Alignment of transmission to engine, tricky?

[abremer]

I've put in my new clutch disk and plate and now I'm putting my transmission back on my 1986 BII 4x4 EddieB. I am doing it by myself and I'm not that 'big-a-boy' so I wrestled with it for hours but just couldn't get that shaft to seem to line up properly. Then all of a sudden it seemed to slide forward, almost to the engine and then I felt as if I finally lined it up.

Well, then I put my bell-housing bolts in and begun to tighten them but found that they tightened even though the bell-housing is about 1/8 inch away from touching the engine. That thin metal plate between the engine and the housing flops within that loose area. What's up? I guess I thought that the shaft finally lined up and went in but maybe it didn't, should I undo every thing, back it off, and go again till I can definitely come against the engine? Is it always this hard to slide the tranny back onto the engine? Any help would be appreciated.

[TNMAN]

Though I have "eyeballed" the alignment before, it is better to use one of the plastic alignment shafts. You should be able to borrow one fron a bud or get one at a parts store. They are cheap to buy. Before you tighten the press. plate down...stick the plastic align. shaft in to make sure the clutch plate is properly centered..then tighten everything down. The trans can sometimes be a biotch to get in for sure. If you don't have a trans jack(VERY helpful!) you can ratchet strap the trans to a floor jack and hold in position . Wiggle...push...whatever it takes to get in in. Don't use too much force s it is possible to cause damage to the clutch assy. and even the main shaft in extreme cases. I do not know what eng/trans/clutch you are installing. I am assuming that it is the OEM stuff. If the trans is not what was orig. what you had,there may be a prob there. You mentioned that you got the trans in, but it didn't go in all the way: The main shaft may have moved the plate just enough that it slid into the plate and not the rear of the eng. I cannot remember(been a while since I put in a man. tran), but I think there is a small beraing at the place where the main shaft stops. You might wanna ck that bearing(if your eng. has it) and make sure it was damaged when you tightened everything down while it was outta of alignment. Hope this helped some. Good luck. Oh and by the way...its always good to have a bud helping on this if possible.

[Nobody]

Whatever you do, don't force it by tightening the bolts!

I agree that it sounds like the clutch disc alignment is off a little. I think you are close enough, that if you hook up the clutch, and have someone push in the clutch, things might come into alignment. It could possibly help to turn the engine over by hand a little at a time.

[85ranger4x4]

I *THINK* that some of the engines used the piolot bearing in the back of the crank shaft while others used the bearing in the flywheel itself. If you are trying to put together a mismatched engine and tranny then that might be a problem, If these two were together previously then they should go back together again and just try what the other guys have said. I have one of those plastic clutch disk alignment tools if you need to barrow it.

[Exhauster]

the pilot bearing on a 2.9 is in the flywheel.... if it is missing the bearing it would be over a half inch out.... i just put the engine in mine today so i know that as fact..... try turning the engine and work the clutch pedal a little, give the tranny a good shake too... they can be stubborn...

[ranger5.0]

Sometimes, you can push the clutch lever down once or twice, it will help align the disc. Make sure that your hydraulic line is hooked up though.

[Exhauster]

clutch lever??????

[ranger5.0]

Sorry, it should of been pedal. It is a lever of some sort.