Ok, it is getting closer and closer to being time to swap out my transmissions, and I wanna ask you guys your oppinions on the best ways to get at the tranny. I havent decided If I want to take out the engine too, but I'm thinking I wont bother with the extra work, unless it will make putting the transmission back in easyer. depending on how long this is going to take, I maybe be able to use a pair of floor lifts at a garage.... so what do you guys think?
oh, btw the transmission that matters is a 5 speed, the auto I'm taking out is shot....

 

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...3d801f54ee.jsp

I HIGHLY recommend a cheap chiltons or buy a Nissan repair manual.

And read all the stickies above. It will help

 

awsome, I actually have a chilton's, but not here at college with me...

 

I'm not a master, but I definetly have some experience. I've pulled my tranny out 5 times in one month ( i was experimenting different torque converters) and if you have some questions or need some tips; feel free to PM me sometime.

 

I just went through two tranny jobs in the past month on my 91...some stuff I learned:

1.) It's a good idea to remove the radiator, hood, battery, and air intake tube (from TB to Filter) to make some extra room to work in. Plus the battery is attached to one of the transmission mounts.

2.) Drivaxles are a *****. Take out both of them, don't cut corners and try to get just the left one out. The three bolts that hold the right drivaxle in place can be a PITA, but with some patience, a universal joint, a few 3/8" extensions, and a 12mm socket they will come off. When it comes time to put it back on, use an awl to line up the three holes and try to get them started by hand. I've got a Craftsman 1/4" Flexible Screwdriver-type socket drive which works great for putting them back in, but try to sock them down good enough with the ratchet when your done.

3.) A straight 3/8" ratchet and a Pivoting 3/8" ratchet are good tools to have on you.

4.) Make sure that you unbolt the torque converter from the AT Flexplate before you try dropping hte tranny. They are 14mm bolts, and you will need to hold the crankshaft steady w/ a 26mm socket on a ratchet or breaker bar, as well as give the crankshaft a quarter turn between bolts. The bolts can be accessed after taking off the gossets on the transmission. I never had to do an MT but I'm guessing that maybe something has to be unbolted there too...maybe the pressure plate?

5.) When removing the driveaxle, you don't need to remove the whole wheel/spring assembly to make clearence like they suggest in the chilton book...it's BS and that thing weighs a ton. Just unbolt the three 17mm nuts on the balljoint, sperate it from the A-Frame, and swing it out of the way for clearance. Make sure you check the seals for cracks/tears before putting the transmission in. It's cheap insurance to replace them while your doing it, just like the clutch unless you know that it's new.

6.) AT Has fluid lines going into the radiator. The long one hooks into the radiator inside of clips. Not putting the hose in those clips can make the hose shift and hit your fan, making a REALLY annoying noise and letting it overheat very easily. Make sure you drain the AT and Radiator ahead of time because they WILL make a huge mess if you don't.

7.) Having access to an air compressor and proper air tools (namely an impact wrench and air rathcet) makes Stuff a hell of a lot easier.

8.) The whole fricken car can be taken apart with 5 sockets: 10, 12, 14, 17, 36. 36mm is for the hub nut, which by right should be torqued to 260ft/lbs. A Craftsman (or other brand with lifetime guarantees) ratchet with a big effing pipe that slides over it is a good idea. Impact wrench should take it off too.

9.) Unbolt both tranny mounts (there are two of them) from the bottom of the car...two bolts/nuts on the one in the back, three in the front (or right/left respectively) I don't remember exactly which part of the mounts they are, but they were completely unbolted enough to remove the transmission from the bottom.

10.) Getting it out is a *****, and it will take some wrestling, and it's a good idea to have an extra hand at that point. Same with putting it in.

11.) Drop the engine and transmission together. Get the transmission supported by a floor jack and hook an engine hoist to the engine (if you have no hooks, bolt hooks or the chain through a washer onto the A/C Bracket bolt and the back right exhaust manifold stud), then remove the cross member nuts and bolts. I believe there are 5-6 of them holding the crossmember to the frame. Slowly lower both somewhat simultaneously.

12.) If you need extra room to get it out, remove the A-Frame.

