91 Explorer A4LD removal in driveway help?

[BobWeiss]

I have to drop the transmission from my Ex tomorrow because I cannot get the broken stud out that holds the vacumm modulator on the tranny and its impossible to drill it out while the tranny is in the truck. I was hopeing I can get some tips on the best way to remove the trans in my driveway without using a tranny jack.. I have the front of the truck up on jack stands now. How easy is it to get the top 2 bolts off the bell housing to engine from underneath? From the looks of it there has to be another way...maybe through the tire area?

Thanks for any tips you can give me..

Bob W.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you try to pull out the catalytic converter? You could get access if you remove it. A right angle drill, or attachment would also be helpful.

 

[a711112a]

you kneed to pull the exhoust off at the manafold. makes it easer to reach the coolent lines. To get the top two bolts use as many extensions as needed to reach the bolts. I also found it was easer to jack up the rear end as hi as i could. Much beter angle to work on everthing (oposed to jacking up the front). when i pulled mine i used a regular roling floor jack. if you dont have one make shure you got a extra person

 

[BobWeiss]

Did you try to pull out the catalytic converter? You could get access if you remove it. A right angle drill, or attachment would also be helpful.

I already have that out and its just not big enough of an area to get straight on at it. I am like 1 inch too short.

 

[BobWeiss]

The biggest problem I think I might have is the top 2 bolts on the bell housing. Can you get to them by removing the front tires and wheel wells?

 

[BrooklynBay]

If you only need to drop the transmission about an inch to get access, maybe you should remove the mount. It will drop it a few inches.

 

[fobrnno]

i find removeing the tranny crossmember and using the floor jack and lower the rear of the tranny down you can get access to the top two bolts.

 

[BobWeiss]

Is it possible to drop the cross member support and then put a jack under the front of the engine and lift the engine a little bit to get the tranny to lower down more in the rear? The distance from the bolt hole to the bottom of the frame rail is like 4 inches or so at least. If I can't get that much then I might as well pull it. The Ford manual says to do this to get access to the top 2 bolts holding the tranny on the engine.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Be careful not to stress the engine mounts. If they are twisted too much, they will break. I had this happen once when I removed the transmission's crossmember.

 

[shinermilller]

3 inch body lift helps sooo much haha. but good luck, i know how it feels!