of course nothing's impossible but i'm having a ***** of a time seperating the box from the motor. all bolts are off, have been off for the past few hours while i've been hammering screwdrivers all around the seam. it's seperated about a half inch all around but will not flippin come off. am i missing something here? please help, i really want to get it out today. everything is removed it's just the tranny all by it's lonesome subborn self.

thanks

 

Time to break out the cuttin torch..

Look all around the trans,front,back, and check for thing that it could be getting hung up on....A good bright flash light or work light my shed some "light" on the problem..

 

i've searched all around numerous times, wiggled the thing relentlessly, whatever is sticking, it's sticking in the case, i used a flashlight to look around a while ago, even through the gap between the block and case. all 11 bolts are off, the entire perimiter of the case is detatched. maybe i'm just not strong enough or can't get the leverage to detach. i'm exhausted, been up for 24 hours now. i'll call it a day, god i miss driving my car. thanks for the reply man. it may seriously be caused by broken stuff interlocking. the clutch was giving me issues (slipping, making chainsaw sounds.) isb, bucking, grinding, inability to move to the 1-2 side of the gate sometimes, when i could fuse blows then sometimes the car will drive normal but of course with terrible grinding sounds from broken bearing and whatever else busted in there.. i dunno, we'll see. i'll yank on it some more tomorrow.

 

did you remove both mounts and both axles already

there are some bolts on the back that are kinda hidden you have to be under the car and look up where the pas side axle goes to see them also you might want to remove the bracket that holds the shift arm to the side of the trans cause it can also get hung up

 

Vg motor right? sounds like corrosion/crusties between iron block and aluminum trans case. (electrolysis between differing metals + OR moisture) Try a LITTLE heat with a blow torch, some WD-40, and consistent and persistent pounding with a big rubber/plastic hammer. (so you don't damage the soft alum. trans case.)

 

Don't know if it's a 5spd or auto but if it's auto, did you remove the bolts to the flexwheel..? Look at this picture and you'll know what I mean.

 

subs: yes, both axels are seperated. there's 11 nuts/bolts connecting the case to the engine, they are all removed as well as all mounts and shift linkage.

dillbag: it's seperated from the block at the seam about 1/2"

Phasta: it's a 5 speed

we'll see how it goes today when i'm not exhausted.

 

i thought there were similar bolts around the flywheel too.

 

Oh ok.

No the flywheel is all solid.


In that case Hectic I think the boys above are right... probably something stuck from rust or something like that. But for safety check again in bright light, and take your time. You're gonna be awful pissed off if you brake something, trust me

 

this/these?

 

No. They hold the pressure plate to the flywheel.

 

i was asking if those were the bolts danny was talking about.

 

stupid question... did you remove the starter and sick the bolts back into the tranny case so you don't lose them?

I did that a few years ago, and the starter bolts will hang up on the clutch is you threaded them all the way in. it was about 1/2" away from the engine block as well when that happened.

the other thing- are you lifting the other end of the transmission as well?
the input shaft to the tranny is a decently long shaft, and you may just need to lift the back end of the tranny up a bit while you're pulling.. the engine, resting on only its mounts, will try to tilt one way while the tranny is leaning another. this can cause a bind in there and prevent them from coming apart.

usually what I do when pulling the tranny is to stick something on the pass side of the engine bay (chunk of 2x4 works great) to keep the engine tilted toward the tranny side. this should angle the tranny down a bit and allow it to come out easier..
then I support the tranny with a jack from below and rock/pull on the tranny case until it's out.

good luck. hope that hleps.

 

That is what happened to me. Once I got everything tilted just right, it slid right out.

 

actually phasta is right. i would follow matt's instructions. it has to be straight (linear) for it to slide out.

 

hey thanks man, i replaced several of the bolts so i wouldn't lose them, including the one starter bolt as pictured. that could very well be the problem. i've been trying to angle to engine, a couple of times when it was angled, there was a slight smell of gas so i've been trying to keep the engine as level as possible. i bet it's that bolt though thanks again matt and everyone else for the suggestions.

edit: i just checked felt inside the starter hole and there's more than enough clearance. but the operating cylinder bolts are a different story, one of them i screwed all the way back in, so it's probably that one.

 

I used two ghetto jacks to hold the engine stable and a hydraulic wheel jack untehr the tranny. Slid right off after I found the last bolt. Took me forever to find the ****er though.

 

it was the cylinder bolt matt rules. scarred a tooth on the flywheel...

 

damn that tranny is tiny compared to the auto.

oh and you think it's a good time to buck up for a set of jack stands?

 

that does look a little... hmm... dangerous.

danny you should feel the weight difference

 

hehe, did you think i was supporting the car with the stool?


it's in a lot better shape than i expected. i think i'll get away with rebuilding just the input shaft. i was expecting broken teeth and cracked gears. of course there was a lot of debris from the bearing though. time to tear down.

 

Oh man, that last pic is all too familiar to me. What all was wrong with the tranny, was it just the input shaft bearing, or were gears broken also?

 

i don't think i'd ever go turbo now, i wouldn't want to do this regularly. tops is 5k rpm after i'm finished. so far, looks like it's only the input shaft bearing, it's been faulty for months but the tranny pretty much gave out a few weeks ago. it was bucking and grinding sometimes, and would blow eng. control fuses when i would attempt to put the car in first. probably the position switch shorting out or something. this seemed to happen after being locked out of first and second (gate-wise) and playing around in other gears (clutch disengaged) so i would be able to move to 1-2, then the fuse would blow killing the engine. i'm surprised i got as many miles as i did out of it from the time i first noticed the sound of the busted bearing.

