter <hansachter@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> > Craig,
> > How about getting a second floor jack. You will probably find a whole
bunch
> > of good stuff you can do with a second one. I've appreciated having two
> > many times, including situations like this. It's also easy to get a
decent
> > one locally like from Sears or maybe places like Costco.
> > Alternatively, perhaps you have a friend who would lend you theirs for a
> > short time. If you can borrow the friend to work it, the job might go
> > pretty easily.
> > -Hans
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Craig Oda" <craigoda@GMAIL.COM>
> > To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 12:49 AM
> > Subject: Auto Trans Install - Take Out Engine?
> >
> > > For the last week I've been trying to fit my 150 pound automatic
> > > transmission back into my van. I'm getting closer. However, I still
> > > can't align the two studs on the engine bell housing with the holes on
> > > bottom of the transmission. :-(
> > >
> > > tonight's problem was that the transmission was tilted a bit on the
> > > plywood board I'm using as a platform, resulting in the holes not
> > > being level with each other. One hole was about a half inch higher
> > > than the other. I'm going to try and brace the trans on the plywood
> > > with some additional wood, but I'm starting to think of what my other
> > > options are.
> > >
> > > I'm considering taking the engine out. I took the engine out a year
> > > ago and I was able to get it back in the van somehow. Does anyone
> > > think this approach would be easier? About 2 years ago, my
> > > transmission burned out on a dirt road by a nice lake and I was forced
> > > to have a local mechanic throw in a rebuilt tranny for me. I know
> > > that he took out the engine in order to replace the trans. At the
> > > time, I thought it was because he didn't know that the tranny could be
> > > taken out by itself. But, now I think that maybe he did know. The
> > > mechanic's personal vehicle was a vanagon. Amazing coincidence in a
> > > town that size.
> > >
> > > Well, this is option number one. it is not so appealing because I
> > > don't want to drain the coolant from the cylinder heads and disconnect
> > > all those coolant hoses. Right now, I've got the tranny cooler hoses
> > > clamped up, but I'll soon run out of hose clamps and won't have enough
> > > to clamp all the hoses if I drop the engine. If I go this route,
> > > should I reconnect the tranny and the engine while it is out of the
> > > van and drop in the engine/tranny system as a single unit, or should I
> > > install the tranny carrier bolts, then bolt the engine onto that? I'm
> > > thinking that it might be easier to assemble the tranny and engine out
> > > of the van and then drop in the entire unit. (I have no experience
> > > with this).
> > >
> > > Option two is to buy a tranny jack adapter from Harbor Freight. I'm
> > > probably going to order this anyway for future use. Maybe it can be
> > > used as a platform to take out the engine?? If anyone has one of
> > > these, let me know how useful it is. .
> > >
> > > However, I'm not sure if it will get here in time to be useful. I'm
> > > also not sure if it will help with the range of adjustments that I
> > > need for the job.
> > >
> > > I'm currently using a platform made out of plywood that consists of a
> > > base plate that bolts onto the jack base hole and allows free movement
> > > side to side. The plywood base plate holds a piece of plumbing pipe
> > > that serves as a roller to allow free movement of the trans front to
> > > back. A second piece of plywood attaches to the plumbing pipe
> > > roller with metal holders that function as bearings. The top piece
> > > of plywood has holes in it for chains to secure the tranny and prevent
> > > slipping. With this setup, I can easily move the tranny into position
> > > below the van and jack it up the proper height. I'm running into
> > > problems aligning the bolts because I can't roll and hold the trans in
> > > place. I am also have no means to lock the front and back position
> > > into place. Though, I may try to modify some C-Clamps for this.
> > >
> > > I'm going to try again tomorrow. However, I am hoping to collect some
> > > advice on the idea of taking out the engine and connecting the engine
> > > and trans together outside of the van.
> > >
> > > Thanks.
> > >
> >
>
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