Ha!

How in the world do you get the transmission out. Its my 4wd Tahoe and besides the wires and tubes all hooked to it on top, I don't see any way to get a wrench on the top bellhousing to engine bolts. Is there a writeup or can someone with some experience help out?

 

I belive a real long extension and a swivel socket with impact outta do it~

 

You dropped the cross member?

 

get some long extensions and a swivel if you have one. Take down the cross member and lower the tail housing down a bit with a jack. that should angle the top of the bell housing down enough to get in there with long extensions.

I used extensions long enough to put the ratchet on at the tailshaft.
Shouldn't be much of a problem. Just make sure you undo the Tq Converter bolts before undoing the bell housing.


You may want to use 2 jacks as the transfer case is going to make the trans roll over when you undo it. put one on the tranny pan and the other under the xfer case.

 

I didn't undo the TC bolts. I did finally get the last bell housing bolt though. Should I put a couple bellhousing bolts back in and then remove TC bolts? I'm assuming the TC bolts come out from where the round metal plate is. Is that right?

 

Correct. pop that plate off and take the starter off. Use a Big screw driver to turn the flywheel and take out the 3 TC bolts.

 

I removed my transfer case when I did my trans swap so that I didn't have to dick with the torsion bar crossmember or anything like that. Taking it out easy, but putting it back in is challenging, you definitely need a second set of hands.

Once everything is unbolted and the trans is ready to come out, you'll need a pry bar between the bellhousing and the block to get the trans to pop off of the block. A lot of guys have had big problems with this due to oxidation from an aluminum trans bolted to an iron block. Alternating prying from the left, then the right, then back, made it a piece of cake for me. I have some pics and info if you search my old thread "FLT Level7 is finally here", may be some helpful info in there for ya

Here's the link: https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...7+finally+here!

 

Alright, I quit for the night. Here's where I'm at (thanks to you guys). I got one torque converter bolt off. I didn't realize that I needed to get those off. I did get those top bellhousing bolts just like y'all said. Its pretty tight up there, though. I can tell that the transmission will come off just fine after I get the TC bolts off. Its all pretty clean. The truck has about 65,000 miles.

I haven't drained the pan. Do I have to do that? I did pick up a gasket and filter.

I'm working solo. I might have some help tomorrow night. I'm going to remove the torsion bar crossmember. Thats not too hard. I can see that there is still another crossmember in the way, though, and its welded in. I am hoping not to have to remove the transfer case from the tranny.

I'm going to post a compillation of what I've learned from all this in my thread "New stuff for my Tahoe". But when I run into problems with the torque converter install I'm going to post them here. I appreciate you guys.

 

The bellhousing bolts can be tough to get out. Also the torque converter bolts depending on the year may be a 15mm or a inside allen. From the factory they are really tight. Bottom line take out all bellhousing and torque converter bolts. It is not necessary to drain the trans prior.

As far as 4WD. The transfercase should be removed first. There should be 6 15mm bolts. Slide out and rotate to remove. Then move onto the Trans. The 4WD crossmember DOES NOT NEED TO BE TOUCHED!
After the trans crossmember is removed the Trans and TC will come out.

 

How does the driveshaft come out of the transfer case? It has a boot. It doesn't seem to pull out like the rear driveshaft. I got the transfer case off of the transmissoin but it still looks like I need to remove the rear crossmember to get it out. Man I'm in over my head.