Subject line says it all. Is it straightforward? I have done my brakes & rotors, belt, seafoam, and oil. That is the extent of my experience in mechanic work.

There are three reasons I want to do it myself. First because it is free labor. Second because I want to know it was done right. Third because everywhere I have called has quoted me 750+ for the job. Oh and fourth because I can't find any individual who will do the job with my parts.

I have looked at the instructions on Motorvate. It seems relatively straightforward although there is a part where he lists a bunch of things to remove first without saying if removal of those things is difficult.

I understand it will be time-consuming. Time is something I have plenty of at the moment. I guess what I am asking is there anything that would make the job difficult beyond the amount of time I have to put into it. On a scale of 1-10 what would this job rank?

 

I think its easy, but ive dropped the tranny quite a few times. It will take a little time since you have never done it before, but its strait forward. What on the motorvate writeup is confusing you?

 

Well the bulk weight of the tranny is one obstacle. You don't want to do it with a simple floor jack unless you have a helper to keep it on the jack. I use a crossbar made from an old hockey stick and a ratcheting come-along strap with my floor jack since I do my work alone.

Of the things to remove, I'd say pulling the axles might be trickiest. You've got to loosen the 36mm axle nuts, and you have to get the passenger axle loose. If you don't want to remove the passenger axle, then you need to drop the engine support and that requires something to hold up the engine while it's down.

Everything else is pretty straightforward, and if your car doesn't have abs it's easily accessible.

 

its not that hard...it can be a pain at times like pulling the passenger axel but otherwise its not bad..when i get some cash ive gotta change mine.....

 

It's interesting you post this question about difficulty and then say "Second because I want to know it was done right."

Anyways, you should be ok. Do you have instructions? Haynes, Chiltons, Autozone.com all have decent info, in addition to motorvate. As far as tools, borrow a 36mm socket like dgeesaman says. Some people debate weather or not to remove the center cross member. Having a 2nd jack to support the tranny for lowering and raising is helpful, but I've done it without by bench-pressing or by holding the place where the starter goes. Also, you should consider renting a pilot bearing puller if you'r gonna replace that too.

Jae

 

wtf would anyone remove the cross member when taking out the transmission? That just causes problems.

And ya, having a jack to support the trans when pullig it off and putting it on is helpful if your by yourself. If you got a friend to help you, just muscle it on and off. Or, when you pullit off, you can just drop it onto a tire.

 

LOL Well what I mean by that is that I know the job is done with the longetivity of my car as the #1 concern. It will not be a rush job.

I don't have to worry about something else being broken and them not telling me about it. Yesterday I replaced two of the bolts on my front passenger side rotor after discovering the tire shop had snapped them last week. They couldn't tell me for what $5 in parts?

It is things like that that reinforce my belief that I should be doing any mechanical work that I am capable of myself. I probably have had more bad experiences dealing with mechanics than good ones and so in the end if I can do it I will.

I look at it like this. I work with computers. Most of the time when I talk to other people in the same line of work they are pretty much just BSing along. Through my other dealings in life I have come up with a theory that >50% of any given profession suck at what they do. If I am just randomly picking someone to do the job (or going with the lowest price) I therefore have a >50% chance that the person I go with is going to suck at the job. (Under the assumption that my theory is correct)

If I could find someone local who would want to do the job and I felt comfortable that they knew what they were doing I would let them do it. I asked in the NE region forum and nobody wants to do it nor did I get any suggestions on where to go to have it done. That puts me back at my theory and when faced with that I have more confidence in my own capabilities.

Anyway, I also have the Haynes guide in addition to the motorvate. I should be able to gather everything I need tools wise. I am still not 100% sure that I am going to do this myself, I will wait a few more days to see if anyone I PM'd wants the job. Otherwise I will probably be working on it next weekend.

 

its def. easier to remove the crossmember...just borrow another jack to support the tranny....andone to support the motor

 

Pulled the tranny two times. It takes some time. Follow a manual and should be OK. I've never pulled the croosmember off. A friend and me put it on a floor jack and mucsled it. Make sure you jack the car up high. It makes a big differece to be able to move the tranny out. Even when jacked up high, we found it was easiest to gently roll it onto a piece of cardoard or carpet off the jack and then slide it out.

