Hard to shift into gears - Clutch going out?

[05_on_94]

While we are on the subject of transmissions and clutch replacements, any advice on an easier way to drop and raise the tranny? Ford shop manual to pull it away until the input shaft just barely clear the clutch fingers and will come straight down. What are they smoking? I'm having issues because of the starter housing. Is the 3650 supposed to be rotated to accomplish this? It doesn't say so for this tranny. It does say this for the T5OD, though. Any thoughts?

Tilt the engine down a couple of inches with a jack under the crankshaft pulley the trans will slide right out with no interference.

 

[Anti]

Yea, tilting the motor back is key. Loosening the motor mounts helps. Also, with the starter out of the way, there is no interference I experienced with anything related to the starter.

 

[rocky61201]

Fortunately I have access to a lift and a nice transmission jack and a couple extra hands if needed to get the transmission out. I've dropped mine more than a few times, sometimes its a pain in the ass, sometimes its easy. Putting it back in is the same. I've managed to get it in/out by myself, but most of the time it takes 2 or three bodies moving and checking everything at the same time to get it lined up perfectly.

Bottom line is rotate the transmission if you have to, it shouldn't hurt anything. Same goes for putting it back in. When putting it back in I always have to put a jack under the front of the motor. Without the weight of the transmission the engine will angle back upwards causing clearance issues with the transmission tunnel and aligning the input shaft with the pilot bearing properly to slide it in.

Last thing, right before you attempt to slide the transmission in, go ahead and connect the clutch line. Its always a pain in the ass if you forget and have fat fingers trying to get that little fuckin clip back in. Also have a vacuum cap handy to plug the clutch line when you disconnect it.

 

[eighty6gt]

When I pulled my trans after 8 years together with the engine, the dowel pin was seized on the left hand side. I ended up having to use a chisel to get the engine and trans apart. That was amusing. Lots of anti seize when I put things back together.

I used an exedy slave, shimmed about 3/8". Hopefully it lives.

if you want to avoid bleeding issues, bench bleed the slave. I did this and got a clutch after about 15 cycles of the pedal.