Tranny Swap on the ground

[zwack88]

Ok I know some on here have done this. I have been thinking about swapping out the turd that is called my tranny. I have questions on how to do this swap on your back. I have an idea how to get it out with the bolts and unplugging everything but how do you actually drop is without smashing your hand? I see my Haynes manual says that you support it with jack but never really says how to drop it out and to lift it back up to connect it back up.

So how do you go about doing that? Also It says to support the engine with a jack. It says to use a block of wood on top of the jack to spread the load and to place it under the oil pan. Well I don't feel to comfortable doing that cause being a 4.6 it has a plastic oil pan and I'm afraid that it will crack.

I'm really thinking I should do this swap cause I am more then certain that is where I'm loosing all my HP. It lets the engine wrap up so damn high and has no torque in the standard 4.6 torque curve. The tranny has always been sloppy and the OD band is pretty much shot. If I could swap it out for a used tranny (low mileage) this summer. I am going to go to tech school in a year so I need a dependable car cause when I'm in college I don't want any major repairs to do. The tranny is the only thing I forsee giving me problems.

Sorry for the long post. Just this will be the biggest thing I have done on a car since I'm a novice and self taught (Dad is not gearhead).


Zack

[Grand Marquis GT]

Need to J-Mod the new trans...

[Johnnyiroc]

removing tranny on ground= sore neck, bloody knuckles, and lots of swearing. Not for me, Ill use a lift.

[88MercWagon]

Yea you'd probably have to use some sort of jack setup. I breifly saw someone pulling a tranny on the gound a few years back but to tell you the truth I have no idea how they did it. good luck with it mang.

[zwack88]

Ya Johnny I would use a lift if I had access to one but that isn't the case. I know blaze and ltdmasta have done it.

[Mercmarquis]

Yeah when I did mine it was a bitch. I jacked my car up as high as I safely could. I put a jack with a piece of wood under my oil pan to prevent the pan from crushing. Stick another good hydraulic jack under your trans pan with another piece of wood to get some even support. First I loosend all the bellhousing bolts while it was good and sturdy. Then take out the crossmember and trans mount, unbolt the torque converter from the flexplate. And pop out the bellhousing bolts. Then get a good buddy whos pretty strong (I had my pops help me) to help hold the trans on the jack. It takes alot of wiggling until you can slide it off the motor. Once its free hold it on the jack and have your pal slowly lower the jack on the ground. My stands werent high enough to slide out the trans on the jack so I pushed it off the jack and slid the trans out on the floor.

Hard part is putting it back in, I had to put the trans on the jack while under the car. Get a wrench on the balancer to line up the holes on the flex plate and the torque converter studs. Slowly jack it up and position it so you toque converter slides in the flexplate. Start threading in some of the bellhousing bolts and pt in the tranny mount and crossmember. Put in the torque converter nuts and tighten everything up. I'm sure its 100x more difficult on a 4.6. Take off the exhaust too. Its a real bitch but I'm sure you can get it done. Just be carefull not to let the trans fall like 2ft onto you arm or something.

Make sure you do the J-mod!!!!

[zwack88]

Ok that is what I was looking for. Ya this is going to suck but I want to do it.

[Southern_Pride]

I swap em all the time. I have special adapter plate Ive made for my floorjack though. Fits the pan about perfect. They arent that bad to swap out. Just make sure you put all the wire back where they go and and use a good socket on the torque converter nuts. And Im sure youll wont be doing it in the dirt. IM and ill help ya more. Im lazy tonight.

[p71towny]

Your pan should be metal. I just drop it on my chest and wiggle out, kinda sux but ya do what ya gotta do.

[gadget73]

If you have access to a transmission jack it makes it a ton better. Getting them out is a piece of cake. Just support the pan, give a solid yank, and it'll come off the motor if everything is disconnected. Getting it lined back uo for re-assembly is the bitch part.

[Freshmeat]

You can get an adapter plate for your floor jack at AutoZone for ~$30. That's what I did and it made it SO much easier (except when it was attempting to hook on th exhaust pipes).

Then, again, we stabbed the T5 yesterday- had the transmission under the car and bolted up in five minutes. I say skip another 4R70W and get a Tremec 3550 out of a Mustang. It's not that hard of a swap at all.

[zwack88]

Sweet. I will have to look up the adapter plate. P71towny the oil pans are metal? Mine is black and the outside coating is like plastic.

[Johnnyiroc]

Mine is metal, and is every one ive seen.

[zwack88]

Also I forgot to add do those adapter plates fit any floorjack?

[gadget73]

You need one that you can pull the pad off. I think it'll fit any that the pad comes off of. Usually it just has like a post that sits through the hole in the top of the jack in place of the standard pad. Check the diameter of the hole in your jack vs the post size on the adapter.