In have replaced transmissions twice before in my garage, but that was a nice simple '67 pontiac V8 where I was swapping a turbo 400... can you do a 4eat without a trans jack, does a cheap harbor-freight trans jack (that'll fit under a car on jackstands) make it easier enough top warrant the purchase?

 

Weighing swapping my trans vs having the pinion bearings fixed.

I swapped a 4eat in a 93 legacy turbo in my gravel driveway. Was a weekend affair, I used jackstands, floor jack, and engine hoist to do it. Removed the hood and put a chain on the dogbone mount down behind the engine and got the floor jack under the crossmember and brought it right down and back up that way.

Did that in my SVX too. Just make sure you have enough room to get the beast out from under the car. You may have to put it on the ground to slide it out, like I did.

I pulled the 4EAT out of my Legacy without a trans jack and while it wasn't fun, it's doable. I had to work to get it to clear the end of the lower engine stud. Looking back, if I would have removed the pitch stop mount bracket on top of the trans, that would have helped.

Edited January 13, 201313 yr by Legacy777

That's a good option, probably what I would do.

 

Getting it back up in there is more cumbersome when gravity it against you depending on tools/equipment/environment. Those jokers are awkward in that tiny space.

 

Engine lift with chain strung down to it through the engine bay helps control the awkward weight as they've mentioned already.

 

Get car high off the ground in order that:

A: room to get the transmission out, there's far less clearance once you start trying to get it out of the trans tunnel.

B: more room if you're using some kind of dolly or jack to move it. harbor freight sells those little dollies for like $8, those things are great.

 

You can generally fabricate something - strapping the transmission with ratchet straps onto boards...etc to control it somewhat.

 

i haven't tried out the trans jacks or adapters yet.

any tool rental places that might have one?

I did it. It wasn't fun. Got creative with some ratchet straps wrapped through the interior of the car. Ran a come-along down through the engine bay. A couple scissor jacks and boards to push and hold in different directions. It can be done. Doubtlessly adds a few hours at least to the whole job though.

 

If I have to do one again I'll either save up the money or see if I can beg/borrow/steal one from someone for the job.

Big +1 on making sure the car is up high enough, I had a cheap HF trans jack(which I returned after the job per the employees suggestion) had my 96 outback on jack stands that where sitting ontop of steel rims/plates and it still wasn't tall enough, had to push it over on a board and drag it out.

 

Those 4eat's sure aren't light, it was worse than my 727 torque flight w/new process transfer case as far as ease of swapping.

I recently did a tranny swap on a Forester. All done on my garage floor the same way I've always done it. Except this time I got this tranny jack from Harbor Fright. I can't stress enough how easy this tool makes the job. The actual pulling and installing of the tranny Was the easiest part of the job. Removing the exhaust, linkage and other stuff was suddenly the difficult part. I won't do another tranny swap without it. I also used it to install a rear diff. It's the best $80 I've spent on a tool in years.

 

The 6spd is about the same size as the 4EAT, and I had to strap down the trans to my floor jack so it wouldn't move about. It actually worked pretty well. Here's some pics of the install craziness

 

 

More pics:

http://main.experiencetherave.com/subaru/images/6spdswap/14

 

I really need to buy a trans jack...

a trans jack is definitely on my list of to buys, especially after my weekend of putting an auto into a 93 toyota pickup truck, but like I said it's all doable.

Put a manual trans in, about half the weight.

Put a manual trans in, about half the weight.

 

Tempting, but non-trivial with the H6.