521 4 speed removal problems

[allen dodson]

Had to stop for the night but need advise for when i tackle it in the morning. Got every thing loose on the 4 speed. It slid away from the motor a little but not enough to drop it down so i can get it out. Need help. What is it hanging on everything is loose.

[DanielC]

Did you take the bench seat out of the truck? The shifter hits the seat, and will not allow you to move the transmission far enough back to drop down.

[OL YELLER]

Did you remove the shifter? should be enuff room to slide it back and drop the front down....

[datzenmike]

This is for the FS5W71B but the '73 4spd should be similar:

 

Jack up front to a height that will allow tranny to be slid to the side and out from under. Use lots of supports and choc the wheels, E brake etc.

Remove lower bung and drain tranny.

While draining...disconnect battery.

disconnect starter, unbolt move forward out of way.

disconnect slave cylinder tie out of way.

disconnect tranny wires move out of way.

disconnect exhaust down pipe at manifold.

disconnect the speedo cable, tie out of way.

disconnect (remove) drive shaft, move out of way.

disconnect shifter set aside.

replace drain plug.

support engine with jack and piece of wood under rear of oil pan.

unbolt tranny mount where it attaches to the tail stock rubber idolater 2 bolts.

unbolt tranny mount at frame rails 4 bolts.

remove 4 bolts that secure the tranny to motor, lowering the motor slightly with the jack will help with the top ones, they are very hard to get at.

there may be two small bolts at the bottom of the case holding the spacer plate between engine and tranny.

adjust motor height so tranny can be shaken loose and pulled back from clutch pressure plate.

slide to the rear until clear at the front, tilt down, forward and out. (yeah right! never been that easy for me)

[dat521kid]

when we did this my damn muffler was in the way so had to move it by heating it up.. also there is some plate you can remove to make the hole bigger(where the stick pops out of)

[datzenmike]

When I had my 521 the damn 4 spd stuck in 4th. Very little room to move around between the torsion bars. I removed the pass side torsion bar and rolled it sideways to get it out. Part of the problem was a header in the way on the driver's side.

 

Shit! now I remember another reason I hate headers.

[dat521gatherer]

i always pull the tranny with the engine. if you think getting it out is hard wait till you put it back in.:eek: it occurred to me the other day that people removing just the trans on a 521 is the reason there are so many dented and fucked up tranny tunnels.

[allen dodson]

Well. Finally got the tranny out. Had my dad helping me. I dont have a cherry picker so... To get the dog leg tranny in it just wouldnt fit under there so my dad came up with this idea which worked perfecrly. We unscrewed the two bolts that hold down the motor mount brackets and supported the engine with a jack. We then pulled the engine forward far enough to get the tranny up and were it needed to go. Gonna cut the tranny mount to get it to fit tomorrow. To be honest its been a fuckin nightmare. We should have pulled the engine and tranny out together but like i said just sliding the engine forward worked great. Wish we would have thought of that when we pulled out the 4 speed. We would have been done already.

[datzenmike]

Probably easier to tighten the top tranny bolts too with it forward too.

[allen dodson]

Yeah mike it was eaiser to get those top tranny bolts in there with the motor moved forward. After doing this i wouldnt ever pull the motor out to do a tranny swap. You know how light these motors are, even if i was working on it alone i could have pulled the motor forward myself. Highly recomend this to any one. Thank all of you guys for the help and info and i hope undoing the motor mounts to pull the engine forward to get the tranny in and out under the pickup helps you guys as well.

[dat521kid]

i too just got my 5 gears in last week... helps out alot, have fun!!