13.) There are four harnesses on top of the transmission pan that have to be disconnected (this is AT Only BTW, I don't know about the MT)...shift linkage is removed, as is SPEED SENSOR...AT takes one 10mm bolt to take off and disconnect that harness, not sure about MT. Make sure you remember how the linkages are run on the MT when you take that one out.

14.) Air canister (black thing near the relays) may need to be dropped down to make clearance. Unscrew, lower black canister. You may need to remove the pipe that runs over it, that only takes a 12mm socket or phillips head screwdriver.

15.) Double check EVERYTHING when your done. Your installing new plumbing and couple hydraulic cylinders, make sure they are correctly and securely connected. Wiring harnesses, linkages, and vacuum hoses. Check all the above. Check again. If the car sounds like it's gonna stall at any second...check again.

This should be enough advice to make the job a little easier for you.
Fred.

 

WTF?!?! you made things WAAAAAY too difficult. this is a tranny swap, not an engine swap.

drain tranny fluid. pull driver's side axle out. don't mess with pass axle. just adds another 30 minutes (or more) to the job. unhook battery. remove starter. remove cooler hoses from radiator. unbolt shift linkage. unplug all the crap on the tranny. unbolt tranny from engine and unbolt tranny mounts.. pull tranny out. lower to ground. replace w/ new.

you don't need to touch the radiator, charcoal canister, or any of that other crap in order to replace the tranny.

it takes me less than an hour to pull mine.

 

its not gonna be a problem that I will be using an Auto tranny in a Manual car is it?

 

I thought you were putting the 5-speed in the AT car?

 

WTF no you cant use an auto tranny in a manual car with out wire harness changes

 

whoa, i wrote that

what i meant was its not gonna be a problem using a manual tranny with a radiator from an Auto...

 

dude...........you have to be kidding............take out the radiator? drop the engine? take off the hood? jeez............I know i like doing things the hard way, but you just like to put yourself through hell for nothing.

 

dam........u beat me. it takes my just under 2 hours on the rack with power tools. then again i like to eat while i work on my car.

 

Damnit i knew all that stuff didn't have to be done, but my father never listens to me. The radiator and hood were only because the engine was coming down. It'd be a lot easier with it still in, but he was assured the tranny pan wouldn't clear the frame. The driveaxle came out because when it came time to put it in the first time it wouldn't line up into the transmission, and one of the big problems was because the engine was tilted because it was lowered on the crossmember was that the transmission jack wouldn't pitch the right way to line it up.

If I knew that, the tranny would have been a one day job (I still like to take my time)

But regardless, all that stuff would have had to come out the second time I did it anyways because the TC was staying on the flexplate instead of inside the transmission and it was a real hastle to get it out of there.

 

ahhhh, so you have one of those dads huh? The kind that refuses to take advise from his son? Oh well, what can you do? I just hope he did all the work instead of you.

 

GET A TRANNY JACK!!! The best deal out there is the $70 one from Harbor Freight. Even if you're never going to use it again, it's still $70 WELL WORTH investing. I couldn't imagine doing the job without a tranny jack. I dropped my tranny by myself and just pulled it off the motor with one hand. Then, I was able to easily roll it back on to the motor in less than 30 seconds.

I replaced all the gaskets and seals that I could.

Rear Main Oil Seal (ring shaped)
Rear Main Oil Seal Retainer Gasket (little C shaped paper gasket)
Rear Main Oil Pan Seal (6" long C shaped half moon piece of rubber) This is the seal that was leaking for me. Not the rear main oil seal.
Both Axle seals, driver's and passenger's

Here is a page that I put together after I did my torque converter replacement: http://www.littlebabywebs.com/maxima/tc/tc.htm

When I did this job in my dad's garage, he just stayed out of my way b/c he knew I had everything under control. And I've never replaced my tranny before. But having a 3" thick Factory Service Manual is worth it's wait in GOLD. So is the Tranny Jack.

 

I'd be calling my old HS football team if I didn't have a tranny jack

Thing weighs a lot, I'd guesstimate somewhere around 150-200lbs. Deffinitly a pain in the @$$ to pick up yourself...and well worth having an extra hand when ever it's gotta be moved without a jack. Just make sure you carry it by the bow/stern sides and make sure the other guy gets the bellhousing side...the other side is A LOT lighter.

