Tranny removal

I have decided to remove my tranny from my 95SNOB, 550hrs, and fix the front seal leak. I did a search (found a pretty funny one with some good exchanges b/n Eric and 79 a few years back). Eric, you have some thick skin! Glad you stuck it out.
Well, my question is: As best I can figure I need to support the motor with wood or a bottle jack under the exhaust manfold, undo the shaft, then remove the tranny. Should I remove the bell housing and tranny together? Or will it matter getting to the front seal? Should I replace the damper while I am in there? Just wanting to know the best approach to keep from recreating the propeller! thanks!

with the PCM trans its just as easy to remove with the bellhousing attached because you should replace the damper since it will be out, the Damper is a PCM part only and you have to buy from JA or DIM or the CC dealer. the damper you recieve will be a 13.25 circle unlike the triangle one you will be removing, it is the direct replacement and when its on the flywheel it will protrude out at the bolt circle, PCM says pull it in with bolts, I say shim it out with good hard flat washers...you'll understand more when you recieve the damper. leave the damper finger tight and tighten after the trans is piloted and installed, this will align the new damper, which is crucial. to tighten the bolts you have to go through the starter hole or drill your bellhousing and plug.

to remove trans, loosen front mount pinch bolts to swivel, remove rear engine mounts via stringer or at trans, dis connect 4 prop bolts and loosen exhaust clamps at the risers, this of course is with the engine supported at the manifold with a bottle jack or a 4x4 across the gunnels and a come along. they really are pretty light at the back because the front mounts are near the center of the engine, if im in a hurry i will lift by myself and have someone else block it for me...lift high enough so the trans clears the prop shaft coupling.

I'll add more to the topic in the AM

SNobsessed wrote: Eric - Last year I used some flat head (counter sink) style screws, temporarily, to center the damper. Replaced them 1 at a time with the shoulder screws & it centered OK. Just another way to do the same thing.

atually you didn't center what needs to be centered. Just because you center the outer bolt cirlce doesn't mean you center the spline on the pilot and it is the pilot that needs to be centered not the bolt circle like you did. A bolt pattern will never center a concentric hole NEVER. If the part is gauged and held to an extreme tolerance you can come close but no one manufactures that way it's to expensive to gauge and hold statisticly. normally the bolt cicle is gauged/held to the center hole with one hole of the bolt pattern used fo rotational location only.

SNobsessed wrote: So the 'tighten after transmission assembly' is the only viable option. That means drilling a hole in the bell housing. There is no other access to the bolts, on a PCM 1.23 anyways.

guess you don't have a starter to remove and have access that way like Eric states.

I recieved a Borg Warner last week and the inner gear was cracked in half on the pump, no heat smear in the pump as to where it wouldve locked and snapped the gear, i called the guy and he told me that that trans was noisier than his port trans, i told him to take a look at his damper and sure enough it was spider cracked. these dampers serve a big purpose and will tear the sht out of a trans, they snap reverse plates, they knotch clutch hubs, and if mis aligned it is a sure fire pump failure, it allows a side load on the front bearing and the bearing will start to walk and pre-load the pump gear. then fail the pump gear
Im not saying im perfect but most the warranty work I see is created by improper installation, and alot of it is from a mis-aligned damper or a mis-aligned trans. the transmissions fail for a reason, initially they may have failed from the damper and then they have the trans rebuilt and it comes right back with the same failure. lets face it, i cant talk to every single person i rebuild a trans for.....you guy's should know better because the info is provided,
I did a couple v-drives and the guy's maintance man from his business did the install, sure as sht, after 4 hours one of the trans failed, the guy takes it to a local marina and has the trans pulled, now because he thinks its warranty, sends me a bill for 1200.00 luckily i know the marina and have talked to the service manager in the past, I call him to find out the rear stringer was rotted and created a side load on the shaft, the trans leaked at the seal and the pump failed...no attorney can talk his way out of this one...

A dumb question: Why isnt there some kind of alignment tool that can properly align the damper prior to putting in the tranny? Or is the tranny a loose fit without a dowel pin?

I wasn't able to get a wrench to turn through the starter hole. Maybe I just didn't try hard enough.

'79 - Have you actually done this yourself?

Thanks Eric, That's news I can use.

im not answering on the trans seals, cause sure as sht, if you start messing with swapping the seals they will leak....truthfully if it were mine, unlike the rear main, not much labor to pull the trans, i wouldnt replace. but i would do a good trans flush while it is out

I wish I had a lift thingamigigger like that...nice shop!

eric lavine wrote: you need quick dis connects too on that BBC lol Greg i couldnt resist

Oh so cold?!!?   LOL

Flywheel forward...reverse rotation; which end goes to the front?