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Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans
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ab7fh
Posted 2013-08-09 11:58 AM (#390508)
Subject: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans


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Location: Aridzona

Who was the comedian at Chrysler who decided to put a bolt inside the bellhousing attaching to the block? I thought I had a stuck dowel pin, but no, it's a bolt.

 

So what's the scoop? I put a long tappet wrench on it and couldn't get it to budge. Doesn't seem like the converter will come out until the housing is off. Tranny is already seperated from the bellhousing.

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ttotired
Posted 2013-08-09 5:50 PM (#390552 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans



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The converter has to come out first (well trans off first )

I came across that stupid bold as well (and it has to go back)

With the trans out, undo the 8 nuts that hold the TQ to the crank and slide it back and out, it just fits.

Prepair yourself for the weight, its heavy and with the ring gear attatched (as it is), you really want to make sure you keep control of it as it will hurt


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ab7fh
Posted 2013-08-09 8:06 PM (#390572 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans


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Thanks for the info.
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miquelonbrad
Posted 2013-08-10 11:33 AM (#390645 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans



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And it is a REAL pain to remove the convertor with a siezed engine- you can't get at all the bolts on the crank!
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udoittwo
Posted 2013-08-11 9:45 AM (#390726 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: RE: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans


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I took a real long 5/8 box wrench and had to grind it a little here and there to get more clearence so I could get a tiny turn on the bolt. After I backed it out an 1/8"[it will hit so it won't come all the way out]. I jammed the head so it wouldn't turn and took a real long sawsall blade and cut off the head. I removed the motor, rebuilt it and used long studs to guide it back without removing the torque convert or damaging the seal. I never even attempted to reinstalled the bolt. I have a stock 318 and I don't beat my car. I am not concerned about one bolt missing. With that one bolt missing, it still has more bolts holding the engine to the trans than my 360HP GTO. Now, IF ever again needed, I can remove my engine simply and quickly. I apologize to the purists.
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udoittwo
Posted 2013-08-11 11:09 AM (#390746 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: RE: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans


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I am curious. I didn't put the bolt back and now have 5 years and 30,000+ miles on the rebuild with no apparent issues. When I rebuilt it, we looked at the block at the machine shop and saw no reason for it. But, because of it's unusual location and the effort to get at it, I would think it should have some strategic reason. The one answer above says it must go back. Why, and please don't say because "mother MOPAR put it there". I'm not saying you're wrong but that responce I got before suggested that the answerer didn't know also. I'd like to know if my engine is going to fly apart without it.
Thanks,
Karl.
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rbmain
Posted 2013-08-11 12:44 PM (#390755 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans



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I'd like to know the Answer too, that bolt is one of the most asinine things I've ever encountered on a Mopar. (Model T's had odd engineering like that too.)

Edited by rbmain 2013-08-11 5:30 PM
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ab7fh
Posted 2013-08-11 3:10 PM (#390762 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans


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Is that bolt also in the later LA model 318s?

I used to run an LA small block, but that was decades ago and I don't recall.
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ttotired
Posted 2013-08-11 5:57 PM (#390778 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans



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The reason I said it has to go back is that its one of the main bolts holding the bell to the block

You may get away without having it there, but, to me, I had to pull the trans from the bell, undo the TQ, then undo the bell.

With how heavy everything is, I didnt think there was any benefit in assembling the trans end completely and then trying to wrestle
the whole assembly onto the engine.

So, now that I know the stupid bolt is there and the sequence to removing it all, its not really a problem (unless the engine locks up)

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JT Vincent
Posted 2013-08-29 2:33 PM (#394190 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans



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ab7, the later 318 uses a one piece transmission with the bellhousing integrated. No weird bolt.
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kmccabe56
Posted 2013-08-29 3:26 PM (#394209 - in reply to #390778)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans


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ttotired - 2013-08-11 5:57 PM

The reason I said it has to go back is that its one of the main bolts holding the bell to the block

You may get away without having it there, but, to me, I had to pull the trans from the bell, undo the TQ, then undo the bell.

With how heavy everything is, I didnt think there was any benefit in assembling the trans end completely and then trying to wrestle
the whole assembly onto the engine.