We got ours for 60 bucks off ebay (shipping incl), it's like a scissor jack kinda that goes up and down w/ a 1/2" ratchet, got a little fastening strap to hold it in place and a 6x15" (guess) "bed" with a dip in the middle that can tilt up and down by a wingnut (when theres no load on it of course). Rated at 600lb capacity and deffinitly worth the money we invested in it.

As it would turn out, you can also by kits for some craftsman floor jacks (the big ones, like 3Ton +) that would convert it into a tranny jack. Not sure how much they cost though.

Get your car as high in the air as you feel safe (so long as your tranny jack can get up high enough). Seriously. And if your looking for new Jackstands, check out Sam's Club if you have one in your area. I bought these pretty GoodYear Chrome ones that are fricking HUGE (for a shade tree mechanic at least) , I think there rated at about 6 ton (not really sure), sturdy, got a lock pin and a clicker style thing going on. I think they were thirty bucks a pair. Really good and I deffinitly trust my life with them. I only had it on the first or second click from fully down and it was plenty high for me to get under there, and I'm a pretty big guy.

 

I'm trying to remove my AT on my '94. I've got both axles out. I'm at the point of trying to disconnect the TQ from the flywheel. there were 2-3 brackets on top of the access plate to the TQ. I can't pull the access plate off because there are bolts protruding from the tranny housing, that the brackets were mounted on. This prevents me from sliding the access cover off. At this point, it appears I will have to remove the lengthways cross member, and the oil pan, just to remove the access cover. Does this sound correct???

 

I think your refering to those M10X40 Coarse studs that go into the very bottom of the bellhousing right? There are 2 of them?

If you use your impact gun the studs may come right out with them. If the hex nuts come out your going to have to back the studs out or cut them off.

To back them out you could buy a good Loctite and put the hex nuts back on, let it dry, then back it out. Or if you have a MIG, you could put the hex nut on then zap it quick to fix the hex nut in place, then back it out.

Or you could do what I did is cut it out flush (but then you'll have to drill it out later the remaining when the tranny is out) with a die grinder cut off wheel or use a carbide burr and grind it out flush.

You could attampt vice grips but if you damage the threads you may not be able to do the loctite or MIG tactic to get them out...unless you put a bigger hex nut over it and loosely weld it on. I would do one of the first 2 if you can.

You don't need to remove the crossmember or oil pan.

 

Really good write up JasonDeej. It's pretty complete.

I would add that I remember at the end I had to lift the car up even more temporarily to move it out the drivers side wheel well. Part of the bumper was blocking. So you may need some wood plank or something if you can't get your jack high enough.

I was using a tranny jack so even at the lowest position it's still sitting up off the ground a bit.

And ya, that guys right, I wouldn't attempt it without a tranny jack. Too clumsey and risk of damaging something. With the tranny jack and hoist you can do the entire job yourself like I did with no help. Both tranny removal and engine removal if you wanted to.

 

Actually, his thought process is correct - he did it in the right order, because you don't want to remove those things when the trans is half hanging on the tranny jack or the engine is hanging on an angle. Removing the hood isn't necessary unless your removing it out the top, which is probably impossible because of clearance, but removing the hood is nothing.

Be careful though letting the engine lean like that to the side, I don't know if those motor mounts can take that. I think that's the reason why they say to use the hoist from above, but even then you'll probably need a leveler.

Another thing I did was found a spare bolt on the ground and wedged it between the AC Compressor area onto a solid piece and the side of the engine bay to prevent it from leaning too far...because even with my leveller and hoist, it still had play.

 

okay, thanks.the more I looked at it, i realized the cross member couldn't come out, without risking the engine crushing me. I was thinking maybe the oil pan had to come out and wiggle by.

You are correct, they are 2 lower studs, M10, but there are no threads on them where they press (?) into the tranny housing (or cast, or whatever it is). But they are mostly threaded. I might try some red loctite on the nuts. If I cut them flush, it will be a major PITA to get them out later. drilling them out just seems to snap drill bits, and one broken EZ-out, and I'm really screwed. Are those meant to pull out, because i still have to get them back in when I re-assemble? They don't seem to thread into the housing, otherwise I might be able to try 2 nuts to pull them out (??)

bang-on about the tranny jack. I went to Princess Auto today and paid $90 for a tranmission adapter to put on my jack.

