I bolted the bellhousing to the back of the motor because I figured that it wold be easier that way. Anyway, the engine is in, and I am trying to slide the trans in from the backside and for some reason it will not fully seat against the bellhousing. I'm using a roller pilot bearing, Centerforce flywheel, and dual friction clutch and throwout bearing. I used a clutch alignment tool when I put the clutch together, and it still slides in all the way, but when I go to put the transmission in it stops short about 1/2 inch. I cleaned the input shaft splines and everything. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks for any info on this problem, Paul Moore

 

Sometimes if something is just slightly out of alignment the tranny won't go in that last 1/2"--an alignment tool can wiggle enough in the pilot bushing to cause this problem, though it sounds like you're using all the good parts.
If your clutch is hooked up and working, having someone hold the clutch pedal down allows the clutch disk to move a little between the flywheel and pressure plate while you're under there wiggling the tranny into place, giving you the adjustability you need to push it home.
Also, sometimes if you crane your neck so you can actually see through the center of the clutch into the pilot bushing you can tell if the clutch disk is off center an 8th of an inch or so--but not at a glance. This takes some precision eyeballing. Every time a manual tranny has finally gone home it's been a moment of celebration for me--fond memories.

 

I just done the same thing you did. Like the prior poster said just pull the clutch fork back to release the clutch some and it will go in. I struggled for a few minutes and had to take a deep breath and pause to think about it. You need help to do this so enlist someone.

 

Been there every time when installing a tranny. Sometimes it's because the input shatf is not 100% aligned with the engine or for other reasons.
Just put the BH bolts on and snug it up that way.

I tried responding yesterday but the boards were down.

Lou

 

NO!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!



DON'T do that!! You'll end up either breaking the ears off of the trans, or wasting the pilot bearing, or other unpleasantness. That's absolutely the worst, most wrong thing you can do. Almost guaranteed to destroy something.

Do as said above, and have someone push the clutch while you work the trans the rest of the way in.

And, DO NOT allow the trans to hang from the BH like that, with no support; it will bend the clutch disc.

 

Well, the majority of the problem was from when I painted the tranny. I wasn't thinking correctly, and painted the whole thing, splines and all. That made it very hard to work with. Anyway, I got the splines cleaned up and everything and then I ran into the problem with the last 1/2 inch. Unfortunately, the clutch slave cylinder wasn't hooked up at the time, and I had nobody here to help me so what I had to do was slowly tighten 1 bolt at a time in a criss cross pattern about a turn or two and then do one bolt on the opposite side and so on until everything was snug. I am hoping that it was just due to the paint that came off the tranny when I tried to put it in the first few times before I realized what I did wrong. I really hope that I didn't break anything. Next time I'll know better.

 

"Just put the BH bolts on and snug it up that way."


LOL!

 

This is where I wish I could curse at people on this board for being poorly educated and passing on their bad advice to others.

It's not going in all the way for a reason, figure it out.

It could be a number of things if you painted it then removed the paint, but yeah, typically from what I've seen pushing the clutch in helps a little bit. If that doesn't make sure nothing is in the way and everything is operating right.

 

So, what color did you paint your transmission?