Transmission Removal

do not leave bellhousing on engine, becouse every time u drop tranny ispect all clutch stuff and change all worn parts

and it is not all, I'm sure with bellhousing on engine bolt would be wrong torqued!

PTO... use roadranger to check what PTO fits what tranny and you can easily swap it.

If you have truck with daycab ore cabover you can use crane, fork truck with chaines, hooks and old strops from flat bed, but if it is conventional truck ore truck with dump body - use tranny jack in pit.

Yep, old Russian drivers hauling goods from France to Iran used tube from tire, plywood and compressor to fit tranny, but it was in wild desert w/o any workshop, so do not use old school methods) LOL

 

The bell housing of the transmission will have to come out with the trans, no other way. I don't know about 87, but it was common for Western Star to have the rear engine mounts on the bell housing of the transmission. This doubled the labor for trans swaps because now the rear the engine will have to be supported, rear engine mounts possibly replaced and everything in between. If you are pulling out a transmission on something like that, now is the time to replace the clutch, not six month from now and remove everything again. I would be doing all that too if I where you. PTO's have to be shimmed properly, about 0.006 to 0.012 back lash between the PTO teeth and transmission drive teeth.

 

The comment about the rear mounts being part of the transmission I believe are correct. You can get away with supporting the engine on a jack but it is probably easier using an over head hoist to hold engine up. I used to have a set of jack stands that would fit perfectly on the pan rail. The biggest pain will be putting the transmission back in. You have to install the transmission at the same angle that it came out. I have spent hours trying to get the transmission stuffed and was off just a fraction of an inch.

I use a lot of grease on the input shaft so that as it slides into the clutch splines it will make it easier to pull on the clutch arm and pull the transmission up to the back of the bell housing. Depending on the engine it may also be beneficial to change the rear seal on the engine while you have the clutch and flywheel off.

You need to have the PTO off to set the new transmission safely on the jack stand. Therefore you will not be able to operate truck until you get someone to set PTO back lash. It might be wise to check and identify what gaskets you will need while the transmission is on the floor. This way once you put oil in it it will be done.

 

I'd say also do the rear main seal on the motor as well. Were adding costs in on you but its the same as the clutch you have it apart what's a little more time and a little cost for the part. If it goes in 6 months you'll have to do it all over again anyway so best to do it now and get it over with.

 

There's probably someone near you willing to the swap and replace the clutch for a few hundred bucks. Or at least help...yea, you're going to need help

 

keep the tranny square to flywheel housing as you go in make sure the gap is the same all the way around. the rear of the engine sits lower than the front so as you go back together you need to remember that you will have to raise the tranny as the input shaft slides into the clutch.

 

The best way is to mount the clutch on the trans input shaft before lifting the trans up, this way when you go to line trans to the engine you only need to get the shaft into the pilot bearing, then run in four or five bell housing bolts, then bolt the clutch up completely and check for proper operation, if all good, finish install.

 

ZF sells "clutch jacks". It is like a skissor style jack with changable pices of input shaft you put all clutch stuff on it and fit easily on any engine. It may be used on floor (for cabovers) ore on pit rails (for conventionals and bused).

As I remember clutch weight is aboput 35-50 kg, not so easy to lift it up with hands