transmission removal

[Dirty325ix]

So I have a new(to me) transmission coming this weekend and I have the option of
1.swapping in the transmission in a parking lot with a bunch of jack stands and a sufficient tool set (not like you need much)
2. Get the car towed to a diy shop where I can pay 30$ and hour to use a bay with a full set of tools and a lift but I would also have to pay to get the car towed, so another 100$

How hard is it to remove the transmission without taking the engine out?

I assume if I loosened the engine mounts, disconnect drives shafts, transmission support, and took the exhaust off I feel like I would have a good shot at the top bolts

am I completely wrong, originally I was going to just drop the entire subframe and lift the car to work on it but that seems excessive

[efficient]

Your crazy for doing it in the parking lot.

[jalopi]

i personally needed like, 2.5 feet of extensions to get to the top bellhousing bolts when i pulled my tranny. it was a real, real motherfucker to get the trans to separate too. but doable.

if it was me i'd pay the $100 to tow the car to my house, doing work in random parking lots is sketchy as hell

also, i wouldn't opt for the $30/hr shop deal - if you run into a stuck bolt you might realistically end up being charged close to what a shop would charge to R&R the trans for you (my guess is $200-300)

[nomansland92]

Take it to a shop with a lift, you won't regret it

[Dirty325ix]

Sadly the sketchy parking lot is my parking lot (live downtown)
By the sound of it I'll take it to the diy shop with the lift and hopefully i dont run into any stuck bolts, lucky I did a clutch job a year ago so the bolts shouldn't be to stuck(knock on wood)

[imwhyteyo]

Do it in the driveway. Its really not that bad. Get the jackstands high and level, and stack a few nailed 2x6 underneath them for more levrage.

[Dirty325ix]

yea I ended up renting a garage space and did it with access to air tools and a lift

but your right I should have done it in the parking lot
I am a tree shade mechanic and that's how I know how to get it done...I only really used the lift once and I never even touched the impact gun. Its interesting the techniques I have developed outside(3 scissor jacks and 2x4s to hold up the drive train) of the garage but they have always worked for me, with what little I have. The in house mechanic was blown away I didn't use a transmission jack at all, little did he know it would probably of taken me an hour to figure out how to use the damn thing


on top of all of that I had to pay 30$ and hour to work on the car my self and too someone that is accustomed to paying garage labor prices on repairs that is not bad but for someone like me that has never taken a car to a garage it felt outrageous...took me 9 hours to swap in a new transmission(is that good time?) that cost me 270$ and that kills me a little inside especial when my car could always use 270 worth of parts

but the car works now and money is just money
if I were to do it again I would either rent a storage unit for a month(sadly they don't like people working on cars in most storage units anymore) or just do it in the parking lot in which it would have taken a few more hours but it would have been for free

yay hindsight 20/20

[flyboyx]

i did mine in my back yard. i bought 8 cinder blocks @ 1.98each to use as jack stands because a normal stand doesn't get the car as high as you need to work under there. i stacked them 2 high in each corner of the car. jalopi is right about it being difficult to get to the top trans bolts but it is doable if you remove the rear tranny mount and allow the back of the engine/trans to drop down a few inches. he also mentions that you need about 2' of extensions. i will expand on this and say that you also need a good wobble joint and good reverse torx bits.

[jalopi]

[Dirty325ix]

jalopy you really think I could of paid a shop 200-300 to put the trans in?
that hurts my back to think about that

[e30awd_twincharged]

I swap my tranmission in a garage with a lift and plenty tools and one time in my driveway with jack and jack stand and seriously, it took me less time in my driveway. When you removed the diff, transfert case, transmission and exhaust alone, you need to have planty of support to hold that heavy stuff. Butt in your driveway, you just have to put a jack and let it on the ground. Easier for me

When you know what you are doing and no problem happen, it take about 3h for this job.

Sorry for my English am french

[jalopi]

yes, yes i do. most shops charge anywhere between $90-110 per hour for labor. i looked up book time when i responded to your post, book time is about 2.5hrs to R&R a rwd trans on an e30 (with the proper tool and lift that any real mechanic would have)

some shops will actually charge for how long it takes them to do a job (can be done in two hours for someone who knows what they're doing) and others will build in a little bit of extra time just in case things go wrong (half an hour to full hour). averaging to $100/hr, that's $200-300. this is why i specifically don't recommend those DIY garages to non-ex-mechanics - people without years of experience typically take 2-3x longer to to anything vs a seasoned veteran. you end up spending pretty much the same amount of money as if you had just paid someone to do it for you

[Dirty325ix]

Good to know but that definetly hurts to hear
was that the book time for an ix

[jalopi]

hrm... derp on me, those figures were for a rwd car. my guess is that the tcase adds .5-1hr to the job, total

[Dirty325ix]

Still missing about 6 hours haha