 

Heh.. yeah.. it was the clutch slave on my end too. I knew it was either those guys or the starter bolts that gave me fits.

now I just pull those things off and stick 'em in ziplock baggies. a box of 100 baggies is only like $2. a sharpie is another $1. pull the bolts off and number the bellhousing bolts on the case and the bolt head.

tiny investment for the time and work savings.

 

or scotch tape and saran wrap thanks again, and you said it might have been a stupid question...

 

I just line the bolts up in order on my strut tower. The sharpie wore off of the tops of the bolts, although I pretty much know what goes where now like the back of my hand, sadly.

Those input shaft bearings are really annoying, hope the rebuild goes smoothly for you!

 

Glad it werkd out ferya. I'm sure if you at least replace all the bearings and brass, you'll be fine beating on it for a good long while. That's what i did.

 

thanks guys. it's probably going to be a mistake, but i'm just going to replace the broken input shaft bearing and anything else that is visibly broken. clean out the metal shavings and debris. check my clearances but not teardown any other shafts uness it's neccessary. i've got to get my car moving again soon. i'm sure my mother wants her TL back and is getting tired of me using it to deliver pizza

'Dillbag'...

 

did you thread the slave cylinder bolts back in to keep from losing them? if so, they are hitting the flywheel

 

that pictures makes it look so easy.... *ponder* how long did it take? or will it take...

 

thats all you need to do and more than likely you wont need to do it again for a long time

 

trust me, the transmission didn't magically end up outside of the car with the case removed aside from the passenger axle support being a complete pain in the A$$ and trying to get pull the transmission away from the engine when stuck on the bolt, it was fun. i'm hoping it's all uphill from here. i've spent a couple 6 hour days on it. and a day where i spent an hour or 2. *working* about 5 or 6 of those hours was spent troupleshooting those 2 problems.

acid: you may need to read the whole thread. i seriously hope you haven't aready

subs: i should probably replace the wearable parts imo. i've never tore down a tranny before, i'm contemplating just paying a shop to rebulild the shaft(s). seems like i need several special tools. hydraulic press, pullers, ect...

 

yeah you wish

just kidding, but the passenger side axle bearing is nice isn't it? makes you wanna call Nissan up and tell them what a nice solution they came up with, right? ...not. damn I hated that the first time.

and the axle hub bolt..? first time I removed it it took me about 1 hour before giving up, then 2 hours drive and shopping better tools, then 5 minutes to remove it. proper tools are a god given gift.

after you've done this some 8 times it's not that difficult anymore though

 

all you need is a press and an FSM

and if you dont have a press and you plan on doing work on cars in the future its a good idea to have one for wheel bearings and suspention bushing plus harborfrieght has a 12 ton for 100$ so it pays for itself pretty fast

 

man, i never even got the axle out. it's still hanging from the bearing and support. i thought i had it and even made a post saying that i got it done because i had banged it loose with hammer which danNY had suggested.. i figured i'd be able to easially seperate it completely when i found the right crow bar. i was wrong, i basically gave up, and moved on to the tranny. hopefully i'll be able to bang on the tranny end of the axle and pop it out now. i won't jump the gun and jinx myself again.

i learned my lesson when i tried to get my crankshaft sprocket off with manual tools a few seconds with an impact wrench and the axle bolts were off. beats a few hours trying it with a breaker bar.

subs: i see a 10 ton on their website for $160. i'm not sure what i'll do exactly. i'll probably buy the bearing and go to a shop and ask if they can press it on for $20 or something.

 

do you still have the tranny out? if so, could you take a picture of the input shaft for me?

i'm thinking i found another reason for the input shaft bearings to be crapping out so much.

 

just got back to work on it today. where's a cheap place online to order the new bearing from? brian carry them? i don't see them if he does. stealership wants $43 which isn't terrible but aren't they around $20-something at other places? it'd be nice to order new axles and bearing at the same time if anyone has a suggestion, thanks. courtesy doesn't list them either. what's you're theory cookson? hope the pic shows what you want.

 

oh yeah...that bearing is toast.
if it's just a generic looking bearing you can sometimes read the numbers on the side of them to get a bearing place to sell you better bearings or replacement ones. I've used SKF bearings before with success....(general application..not in a manual tranny)

 

www.drivetrain.com has a bunch of parts. i've used them before and they had pretty good prices.


my theory on another reason why the input shaft bearing goes to hell is the lack of the input shaft using the pilot bushing. i was doing some mock up things with the VH45 and Z32 tranny. i couldn't get the tranny stabbed in there and decided to try out my maxima input shaft (since it was just laying in a box from the first tranny that died). it went in fine of course but i noticed a big difference between it and the Z input shaft. the Z input shaft has more metal sticking out so that it would ride in the pilot bushing.

correct me if i'm wrong, but wouldn't the lack of possibly cause some wobbling of the input shaft? nothing extremely noticable but enough for the bearings to keep dieing. it seems like that could be very likely, but i'm not positive.

i'll get some pictures of the Z tranny to show the comparison but to get an idea of what it looks like, just look at a clutch alignment tool. the tool is designed the same basic way that the input shaft of the Z32 tranny is.

edit: actually, here's a picture of what i'm talking about.

 

dan: yep, complete destruction. i'm looking forward to having a healthy tranny again. i haven't been without grinding and churning sounds for 6 months. no more redlines for me. doesn't serve much of a purpose with the vg anyhow. 53-5400 tops from now on.

cook: thanks for that link, i'll check it out. lack of support i'm sure could cause stress. how did craig get the 5800 figure? was it a test performed on the vehicle or a test of the bearing only? whatever the exact cause it's some bad engineering by the tranny folks. there's always the ipt mod..i think you're actually the one who told me about that. i'm surprised you turbo guys don't do it instead of constantly replacing the bearing. money i guess. thanks again for the tips on the passenger axle. way easier hammering the axle out from the tranny end then trying to pry that bearing support apart