Engine in, Trans not

belovedb2 · Aug 31, 2010

I was having trouble getting the 4.0L engine into my B2 that also contained the M50D trans. I decided to pull back the trans and seat the engine. My thinking was I could align the trans to the engine. It worked well. However, I could not get the trans fully seated to the bell housing. It is aligned but it came within 1/2 to 3/4 inch of the bell housing. I was thinking that maybe I need to compress the slave cylinder using the bell housing bolts. I opened the slave cylinder bleed port. Is this the situation? Will the trans not seat fully because of the slave cylinder? I do not want to force anything and break something.

kevinsranger · Aug 31, 2010

belovedb2 said:
I was having trouble getting the 4.0L engine into my B2 that also contained the M50D trans. I decided to pull back the trans and seat the engine. My thinking was I could align the trans to the engine. It worked well. However, I could not get the trans fully seated to the bell housing. It is aligned but it came within 1/2 to 3/4 inch of the bell housing. I was thinking that maybe I need to compress the slave cylinder using the bell housing bolts. I opened the slave cylinder bleed port. Is this the situation? Will the trans not seat fully because of the slave cylinder? I do not want to force anything and break something.

that sounds weird! did you use a clutch alignment tool to set up the clutch?

maybe one of the dowel pins on the engine is messed up so it wont fit into the trans? harness hanging down in between the two?

belovedb2 · Aug 31, 2010

I did use the clutch alignment tool prior to loading the engine but of course removed it. I have not been able to get the trans up to the dowel pins so it can not be hanging up on these pins. Wiring harness are clear from the bell housing.

Shran · Aug 31, 2010

I have had the same problem before and it is usually the pilot bearing. Sometimes the trans input shaft just will not fit into it very well and you have to really push. I've also seen a couple instances where the clutch disc moves sideways from the input shaft sliding around in it... might check and see if you can still fit the alignment tool all the way through. It can be a PITA - I spent probably 5 hours trying to get the tranny back in during the last clutch job I did.

belovedb2 · Aug 31, 2010

Thanks. I have spent many hours on this. Tomorrow I will pull back the trans and re-install the alignment tool. I did a lot of moving around the engine when I was trying to seat the engine first so it might have messed up the position of the clutch to the flywheel bearing. Will also check for bures on the trans.

The_Dealer · Aug 31, 2010

i had that problem when i took out my a4ld to change my rear main, when i went to put it back i couldnt get it close enough to put on the t/c to flywheel nuts, took alot of raising and lowering the jack and shaking and pushing the trans, ended up taking the t-case off to make it easier(dam thing weighs like 75 lbs)

belovedb2 · Aug 31, 2010

I also have the transfer case removed so I can move/adjust the position of the transmission. I will keep trying tomorrow.

adsm08 · Aug 31, 2010

I ran into this when I put a clutch in the wife's truck 2 years ago. What I did was go out to the store, bought a couple bolts that were the same size and thread as the bell bolts, only longer, and used them to draw the trans up a bit to where the normal bolts would reach. But make sure your input shaft is through the clutch before trying that.

belovedb2 · Sep 1, 2010

Well it is good to know that I am not the only one with this issue. Thanks

country0001 · Sep 1, 2010

The 4.0 has to be at a certain angle to accept the tranny. I know this sounds weird, but if you will jack the engine up, at roughly the same height it would be w the y pipe in, the tranny should go right in. Everything has to be balanced just right.

Hold ur mouth the right way, do a reverse peter pan, and pray that the stars are aligned right. It took me a week of frustration to stab my tranny into that 4.0. Then finally one day it just slid in. took me 10 min by myself. I was shocked.

adsm08 · Sep 4, 2010

Yeah, angle is a big factor too. I didn't even think about that, just figured you knew that part. I usually get a 2x4 and jack up under the front of the oil pan.

trail B2 · Sep 4, 2010

adsm08 said:
I ran into this when I put a clutch in the wife's truck 2 years ago. What I did was go out to the store, bought a couple bolts that were the same size and thread as the bell bolts, only longer, and used them to draw the trans up a bit to where the normal bolts would reach. But make sure your input shaft is through the clutch before trying that.

I've done a version of this I used long bolts and cut the heads off.This gave me a way to line it up by starting it on bolts.The M50D has always gone in good for me though.

Engine in, Trans not

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