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I HAVE A 1979 LUV AND THE CLUTCH BRACKET BROKE BIG DEAL FIXED IT THE NEXT WEEK CLUTCH FRYED ANY WAY TO GET THE CLUTCH FIXED WITH OUT PULLING THE MOTOR ALL THE WAY OUT OR CUTTING THE CROSSMEMBER? POSSIBLY WOULD UNBOLTING THE MOTOR AND LIFTING IT A FEW INCHES BUT REALY DONT WANA DISCONNECT EVERY THING? ANY OUTHER TIPS AND TRICKS WOULD HELP. ALREADY GOT THE CLUTCH KIT.

i know this is not what you wanna hear but the best and easiest thing to do will be to pull the motor. im lookin at a similar situation and ive been putting it off as long as a possibly can. but it needs to get done.

good luck i'll be checkin in on this post cuz if there is an easier way im game .

pull the motor or the tranny eighter one

aww AND i had my hopes up so much. ohhh well time to get the 1930 modle a body off the lift. but what i just hate about pulling motors is the forgeting to mark and were some thing goes its great how you always end up with extra pieces. any one in the calallam county area with a luv?

Last time I did one I just pulled the trans. It isn't any easier than doing the motor/trans as a unit though. I prefer to work on things out in the light of day rather than under a truck in the dark/dirt, so when possible I would pull them both together.

I know it seems impossible to do, but you can pull the trans without unbolting anything else on the motor. Some of the bolts that hold the trans to the motor are very hard to get out, but it really can be done, really really.

Which crossmember are you talking of cutting? I've never had that become a problem either pulling trans, motor, or both.

You cant pull the tranny only, unless you have a body lift installed on your truck. Without it, there is not enough clearance and the only choice is to pull them both together.

I have never done it with a non body lift 4x4, but I have done it to a 2WD with no lift. I know the 4x4 tcase adds some mass to have in the way, but it seems like it wouldn't make it 100% impossible. Just pull both shifters and the skid plate, get a tranny jack, and expect to spend a few hours wiggling things around. Install would be the same only in reverse. If the body really is in the way, 4 bolts and it could be lifted 2-3 inches. Body mounts are two behind the seat, and two under your feet. There are two right at the radiator support, but they would flex enough to lift the rear of the cab enough for some extra room.

Alternatively, bite the bullet and pull the motor and trans together, shave an easy 3-4 hours off the total job and get the chance to clean the motor up real nice. A new pan gasket and front/real main seals would be an easy job with the motor out as well and would be well worth it. If you have to rent/borrow equipment anyway (trans jack for the hard way) you might as well get an cherry picker engine hoist. You can have the motor/trans free with I think four hoses, two fuel lines, and maybe half a dozen to a dozen wires/harness connectors. Of course you'd want the radiator out of the way, and a few other items, but nothing really too major.

I didn't mean to advocate pulling just the trans, just to say I really believe it is possible even without a body lift. No arguement that it is hard enough to avoid at pretty much all costs.

I've had to do tranny work (as well as other major things) to both 2WD and the 4WD. Pulling the tranny only on a 2WD is certainly doable. Just out of curiosity (and since I happened to have both a 2WD and 4WD truck side by side, along with the both trannies out on the ground) I once did a comparison. The main difference is that the transfer case is a part of the 4WD tranny, which of course makes it longer. This additional length makes it difficult to move the tranny around under the truck, because the cross member is in the way. On a 2WD the tranny is short enough and the cross member is not an issue. However, you could actually rotate the 4WD tranny and get it out of the truck, if it were not for the transfer case hump on the side of the tranny. There is not enough clearance between the body, frame, and cross member, UNLESS you have a body lift.

There is not really much difference between the trucks themselves, in this area under the truck.

So in a nut shell: 4WD tranny is too long, and the t-case hump doesnt allow you to rotate enough to get it out....

Hope that helps.

Ohh, and once you get it down, pulling the motor/tranny is only a 2hr job. Ive done that more than i care to count.

I've had to do mine several times in its 220,000 miles. (79 4x4). I've done it 2 ways:

1) Unbolt the engine's motor mounts and slide the engine forward about 2". This gives just enough room that, if you rotate the tranny, you can work it out. It's not fun but I think it's easier than pulling all the hoses/cables/wires for the engine.

2) I don't recommend this, but I've done it by pulling the front drive takeoff (the part that hangs down) from the tranny, covering the hole, then removing the tranny. Like I say, I don't recommend it cause you can get crud in the tranny, and it's a pain to put back together.

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You went there in that?!?!

Method #2 in the previous post works. That's how I pulled the tranny out before I ended up pulling the motor anyway. I think I'd prefer to pull the motor/tranny together next time.

To pull just the tranny you need a lot of ground clearance and you have to pull the front drive portion of the tranny off. You may not be able to get gaskets for that an longer.

Then you rotate the tranny sideways and things JUST clear to get it out.

Look at my project pictures and you will see how easy the installation is going to be. I removed the tranny crossmember and the CAB and am going to install everything straight down from the top after I've stripped and painted the frame.

-DK