Tranny Swap

[Brian Carpenter]

I am looking into a tranny swap on my 88.
I was looking for some words of wisdom... I have a complete engine/tranny/transfer case sitting in the barn now that I was going to swap with. I planned on hoisting the old unit up, removing the Transfer case to make it lighter, then wrestling with the tranny.

I have heard warnings about the torque converter.. that it is easy to bend the shaft, and that it holds like 10 gallons of fluid in it.

Have any of you swapped transmissions? How was the proscess?

Thanks in advance.

 

[SimpleXJ]

Its pretty easy. Just remember that the top bellhousing bolts are star shaped (can't remember the correct term or their size) so don't go putting a 12 point socket on them. Also, remember to remove all the torque converter inspection plate bolts on the engine side. Those tricked me pretty good the first time I did this. Other than that it's easy. I did it in 6 hours in my gravel driveway by myself. I did make a little tray for my floorjack that held the tranny for me - so I didn't have to wrestle it out.

Also - unhook the kickdown cable at the engine - the only way to unhook it at the tranny is to pull the pan. Its much easier to unhook it at the engine and pull it thru when dropping the tranny.


SimpleXJ

 

[98JeepXJ]

The upper bellhousing bolts are an inverse torx head, E12 I believe.