So, now that I know the stupid bolt is there and the sequence to removing it all, its not really a problem (unless the engine locks up)



Once again I'm going to bemoan the fact that nobody has engine assembly graphics, but am I hallucinating or did Chrysler balance the crank with the torque converter installed and then drop the whole thing into the engine? If so, should access to the bolt holding the bell housing onto the block suddenly become much easier ??

When I read the description of how much grief you guys are going through to get all of this stuff apart, I can only think "Chrysler `couldn't' have put it together like this. The engine line cycled probably every 20-25 seconds, so whatever the guys assembling this stuff on the line did, only required 18-20 seconds (adding in time for the line to move from one station to the next.) Yes, they all had purpose built tools, but still.......
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57DODGECONV
Posted 2017-03-02 6:02 PM (#535040 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans


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So I am disassembling the Transmission from the Engine of a 1958 318 poly and the engine is frozen ,is there a way to get the bell housing separated from the engine since I can't get to all the torque converter bolts ,and can't get to that one bolt discussed above Thanks in advance,David .
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ttotired
Posted 2017-03-02 6:56 PM (#535044 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans



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Location: Perth Australia
Yes, unbolt the main caps and pull the crank out

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57DODGECONV
Posted 2017-03-02 8:41 PM (#535053 - in reply to #390508)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans


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I was hoping for a easier solution but I am tearing apart the complete Engine anyway so It might not be too bad .Thank you for your Help ,David.
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Brushwolf
Posted 2017-05-20 12:01 AM (#540441 - in reply to #535053)
Subject: Re: Need help removing bellhousing - Auto trans


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Location: Twin Cities MN
Are we actually talking about that aluminum adapter plate and the bolt that holds it on?

I am dismantling a 57 Firesweep as parts car for my 57 Dodge and had run across this thread in researching several different topics on how to dismantle different things, including removing transmission. My Dodge came as a basket case, so it was already apart and I am more familiar with old Fords..

So, I took the trans off the bellhousing as suggested, then took all the bellhousing bolts out and then took off the oil pan and took the Pistons out of the 325 poly (only #8 was stuck, engine turned after I got that piston out...). But, bellhousing would not come off and seemed stuck firm, so thought it must be this "bolt inside the bellhousing.."

Then thought I must have to take convertor bolts out and push it back to find this mystery bolt. Converter with cooling fins would not move far enough back inside bell housing after nuts removed to reveal any more bolts. Resumed prying on bell housing, but it still would not come off and it is in good shape, so didn't want to over-do it and break it since the Dodge one is not in great shape..

I go out to storage unit where the Dodge bellhousing is and look at that. Looks like there could possibly be a place for bolt from inside near one of the ventilation screens. Go back to the DeSoto motor and trans and take the screen off. Nothing....

Went back and read this thread again. Didn't see how the factory could have even put it together if it can't be accessed to get it apart... Didn't make sense, since even if replacing trans and torque converter there does not seem to be any logic to removing adapter plate anyway.

So, after triple-checking all bell bolts were out I again started trying to separate bell from adapter. It moved just a little bit more than before.

Frustrated, went and got a flat screwdriver and tapped it into slight gap between bellhousing and adapter and finally it separated from the adapter. It was just a stuck dowel. Took torque convertor off and there is a 5/8 bolt holding the adapter on.. No problem removing since only the adapter plate was left.

So other than the goofy engineering with the factory using an adapter plate between motor and trans, it appears I just over-thought it and was looking for another bellhousing bolt that doesn't exist and it was actually the adapter plate bolt being discussed.

Live and learn... Or, was there some later transmission being discussed that does not have the adapter plate and the adapter plate section is part of bell, but still utilizes that inside bolt that was formerly used on the adapter plate?

However, I have a couple liquid-cooled iron case torqueflites off 392's too and one of those also has what appears to be the same adapter plate on it. And I have a 62 aluminum torqueflite with no adapter plate, but that looks like the engine bolt pattern is different for later motors..

Although this DeSoto trans looks in good shape whereas Dodge trans is real messed up, I was thinking I would use the liquid cooled 392 transmission. Whichever I use will have to be rebuilt anyway, but my uncle went through two of those air-cooled units in the Dodge in five years, which gives me the impression they are inferior to the liquid called units and 392 unit may have stronger internals anyway.

Other than having to add a trans cooler, any drawbacks or added complications to using the 392 (58?) transmission? Or, are there reasons to keep the stock air-cooled unit and swap in the DeSoto unit after a rebuild?

Thanks, Mike



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