Oh when taking it in or out the bolts by the crossmember on the bell housing can be blocked by that crossmember when trying to get wrench on. Simply put a jack on the transsmission and jack it up until a wrachet will go on.

 

How would you suggest removing the upper bolt that threads from the block into the bellhousing? It's pretty much inaccessible with both the passenger axle and crossmember there.

But then again, I have ABS - it may be a lot easier without that in the way.

Dave

 

Well you gotta take the axle out first. Why would you be trying to access that bolt with the axle still in there in the first place?

 

To the OP:

Its not too hard to do, first time will probably take you a few hours. my first time it took me about 3 hrs by my self. If you have any questions there are a bunch of write ups or if anything PM me, I'll help.

those two bolts for the linkage are next to impossible to get to with an untouch crossmember. I removed the 4 bolts that connect it to the car so I can atleast push it some out of the way so I can get to the linkage bolts.
He knows what he's talking about.

 

It's not that hard really. I did mine a couple of months ago and haven't had any problems with it at all. I knew basically nothing about Maxima's, but i had changed a few Honda clutches before. Buy a Haynes repair manual--$17....it helped me a lot. I'd say the biggest problems i ran into were getting the passenger side axle out, and getting the bolt for the crossmember(close to the rear header) off and back on....just such a tigh space in there, it's hard to get to. Just take your time, and if you forget things easily, label all your bolts, parts, etc. and everything should go smoother come re-assembly time. good luck

 

Ive never had any problem with getting to the linkage bolts with the xmember still in there. There is nothing wrong with taking off the xmember, but I just think its unnecessary work and having a jack stand down there would just get in the way.

 

Please look at this thread:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=491183

I would like to hear more.

 

the jack does get in the way, what tool do you have that can reach those bolts and take them off? A shallow 14mm socket cant fit, and a 14mm wrench can fit onto the bolt (maybe that was just me). I would love to see how you got those bolts off without touching the X-Member. If memory serves, those bolts (or just one) is longer than the space between the tranny and X-Member

 

Don't mean to threadjack guys, but I figured what I'm asking is somewhat relevant. I'm about to tackle an auto lsd to auto lsd swap and wanted to know if this is pretty straight forward as well.

 

what

 

Because removing the axle can be a b***h, and dropping the crossmember instead is sometimes easier.

Since the tranny has to slide away from the engine, it's no problem sliding away from the pass. axle splines too.

Dave

 

eh' meaning i wasn't trying to do like an auto to 5-speed or anything like that.

 

but what are you swapping? you said auto lsd to auto lsd? your chaning the same thing with the same thing? you mean axle replacement? I'm sorry I just dont follow what your asking

 

Although everyone says it is easy. You may encounter what happened to me. It took from one Saturday all the way to the next to complete.

Firstly, the driverside axle did not come out as everyone state. This was because the cir clip was broken. I spent the majority of the day attempting to try other people's methods. If I would of removed both axles in the beginning it would of taken 45 minutes as opposed to 13 hours just to get the axles out.

Secondly, although out of all the clutch/flywheel jobs I have read posted on the org, it seems as if I was the only one that had bolts heads round or break on EVERY step of the job. The tranny case, the crank, the rear main oil seal bracket, the pressure plate.

I had to reorder these from nissan which would take, minimum a day.


I see many stating that you do not have to remove the cross member. I removed my cross member, tranny mount and both axles. There is one bolt that was holding my tranny to the block that prevented the two from seperating and I could not get to it without removing the cross member.

Remember to thread lock where it is stated in the manual.

My job was a nightmare. I did everything right but was at the mercy of others who worked on the car before me and bolts that were factory torqued to damn tight. For instance, crank shaft to fly wheel bolt must of been torqued to 470-520 lbs. I used air tools.

 

Sounds like a rough experience...

 

yes..as in changing the same thing with the same thing.. i am attempting to replace me automatic lsd transmission with another automatic lsd transmission..