I've been looking into replacing my transmission and adding HLSD while I was at it. I understand that a 04-06 Sentra 6sp with HLSD will work as long as the bell housings are swapped. Can anyone who has performed this give me the level of difficulty involved and perhaps some instruction on how it is done? I've been searching the forum for hours now and have not yet found any detailed information.

 

Nobody?

 

I've done it. Not insanely hard but there is a lot of parts you have to keep track of.
I swapped all sentra spec-v internals into my bellhousing and case.
The HLSD is awesome by the way. Helps a lot with traction.

If you look through this thread you can find some info on bellhousing swapping.
http://www.sr20-forum.com/howto-s/64...s-results.html

 

Thank you very much. I searched everywhere for something like this. Should be enough to get me started.

 

I swapped a new Maxima bellhousing onto an 05 SpecV last Summer. Not difficult, but you need to be systematic, and the best advice I can give you is when you have removed all the shift forks and are at the point where you are about to remove the shafts to transfer to the other bellhousing, position the coupling sleeves in the mid travel position and be careful you DO NOT move them from that position when handling the shafts. I made the mistake of letting them slide and their travel is not range restricted when the shift forks are removed-end result being some tiny retaining/alignment clips(edit-identified as shifting inserts on FSM diagram) came loose from the assembly and were a b&^*h to a)find on the floor and b)figure out how to position correctly. I also found it very helpful to reference the FSM exploded view diagrams for disassembly and reassembly.

 

So you have to move the gear sets to the maxima case? I was under the impression that only the front case half had to be swapped. Perhaps I'm not quite understanding what all is involved.

 

I guess I could just buy the transmission and see for myself. I just don't want to risk taking my transmission apart unless I know I'll have a working tranny when I'm done.

 

Everything has to be removed, and re-installed.

Why? Because the Bellhousing holds everything.

I mean, even if you don't know what you're looking at, simply put that's how you do it, remove everything from one, re-install backwards in another.

It helps to do it all as quickly as possible so you don't forget things, the only tricky part are the lockout ball thingies, I still don't get those.

 

Gotcha. Thanks. Think I might disassemble and reassemble the sentra tranny before I mess with my own. I know it's a lot of work for nothing but it'd make me feel better if I got the Sentra transmission back together (without extra parts, lol). And if I completely F it up I'm out $300 and not a ride to work.

 

what aackshun said... full disassembly. You sit the transmission upright with the wide bellhousing as the base. You remove all outer components/bolts/lock *****/shift mechanism/shaft end circlip and lift off the casing, then you have to remove all the internal components ie shift forks/rods/detent ***** etc and you're left essentially with an input and output shaft plus the differential. The shafts and diff then need to be transferred to your Maxima bellhousing. Either you disassemble your existing Maxima tranny to use that bellhousing or you get another Maxima bellhousing and leave your trans intact (sell) and disassemble/reassemble the SpecV to the new bellhousing. I chose to get a new bellhousing (was about $330 from TriCities Nissan) and I'll replace the defective bearings on the transmission I pulled over the winter and swap it back in as mine was already HLSD but has the taller 02-03 F/D which I prefer as I do mostly highway ( about 2700 vs 2300 RPM at 120kmh). Regarding getting the detent *****/springs out when dissambling, I used a 1/4" rod shaped rare earth magnet(http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/pag...=1,42363,42348) on the end of a long screw. The casings are aluminum and the magnetic bond between the screw and the magnet is strong so you can slide it in the ball shaft and easily remove ball components. They're a bi^%h to get out otherwise . A word of caution regarding rare earth magnets-the lil buggers have a very strong magnetic field so don't carry them in a pocket with things like credits cards or USB keys that are affected by a magnetic field.

 

Just try it, you'll probably be fine if you're somewhat mechanically inclined.
The only transmission I ever worked on before doing mine was a ford model A transmission. That transmission is literally is as easy as it gets, so I was in for a surprise when I opened my transmission up.

Just take your time, label parts, and chip away at it.

 

This saved the guy who saved my *** when I first did this.

I came back to it over two months later forgot everything I did, but I ziploc bagged and labled everything.

Please don't be afraid to ziploc bag and label things.

 

Well folks, the clutch is officially shot. My Max is now parked until further notice. I was hoping for warmer weather before I dropped the transmission but that's not going to happen. I'll be buying clutch parts as soon as I have the money and I'll be out in the cold swapping the clutch. What does this mean? I'm not doing the transmission swap just yet. I refuse to go through a bell housing swap in the cold. I still plan on buying a Spec V HLSD transmission. I'll just have to plan on dropping the transmission twice.

STEVIEB - You said you bought a bell housing from Nissan? Anyway it could be had for less than $330?? Would be great to do this swap without affecting my current transmission. What years Maxima bell housing will work with my 02? I may try to find a blown transmission from a junkyard and strip it for the case.

 

That was the lowest price I found on a new bellhousing. As for which bellhousing can be used, you'll have to research it to confirm what I state, but I seem to recall from all the threads I have read on the topic that you can use any 2002-08 Maxima or Altima 6 speed bellhousing, whether from an HLSD or non-HLSD transmission...and I wonder if I didn't see mention that the 5 speed 00-01 Maxima and 00+ Altima 5 speed bellhousing could also be used, but I may very well be mistaken on that one.