Help! Can't separate transmission from engine!

In the middle of a clutch job on my 03 v6 4x4 5spd, finally got everything taken care of, now my trans won't separate from the engine! I really am at a loss, I've removed all 6 bellhousing bolts and completely removed the starter. My truck is a little rusty on some parts, but nothing crazy. I've tried changing the weight distribution of the trans on the trans jack, and have changed the angle a million times trying to seperate everything but have had zero luck.

Any suggestions?

 

First I would double and triple check that all of the bolts are removed. Since you said you pulled 6 bolts then you likey already did that, but it's worth looking again.

IIRC, I had to hit the bellhousing with a hammer to get them to sebarate when I did my clutch a year ago. I used a block over it though in order not to dent the transmission. Also make sure you're pulling straight back and down slightly, which I found difficult to do since I did mine sans vehicle lift.

 

Probably corroded around a dowel and causing them to stick together. Concentrate penetrating oil around the dowel(s), tap the area with a hammer, grab the trans by the tail and shake the hell out of it. If your not moving the engine on the mounts then you're not shaking it hard enough.

 

When i had trouble removing my tranny, it was because there was some sneaky little bolts in random places. When i finally had all of them removed. It was still stuck, so my buddy and just hit it with a hammer and shook it like hell, until she slipped loose and knocked me in the noggin haha.

 

This^
PB Blaster, and a dead blow hammer or block of wood and normal hammer. Last one I did got free of the dowels but hung on the input shaft. Lots of shaking later, it was out.

Keep your noggin clear

 

if the clutch is still hooked up try pushing it in real fast it helps on big trucks

 

My father owned a Transmission shop for 40 years, and i spent the better part of child hood there helping. You may have heard of it was called AAMCO!!
Anyway, beat on that sucker with the largest plastic mallet and shake the shit out of the output shaft, it will come loose. Someone above mentioned the dowel pins, more than likely it is those dudes that got you held up. Seriously, giver hell, you wont hurt anything unless you drop it off the lift.

 

don't whack it with ballpeen...use a rubber hammer. I've had luck with the stomp on the clutch trick too

 

If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer...

 

Sounds like your just hung up on the pins/dowels Dont be afraid to get a thin bladed screwdriver or punch & a mallet & aggressively "tap" the end of it & start a small "wedging" in a couple spots between trans & engine/bell housing it'll make seperating a snap. Keep in mind also that the output shaft of trans is fairly long but I dont think its caught up in the pilot bushing...

 

Get a prybar between the motor and the trans, pry and it will seperate, but pry a little 180 degrees from each other so it wont bind. And also go and step on the clutch pedal a couple of times, that tries to spit them too.

 

HOLY SHIT I FINALLY GOT IT!!!

That was by far the most difficult single task I've ever done. That shit was really really really stuck on there. I'm not some tiny weak dude either. I'm a lean 180lbs and pretty athletic. I shook that shit soooooo hard for hours and nothin. Finally what I think made the difference for me was prying underneath by through the hole left by the inspection plate on the bottom. Then lots of penetrating oil and rotating between prying at 2 terribly obstructed locations, shaking the shit out of it, raising and lowering the trans jack, prying, shaking, etc. The shaking/pulling didn't seem to do anything really until towards the end when the prying had done 80+% of the job.

My clutch/pressure plate actually look better than I expected. Since shortly after I bought the truck about 2 years ago, the clutch started getting super grabby and resisted ANY slipping. At first it was only when cold and/or wet, then eventually got to the point where it was all of the time and recently got really bad.

Really close to the rivets, but not quite


Flywheel lookin HOT!



Pressure plate too.





Thanks for all the help guys.

 

Make sure you get the flywheel resurfaced and inspected.

 

lol, for sure, already did. Looking at everything I think the heat checking was the main cause of the issues.

 

What clutch did you get?

When I did mine I went with OEM because they're proven to last and I get the Toyota tech pricing so it wasn't too expensive. But I would get the Marlin Crawler HD kit if I were to do it again.

 

exedy OE

 

The heat checking is a symptom, not a cause. When the clutch starts slipping, it overheats and glazes the friction pads. The blue marks on the pressure plate and flywheel were the hot spots.
Hopefully, you had a good machinist to fix the flywheel.

 

That's the weird thing. I NEVER felt the clutch slip. Not even a little bit. It was really grabby/choppy when engaging, but never slipped when engaged and hitting the gas pedal.

 

I have the same problem. it feels grabby when releasing it.

Let me know if changing the clutch fixed it

 

Yea, mine would grab so hard it would just try to stall the truck instantly.

After the new clutch and resurfaced flywheel it drives like a million bucks!