Last night this guy dropped off his 03 max. It needed a another clutch. I had previously looked at it for about 30secs. I said to myself no big deal. Yeah right. It was about 11PM last night and I had taken everything apart. Very friendly transmission for the most part. But there are three major areas of concern. First off you can t slide the tranny like you do on 4th gens . Hell oooh no it wont go. It wont slide straight out. No space what so ever. The center beam the large 17mm nuts that hold it must be removed then carefully lower the engine and slide the tranny at an angle. This is very dangerous if you dont have a tranny jack and a g large jack strong enough to lower the engine a couple of inches. Next the shifter cables and the bracket (bracket is held by two 12mm bolts "MUST COME OFF". If you dont take it off good luck because tranny wont drop down. Next area of concern, no space to remove the three 12mm bolts that hold the passenger side axle. Good luck with that part. The center nut to remove the axles is a 32MM socket. Once again good luck those axles. It was a pain to push them off the center of the brakes.

My conclusion after the tranny not wanting to come out and I was taking the biggest crap. Id do it again. Once the center shaft is in there I was able to spin the tranny like a clock and it slammed onto the engine like a parking lot. 8 hours later, I would do it again



Picture one, look it must be nice to have the starter towards the front of the car

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...7_165_full.jpg


It is very nice to use a 10MM allen wrench socket, to drain the gear oil and it is pointed outward too

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...7_166_full.jpg


Now to fill her up you have to remove the side plastic dust protector once again 10MM allen socket.
http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...7_167_full.jpg



This is the braket that must be taken off to drop the tranny. It is held by two 12MM bolts. This bracket also holds the shifter assembly which is two of them. There is one circled. The one thats the side of the car is held by a simple paper clip type clip, very very easy to take apart.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...7_168_full.jpg


Look how tight it is just to get to the three 12MM bolts that hold passenger side axle. A aftermarket Ypipe would alleviate this pain in the a*sss

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...7_169_full.jpg


This is Jaydogs secret to removing axles without damaging them. You never ever ever pull on the crowbar, You gently twist it. I bet we have some He Man monsters pulling hard, careful you will damage the lip on the axle and you will have a very bad leak. No No you twist it and it will softly slide out.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...7_170_full.jpg



And you 5th gen guys dont complain about love. See I am showing love for you guys and I am a 4th gen owner

 

good work

 

Sounds like a PITA!

 

It sure is a PITA! My dealer had my car for a few days when I had the clutch TSB done. They were not familiar with the TSB until I brought it in. They ended up giving me a free loaner so they could take their time with the repair.