I've disconnected the linkage from the top, the 2 coolant lines, the neutral safety switch to the battery, a couple of wiring harnesses from the top, another inserted piece on the lower side (maybe it's a speed sensor...almost looks like a PCV valve), and the starter. Are there any other connections, before I start removing the main mounting bolts? looks like there's something on the top, close to the firewall & closer to the middle of the firewall, as opposed to the fender. but it looks like that can stay on, I just disconnected the wire from it.

So once I remove the TC from the flywheel, all that is left are the main bolts?

for re-install, how hard is it to re-connect the TC? Is there a filter on the side, like a cannister type oil filter?

thanks for all the info.

 

Thanks for the detail posting JasonDeej. I have to undertake an engine/tran swap from one max to the other. Wondering though if to put the SOHC in one that had a DOHC setup.

 

Those studs are threaded, you just can't see them, they go through that metal plate thing that connects to the header pipe clamp support, then INTO the bellhousing.

The spec is M10X40 (40mm long). Just go to Brafasco and tell them you want (2) M10X40 Coarse SOCKET SET SCREW. They have a small hex socket on the end so you can put them in & out. Then you need (2) ordinary M10 Coarse hex nuts.

Your drill bits probably aren't strong enough for steel. You can try Left Hand turn drill bits from Greenfield or CeLine. Use a punch first to center it. Brafasco will have them to.

You can try the double nut method but it doesn't work for me, it's just turns.

Also don't forget that now that you bought that tranny jack adapter for your regular jack, in order to get it out the wheel well hole, you might need to additionally lift the car a little bit higher later, and you jack will be occupied, unless you have another or you set your jackstands on maximum height or high enough.

There's a thin grounding wire that goes onto the side of the engine bay that takes a 10mm socket or something, but it's not visible until you start lowering the tranny, or if you look in the gap. Just undo it once the tranny is almost to the ground.

Edit: You separate the driveplate from the TQ by those 4 bolts. You don't remove either, unless you have to later on.

 

Here's some pics that may help you guys. The 4 bolts used to separate. I accessed with an extension.

 

 

FYI: VG auto trannies make great boat anchors!

 

yep, you were right again. they were double-threaded, like head studs. the double nut worked super easy to pull them out. maybe cuz the dang thing only has 50Km on a rebuild, so nothings had a chance to weld in place. the drive plate to TC bolts were also very easy to remove.

got 11 fasteners removed, set the trany jack in place and found I'd missed ONE bolt, on the tranny mount closest to the firewall. Couldn't get a socket on the last bolt, so i removed the 2 nuts under the mount.

STILL haven't worked the tranny off of the motor. I can see the drive plate teeth and I seem to get either the top or bottom free, but not both. the tranny is well off the dowel pins. I have the tranny jack positioned the wrong way and the tranny wants to drop towards the firewall.

if the drive plate comes off with the TC, what was the reason to disconnect it ahead of time? Only going to be a PITA to line it up later. Likewise, i can see getting the new tranny lined up and in place will be a treat. this job is getting frustrating. But I do appreciate your advice.

 

Hey bud - that's great that you got those out. One of them I actually cut a slot in the end to fit a slot insert bit (screwdriver head) and it backed out. Other one was like you said, it was practically welded into place, so I cut it off.

The rear tranny mount is a bit strange. It can be fully detached via the wheel well hole looking at the tranny. Then once the tranny is out of the car, you can remove the main fixing part of the mount that connects to the engine bay (if you wanted to restore that mount or something). So that firewall side mount near the wheel well, just unbolt the fasteners you see from the wheel well and you'll see it separate. Drop the tranny down a bit, and unbolt the rest or it could hit the transverse link when trying to remove.

The drive plate doesn't come off with the TQC. It can only be disconnected from the engine when the tranny is out. The TQC is joined to the drive plate by those 4 bolts you already took out.

It's frustrating but it's worth it - the garage would charge you quite abit to do this so your saving alot.

Don't forget to get the car high enough ahead of time, unless you have an extra lifting device. Otherwise you may have to remove the transverse link (a major pain) from the transverse link gusset to open up the wheel well.

