Just joined looking for some tips on pulling tranny. I am putting a new clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, pilot bearing, rear main seal, and resleaving the rear journal because im pretty sure that oil is leaking by and contaminating my clutch plate and so forth. doesnt slip all the time, just up hills or when under more than usual load. ive got all the bolts out of the housing and disconnected the driveshafts (4x4), dropped the tranny/transfercase rear support, and the darn thing is bound up or something, ive got the passenger side to work lose of the motor but the drivers side is not really splitting away. Ive unbolted the exhaust and all that jazz. i just cant figure out why the heck its binding up. any ideas>>

I didn't have to remove the exhaust to drop mine. It's sounding like you missed a bolt. It has quite a few holding the bell housing to the engine and they are easy to miss.

haha i went to go work on it today and i was just being too gentle on it. But i got another snag, i cant keep the darn thing level to get it all the way out, im so close that i can taste it.. i miss driving the thing already and some rain is coming and i want to get out and do some mud running with the new clutch (yeah right its worth too much to beat up). Another thing is that the book says i need a special tool to remove the shift lever, it does not have bolts holding it in leading me to believe that my yoda is the difficult one... ive come up with a couple solutions but i wanted to know if anyone had ran into this be4 and what they did to get around it

I have a 5 speed, so it may be different, but to get out my shift level, after removing the rubber boot, you have to push down in the inner metal piece and turn. AKA, inside the round hole the shift level goes into, is a metal bit with an oval hole in the top. The shift lever goes through this hole. It's darn hard to describe. But this inner bit has to push down and turn to unlock. But it's held up by a big spring. I found that i can do it by using a 3/4" open end wrench to press it down and turn, keeping the shift lever between the wrench end.

Once you get the level out, their is a rubber/plastic bushing in the bottom that tends to brake apart and cause sloppy shifting. Have one ready to replace it.

Also, if you have a jack with a transmission adapter, it will save you many hours and lot of pain because you can adjust the angle. It you think getting it out was fun, wait till you have to get it back in. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grin.gif)

ive got a 5 speed also, i heard from a buddy that its way worse to put it in than take it out so im sure that i should make sure that no small children are around cuz im sure that im going to pull out the curse dictionary and mention every word prolly three times lol. do u think it would be ok to refill the tranny and transfercase while itws down, i mean it would just be easier for me, i hate using that stupid suction gun. thanks for the tip on the shift lever, i spent like half an hour on the phone with toyota and they couldnt even figure out what i was talking about.

You can find a link to the FSM here someplace or order one from the dealer. It shows easy removal of the inner shift ring by pushing it down with your thumb and turning. I found the spring way to stiff and used the 3/4 wrench. I did not have any issues leaving the oil in mine, so you can fill it down, but check the level once you get it installed.

Keep the cross member bolted to the transmission, it helps to get things lined up. Also, keep the transmission in gear. If you can't get it to go that last inch, then the input shaft and clutch splines are not aligned. If it's in gear, you can twist the output shaft and watch it pop in.

Don't forgot the flywheel. Check for cracks and get it resurfaced if it needs it.

I have 93 manual. I am on the way to install the upper cyllinder block. I put the rebuilt engine, But I replace the gasket again after leak. Now one of the corner bolt camshaft holder was strip. I take a break. I understand you guys for the pain to put it back. I am lucky that I have been through with my friend's help. I changed the engine bolts new. It is a must. And extra care for the torque plus 90 degree addition. Don't all bolt at one time. Allow the bolt expand a couple hours before the next torque. Hopefully this week my baby wil run again after abudant years lack of fund.