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Saab Enthusiasts,
Hi! I would like to share my adventures of the past week with everyone to sort of vent my frustrations and pass on my experiences.
Well I just completed pulling my transmission on an 1989 900s with 130k and then rebuilding it. I used the bottom removal method and oh what a journey it was.
I used the bottom method because T.W. at thesaabsite.com recommended it as his personal favorite way to remove a transmission if that is all one is doing. I chose it because I had the availability of a lift and did not have an engine hoist. Innocent and ignorant of what I was about to embark on is really an understatement of all time! I mean I am a decent shadetree mechanic and the most complicated thing have done is replace several heads on Saab motors. Welcome to the world of tranny work.
When you pull the tranny from the bottom you have to lift the front part of the engine to give you enough clearance to clear the motor mount area on the tranny. This presents a problem of finding a way to keep the motor up so you can pull the tranny and keep the engine elevated while the tranny sits on the bench. I used two scaffolding planks about 3 1/2 feet long and mounted a 2*4 on the top with another 2*4 brace. On the bottom of the planks I attached a short 2*2 on each to act as "feet" to stabilize the whole thing. I mounted this contraption on the two rails of the subframe on each side of the engine lift ring (next to the battery area on the right and the air cleaner area on the left). I secured the engine to the homemade hoist with a nylon tie down straps (two). I didn't know that I also had to be a carpenter when I started this detail.
The tranny dropped out just like it was advertised (not before considerable time invested in removing the underside of car). Now there she was on the bench, actually quite small and seemingly harmless to the unexperieced, but we all know of the trouble this beast has caused so many souls! She has been called the weak link of the Saab machine. Why couldn't it be a wheel bearing or the clutch or anything else for that matter.
Let me make this comment about rebuilding, take your time! First of all get a really long bench and lay everything out the way it came out. Memorize which way the shims go and thing like locking pins etc...for the Saab manual isn't really that good, or the Haynes, it just comes down to experience. Actually once you grip the concept of the tranny, it is not all that difficult to work on. One tool I wish I had; a slide hammer, since there are so many parts that are almost pressed together and you have to somehow break them apart with sheer ingenuity. I did not do that much in the way of measurement because I did not have the specialty tools, but I imagine that one would need them in other rebuilds.
Naturally I replaced my clutch while I did the job, I used the #6 unshielded copper wire and had the machine shop use a press to install it. It slid right in. I also took out the radiator and cleaned it up. One of the hardest and eventually the most frustrating things was that I replaced all the motor mounts. On the drivers side I used the method of having the front mount out,lifting the the left side up removing the long bolt, then using a universal on my rachet removing the two bolts that hold the mount frrom undearneath and wiggling the mount from underneath the alternator. All this to find out that the mounts were generally o.k. and the engine movement I have always experieced was still the same.
Well I appreciate all who perservered through this journal and my best wishes to any and all who rebuild there transmissions.
Vitas
posted by 63.208.9...
1
, Wed, 3 Apr 2002 01:23:01
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