Hey it's been a long time since I been on here, but I'm having trouble.

I'm basically trying to remove the torque arm from the transmission so I can combo deal it and pull out my 2.8 v6 and 700r4 at the same time for a 350 and t5 conversion but I'm having huge issues with this torque arm.

Basically I got the rear end jacked up and the axle tubes on jack stands, I have a jack on the pumpkin just ever so slightly bringing it up to eliminate the rear carrier from rolling and slamming my torque arm on me or the floor boards but the 15MM bolts on the transmission tail housing will not come out, I can get them to rotate but it kinda feels like there is some upwards pressure on them and I'm being skittish to doing more due to the torque on it.

The Haynes manual recommends removing the coil springs, but I really don't want too, to be perfectly honest. So is there a trick to removing it without rear springs out or do I need to take them out?

 

No "trick", really. Pretty straightforward.

Support the chassis on jack stands, then let the rear hang; then raise it about an inch and put the axle tubes on another pair of stands. The AXLE TUBES, not the pumpkin, not the shock brackets, not the control arms, not ANYTHING ELSE besides the AXLE TUBES. With the rear in that position the springs are almost fully extended so there's very little pressure from them, and there's zero force trying to rotate the axle.

Then just reach up with one finger of one hand and pull the torque arm down while you back the bolts out with the other hand. With the jack stands as described, there will be very little force remaining on anything; probably less than 10 lbs of force at the tip of the TA. Certainly nothing dangerous or anything like that, as there is in some other situations.

 

When I replaced my transmission i had the whole car on jack stands on the subframe and I raised the rear end by the pumpkin about an inch or two. Then I put a punch through the bottom of the holes and pushed up on the bolts as I loosened them with a ratchet. I did this many times and never had the torque arm fly in any direction.

 

I got it out, I put the frame on jack stands, had jack stands under the axle tubes, jacked the rear end up very lightly and loosened the bolts, pulled the one towards the pumpkin, then I had to lower it slightly to clear the under side to get the other bolt out freely and the torque arm came off. I kept the jack stands under the tubes and have the jack under it to prevent any rolling of the rear. Now I'm having issues with rusted transmission crossmember bolts that I don't want to strip lol

 

Good to hear, I was in that same situation with rusted cross member bolts on my brothers 92 rs, use a ton of pb blast and try to work it up the threads, I didn't run into that problem on my trans am luckily

 

Unfortunately I need to run and get more PB Blaster as I used the last of what I had when I was under it last. The tough part is getting it into the threads with maybe a foot and a half of working room. As soon as I get that crossmember out I can pull the engine and tranny and start prepping the bay for the v8 swap. The only thing I don't have yet for the swap is power steering lines which I'll get later after I get the bay cleaned up and refinished.

 

It won't "work up into the threads", usually.

Instead, pop the front seats out, peel the carpet back, and cut holes in the floor pan right above em with a hole saw or a unibit. Use a size that you can buy plastic plugs. About 1¼ - 1½" should do the trick. Then the PB Blaster or whatever, will run DOWN the treads, obeying the laws of physics in a timely fashion.