 

Picture of the mount we are talking about. Notice the L thing at the bottom, that separates from the top part of the mount. You don't need to remove the thru bolt going through the rubber insulator. The top part seen in the engine bay you can remove later if you want to.

 

wow... I definitely need to develop mechanical skills like that! haha. I don't even think I can wash my car in an hour! no kidding!

Great pix 1993-VG30E-GXE (haha, couldn't have picked a better handle! ). They will definitley come in handy if I EVER EVER build up the courage to attack such a feat!

 

Beleive me , if you can do the transmission oil change on this car, you could do anything...nothing is really that hard, it's just a matter of tools and time. The tools get a little ridiculous though.

Wait till you guys see the completed photos of my VG30E, you guys are going to think i've gone totally insane (and I have). I've been hanging my parts on a clothes line to paint them...like who hangs parts like clothes ::::::??????? I learnt this from my idiot machinist friend, i'll take a photo of the setup later in the week.

Trust me, you'll laugh.

 

it's common to hang stuff to paint it. lots of things are painted that way, bbq grills, motorcycle fenders, etc.

 

Wow u make pulling the tranny sound really easy. I wish it was as easy! I dont have an engine hoist, and I was messing with the passenger side cv axle trying to get it out with no luck cause of the stupid location of the carrier bearing bolts, ive managed to get 2 out of 3 bolts loose and taken out, just the top one is the hardest one to get out. But someone suggested to get a universal joint so i will try that. Im trying to work on multiple projects at the same time with this car since Ive decided to keep it and invest the money in it ( which the car is worth it) Very very reliable!! And ive been everywhere in it with very little maintanence and 60,000 miles! Would be nice if I can save the money that I am going to pay someone to put the tranny in and put it towards something else on the car though

 

I'll post you the exact photo of the aparatus I used to remove that bolt. I remembered when doing the work in the summer, that I snapped a digital photo of all the extensions and u-joint so I wouldn't waste so much time in the future trying to re-create it.

It's very simple but you'll need the equivalent lengths. As well I used a similar setup to access the mount bolts in the drivers side wheel well.

 

1. reread what I said above. don't pull the passenger axle out. slide the tranny sideways and off the axle while you're removing the input shaft from the clutch assembly. it gives you two points of contact vs. one.
2. If you really want to remove the pass axle, use a 12mm box end wrench and stick another one on the other end of the wrench to use as a cheater bar to break the bolt loose. Either that or buy a 1/4" drive ratchet with a flex head on it.
I have one of these, and it's save my butt a bazillion times: http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

once you break the bolt loose, you can remove it by hand.

2a. If you don't want to go through all that hassle, simply remove the Y pipe and you'll have more room to work in there and that PITA bolt becomes no problem.

3. You don't need an engine hoist. I use a regular floor jack. get the car up high enough on jackstands that you can drop the tranny out the bottom, then remove all the bolts on the tranny and raise the jack up to take the weight of the tranny. slide it sideways and balance the tranny on the jack. I do it myself, but it's easier to have a helper now lower the tranny with the jack and then roll it out from under the car. If you don't jack the car up enough, you will have to pull the tranny off the jack and then roll the jack out and slide the tranny out afterwards. put a sheet of cardboard or plywood on the ground and slide the tranny across that if you don't want to scuff the bottom of the bellhousing, but it won't hurt anything if you do.

 

I've found that not removing the pass axle makes it that much more of a pain when putting the tranny back in. As you have two items to line up vs just one before. I've done it both ways and I just remove both axels.

 

yea. if the bracket is stuck, i will remove the tranny w/o taking the axle out, but i would always get a mallet and drive the axle out of the ring before putting it all back together. it was a huge PITA to get my a/t out cuz the axle was stuck in there good.

 

I have never left the passenger side axle in when pulling the tranny...the first thing that comes to mind is it may be easy to damage the axle seal when reinstalling the tranny.

 

when the clutch was replaced on my car, we left the pass axle in, that was just before I got the car from my sister. that was over two years ago, no problems.

edit: and maybe I got lucky, but I can't imagine the pita of taking the axle out being less than trying to align the clutch and the axle. was pretty easy for us, anyway.

 

dude aside from the issue of draining the tranny fluid i could have my maxima's passenger side axle out in like 10 minutes. compared to the risk of messing up the axle seal, i can take 10 minutes.