How long to remove a manual tranny

[N8Scafe]

So I'm planning on removing the manual transmission from my 78 240D this weekend, and am looking for an estimate. I've never messed with transmissions at all, so this will be chock full of firsts for me. How long do you think this should take me? Are there special tools needed? Maybe someone could provide a rundown of the basic steps I'll have to go through? Thanks for any info you have.

[kerry]

Took one out at the Pull and Save. Car was already up pretty high on blocks. Less than an hour and a half. Probably more in the range of 45 minutes.
Remove flex plates.
Disconnect speedo cable.
Unbolt tranny from engine.
Remove tranmission mounting bracket.
Pull it out.
I think I also had to do something inside the car to the shifter mechanism.

[TomJ]

Takes about one leisurely hour in my yard.

In a nice warm garage with ramps, power and a rolling jack, about 20 mins.

Using an air socket or electric impact wrench to remove things would make a world of difference.

Get it up high enough to remove tranny from under (on ramps or stands)

Remove the three clips at the tranny end of linkages and zip tie the linkages out of the way (no need to remove at the shifter end).

Drain the tranny while removing the 6 flex-disk bolts.

Loosen the slave cyl line on drivers side and start that draining.

Use white or light color touch-up paint to mark the front and rear shaft so you can re-assy in the same index.

Use big slip joints or adjustable wrench to loosen the shaft nut just forward of the center support.

Remove the two center support bolts.

Pry shaft towards back of car to separate from tranny, remove.

Unbolt two lower tranny mount bolts (13mm head), remove tranny mount cross bolt (hex socket head).

Unbolt the exhaust support bracket and save all the rubber dampers/washers in correct order (in coffee cans).

Rotate support out of the way and zip tie.

Remove the 10mm head bolt that retains the speedo cable, pull the cable and zip tie it out of the way on the drivers side somewhere.

Start removing tranny to block bolts (using long extensions and flex-couplings helps a lot)

Once all are removed, support tranny with jack.

Remove the two tranny support bolts (19mm head) and remove it (leaving mount on tranny).

Fully D/C the clutch hydraulic line.

If this is the alum one-piece tranny, just remove the jack, slide your body under it and start rocking it back and forth while pulling toward rear of car (support underneath the front of it with one arm while doing this so it lowers horizontally once loose.)

Once tranny is loose, let it down on your chest, roll it off to the side (onto some plywood helps slide it around) and slide it out.

***Warning: writer assumes no liability for anyone using this information for any purpose and is not responsibility for the safety of the user of this information. The above is written ONLY for intellectual knowledge and is not meant to be an actual guide.

[grimgaunt]

if its the 115 style cast iron case tranny then you're a better man than I am if you just bench press it out from there, it weighs twice the later aluminium style one. For the cast iron ones I use a cardboard carton with a number of smaller cartons inside it, pull the tranny off the engine onto the carton, it crushes it but the smaller ones inside absorb the impact and let it land gently, then simply drag it out from under by the carton

[Stevo]

I have never pulled a tranny but have installed a few 616s engines WITH tranny and was wondering if it would be easier to pull the shifting arms off as opposed to fooling with those linkage clips. The early W123 240d arms are splined so you would need to mark the position before you removed the arms from the splined shafts. Actually getting the clips back on is the bugger.

Anyway arms or clips?

Steve

[grimgaunt]

NO, just go get a long nosed plier (6" nose), piece of cake.

Why on earth would you unscrew the shafts themselves ??
I have always removed shafts and shifter from above ( cab) and the rest from below

[grimgaunt]

I have removed (not as frequently as TomJ has done recently )

about 50 trannys this way.

[N8Scafe]

Hey all, thanks for the replies. Especially TomJ, that's a pretty detailed step by step process. Thanks!

To grimgaunt, I'm pretty sure it's the old heavy model of tranny. I'm not exactly real buff or anything, but my father-in-law can probably swing hefting that thing around, and he'll be helping me, so...

We'll see how it goes. I'll have the thing on jack stands, and don't have air ratchets or anything. Oh boy. This will be fun. I'll let you all know how it goes. Maybe even post pics! I know everybody loves pics!

Thanks again.

Nate

[TomJ]

Originally posted by grimgaunt
........ For the cast iron ones I use a cardboard carton with a number of smaller cartons inside it, pull the tranny off the engine onto the carton, it crushes it but the smaller ones inside absorb the impact and let it land gently, then simply drag it out from under by the carton

That is sheer and utter f**king brilliance, American ingenuity at its finest!

Originally posted by grimgaunt
........ For the cast iron ones I use a cardboard carton with a number of smaller cartons inside it, pull the tranny off the engine onto the carton, it crushes it but the smaller ones inside absorb the impact and let it land gently, then simply drag it out from under by the carton

Great Idea Ill try it on a automatic I have to take out next week

[kerry]

The cardboard box idea is brilliant. Is there a comparable idea for putting it back in?

[Jim Anderson]

Inflate the boxes

[N8Scafe]

Originally posted by kerry edwards
The cardboard box idea is brilliant. Is there a comparable idea for putting it back in?

Excellent question. That was the next thing on my mind. I don't think it will be too big of a problem to get the thing out, but if it's so f'ing heavy, how will I get it back up in there?

[hanno]

Ns8, thats what a transmission jack is for, especialy the one you can borrow from a neighbor or friend. As for removal, a tire or two worked great for air cooled VW engines if you are in a hurry. Should be OK for the trans as long as you yank it hard enough to clear the input shaft before it starts its descent. :-)

[N8Scafe]

Yeah, but you can't use a transmission jack when you're only a couple feet off the ground though, right? If you haven't noticed, we're talking pretty low-tech here. Hence the cardboard boxes... lol