'94 auto trans removal ...really this hard?

budranger · #1 09-19-2010, 12:06 AM

I have a removed a tranny or two in my time, but this one was unbelievably difficult. I followed the Haynes manual pretty closely and tried to use common sense with it. Is it me or is it really difficult to remove the tranny on this car from underneath? Everything went pretty much as expected and according to the Haynes manual, until I got to the "removal" part. I have a 4.0 and the Haynes manual said to remove the cat converter ...I did that. What seemed to complicate matters (that was NEVER broached in the manual) was the down pipes, where they cross underneath, did not allow the tranny to be lowered enough to clear the opening. I thought ...SIMPLE just remove the pipes and we're home free. Well the bolts are so badly fused on that they broke the tip off of a substantial 3/8" extension. It also seemed that some of the body's miscellaneous pinch-welds &etc., were keeping the tranny from going high enough to clear the pipes running underneath. Anyway after hours and hours of struggling and beating ...I got the darned thing out, but I am curious as to whether I actually had to go through all that agony OR NOT. AND ...with the tranny now out, I was going to go back underneath and bend over those pinchwelds and miscellaneous sheetmetal protrusions that seemed to impede its removal, so that when I put the "new" trannny back in, I won't be struggling all over again. Can anyone tell me what I might have done wrong??? I am exhausted from this fiasco and would really like to know.

budranger · #2 09-20-2010, 07:54 AM

Hey, out there ....has no one done this before?? Anybody ...can you tell me anything about your experience with tranny removal from same (similar) vehicle?

budranger · #3 09-25-2010, 01:35 PM

GEEZ this forum is sucking pretty badly! Not one comment on what I thought would/should be a popular topic, given the crappiness of ranger transmissions!

budranger · #4 09-30-2010, 07:12 AM

Well, in spite of receiving NO responses to my post ...I thought I would post what I had to do to get the tranny back in. I did have to bang over the pinchwelds and remove (by force) the exhaust heat shield over the downpipes running underneath. I figure I can replace it later with a piece of sheet aluminum and hose clamps. It took about an hour to get the opening ready to receive the new/used transmisson, but it went in with just medium effort. Now to back on all the extraneous parts and pieces.

THANKS FOR EVERYONES HELP !!!

Yrac · #5 09-30-2010, 10:34 PM

Whoa Bud! Sorry you didn't get a timely response to your post. I've done a couple of tranny's before too, but never an auto on a ranger. I won't do an auto again, pain in the ass and messy. Give me a manual every time. Nothing like laying under an econoline with a C4 on your chest.