Really need some advice on tranny removal

[ponkotsu]

In the process of pulling the tranny from my '05 Aviator. It's the 4.6V8 with 5R55S tranny. The shop that "rebuilt" it a couple months ago really did a number on it. The two upper bell housing bolt heads are rounded off. I spent two hours on one of them with no luck. These bolts are super difficult to access. If I had a tool that could apply the torque better, I might have a chance at getting them out, but with swivel and long extensions, it's no good.

Anyone have any advice for this? Been in a similar situation? It's really starting to look like I might have to drop the engine to get some more working room at them. If that's the case, I'm probably just going to have it towed to a shop and pay big bucks...

 

[ponkotsu]

Thinking I'll go see the Snapon man and see what the best tool they have for the job is. I didn't have a universal socket, I was using an adapter which tends to throw the torque off center.

And if I drop the T-case I can probably get a little better angle on them or at least use a shorter extension. If I get these bolts out, I'm replacing them with torx just in case I need to do this again!

 

[JoshMcMadMac]

They must have really monkeyed it up to do that! Try using a "rounded bolt" tool. I know I have a set of them that have saved me more than once. I think I get those bolts off normally by dropping the crossmember, which allows the tailshaft of the transmission to hang down and get a slightly better angle on the top bolts. I am pretty sure I got away without a universal that way, just ~3ft of extension.

http://www.craftsman.com/craftsman-10-pc-damaged-bolt-nut-remover-set-low/p-00952166000P

 

[ponkotsu]

That looks like a great set of bolt removers. Couldn't find it searching online, but looks like they have them in stock.

Yeah, I dropped the cross member and lowered as much as possible. Totally inaccessible without dropping the tail. Looks like their tool of choice was an impact wrench. Every bolt was super tight. Even the bell housing inspection cover bolts needed a breaker bar to remove! They totally stripped out the exhaust mount bolt that goes in the transmission housing. Cross threaded and driven 90% in. (That would be the mystery rattle I had). So that's probably going to require a heli-coil.

I've gotten enough of a look at the tranny that I'm about 90% sure its just a repainted boneyard tranny as I suspected. Not even sure yet if its the correct tranny because they painted over the ID tag. These guys did everyone a favor going out of business. I've filed a lawsuit against them already for what they did to me. Winning is a no-brainer, but lets see if I can ever compensated.

 

[ponkotsu]

Harbor Freight saved the day. 3/8" drive swivel impact socket. 1/2". It's a metric bolt, but the head is kind of on the small side so a 13mm socket is so loose the swivel socket twists off. It didn't help much that they ran them in to about 200 ft/lbs. I barely had enough strength to break them loose, and they were tight for at least 1 turn so they were really stretched. I used my long 3/8 extension coupled with a long 1/2" and beat the socket onto the bolt heads with a hammer. Worked great. Those bolts really are a pain to get at though.