Help? Clutch DIY stalled... Transmission won't align

[denvermaxd]

I sought help on an earlier thread when I couldn't get the transmission to separate from the clutch housing of my 2000 3.4 SR5 5-speed manual. Ah, the good old days. Now the two are like a bitter divorced couple—irreconcilable.

I completed the clutch replacement and rear main seal replacement, every thing is torqued to spec and raring to go, but the transmission simply won't go the final 2 inches to fully connect to the clutch housing.

I'm using an antique of a rental tranny jack, and it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of "tuning" the position of the tranny. Matters are complicated by a big f***ing crack in my garage floor that makes moving the jack around with 300 lbs of transmission on it a challenge. I see posts about people doing tranny swaps on a dirt carport floor and it boggles my mind.

In any event, I've managed to get the tranny right up to within 2 inches of the clutch housing. Using pencils as alignment guides through the mounting holes, I can verify I am aligned from a "roll" axis perspective, but the tranny simply will not get any closer.

I have the front of the truck up on ramps, which may contribute to the problem. I'm contemplating jacking up the rear of the truck to level it out?

Is there some trick I'm unaware of to get the transmission shaft and pilot bearing mated up? Is my problem most likely "pitch" related (front to back) or "yaw" (left to right)? Or is it the spindle not aligning with the clutch grooves?

Any tips/advice/guidance is very welcome.

 

[UnderFire]

Jack up the rear to help yourself get more leverage, crawl under there and heave ho on the transfer case, wiggle up and down, The input shaft sits tight and needs to be wiggled into place.

 

[nobb]

Getting it back in is the hardest part. It has to go in perfectly straight. You just have to wiggle the crap out of it sometimes. Sometimes you think the jack is setup straight but it might not be.

 

[St Runner]

Its easier if it is level. Mock up the height of where the transmission crossbars and mount go. You can't put it in place because of the transmission jack but you can put it at the right height behind the transfer case and then see the proper height for where the back of the transmission is.supposed to be. I thought i had mine correct but I was off by a few inches. When I got the proper rear height it slid right in.

 

[TheDurk]

I was stymied at the same point you are. I finally let desperation overcome my better judgment and I decided force was required. I stuck my stock jack on the cross beam behind and gave her a few twists--just with my hand. I accompanied with a few pops with a rubber mallet to the bellhousing and gave it a few more twists. I was getting nervous I was doing something bad when it decided to pop right in. It's been almost 30k now and the clutch is smooth as buttah, so I think I did no harm. Obviously I was lucky and I don't recommend this because you might not be as close as I was. But it worked for me.

 

[Coward]

Yea, once your "close" you need to aggressively shimmy and shake while pushing and it will go it. Like the other guys said, be sure that the bell housing and transmission are in-line by checking the gap between them is fairly even (top-bottom-sides). Then just work it hard. personally I remove the transfer case and bench press the transmission so I have full control. It sketchy but works every time!

 

[JayRolla]

Like stated above you need to shake the hell out if it when pushing it into place. Hard to do if vehicle is not level with the jack. Once it pops in you don't want the trans weight to rest on input shaft. Make sure alignment dowels are in good condition and installed because if not you can get premature clutch failure.

 

[denvermaxd]

I'll circle back to it on the weekend

I think it will go more smoothly if I can have a second set of eyes and hands on the job, so Saturday I'll recruit a neighbor and rent a better tranny jack, and take all of the advice here and put it in play.

The tranny jack I rented this past weekend was a true relic. It had a hand crank on the side, and looked like something you would find in the back of a farm shed somewhere in Nebraska. The biggest problem was the lack of ground clearance. It only had about 1/4" of clearance between a slab metal base and the ground. My uneven garage floor combined with this resulted in me effectively dragging the transmission around like a 350 lb. metal sled.

And, to top it off, the rental place charged me for a week rental, even though I picked it up at 5 p.m. Friday and returned it 9 a.m. Tuesday. :wtf:

However, the tool shop guy there had an interesting tip I'll share here: He said to pick up a couple of cheap extra long bolts threaded the same as the transmission mounting bolts (+2 or 3 inches longer than the longest tranny bolt), and thread them into the engine block holes. Then, cut off the bolt head and cut in a screw driver channel. Using the extra long "guide" bolts, slide the transmission into place. This will eliminate "roll" from the equation, and will also hopefully reduce the chances of premature clutch failure due to the weight of the tranny on the input shaft. After the tranny is in place, bolt in a couple of the stock tranny bolts, then simply unscrew the guide bolts and replace with stock bolts. Seems pretty clever.

 

[Yoder68]

On my 95 pickup I gave up on the loaner Harbor Freight tranny jack I was using and found it easier to sling the tranny through the shifter hole in the floor.
A 4x4 and misc blocks and junk in the cab helped spread the load and not dent up the cab
Still took all the shimmy/shake/persuasion others described, but it wasn't bad at all. I was stuck for a while until it occured to me to put the tranny in gear and manually rotate/wiggle the output flange while pushing and wiggling.

Stick with it, you'll get it.

 

[Stiles97]

These aren't Toyota specific but i use something very much like what your tool rental guy suggested...no clue if they would work in this application

 

[Rambler808]

I found it easiest to ditch the jack and have one person push it in from the back while the person up front shimmies it in.

 

[nevada]

if it ere me, id pull it back out, and double check the clutch alignment.

you cant really just stab the alignment tool in there, and expect it to line up. it wont.
there will always be a bit of play, and you will have to line that last bit up on your own.

once the pressure plate is tightened down, I like to slide the tool in a few times to check for proper alignment. it should slide all the way in with ZERO friction. if it does not, the trans will not line up, and you will have a very hard time getting it back into place.

 

[csp]

I see no mention of a clutch disc alignment tool being used as the pressure plate was installed.

Sometimes you have to rotate the input shaft to get the splines lined up.

 

[turbo8]

I see no mention of a clutch disc alignment tool being used as the pressure plate was installed.

Sometimes you have to rotate the input shaft to get the splines lined up.

Take the tranny out of neutral and you can spin the output shaft so the input shaft splines line up with the clutch splines.

 

[denvermaxd]

Using pretty much everyone's advice so far...

I got back on this thing today. Picked up a much better tranny jack, and after some negotiation to get things positioned just right (lots of stuff under the truck interferes with parts of a large jack as you position the tranny under the truck and raise it into position), I have finally got the tranny up against the clutch housing... well, almost.

It currently sits less than 1/4" off of flush.

I think it's actually the dowels that are keeping it from fully mating with the engine/clutch housing.

Will it be ok to just put the bolts in and tighten it into position?

 

[denvermaxd]

I see no mention of a clutch disc alignment tool being used as the pressure plate was installed.

Sometimes you have to rotate the input shaft to get the splines lined up.

I did use the clutch disc alignment tool when I installed the pressure plate.

 

[St Runner]

Should be good to go. Put bolts in on opposite side and snug it up evenly. If it takes a lot of torque something is wrong