After moving houses, I no longer have the luxury of my old hoist. . I have a simple question can I drop gearbox with car on axle stands? Can anyone speak from experience? Or do I have to invest in ramps?
Short answer is yes... get a good jack, i invested in a gearbox adaptor for my jack... was a great thing for locating and angling it
i wont lie.... it will hurt if you are lying under the box when it drops on you.... lol once burnt twice shy
Be sure to note that it's a 2-man, OR 1-man, 2-woman job. If you can rope another lady-friend into the job, then the greasy-hand to beer&sandwich ratio would be perfect. I sat the auto box on a strong piece of board, with a bolt in the middle to locate it into the jack lift point. Then secured the gearbox to the board by tightening the hell out of it with ratchet straps. You really need it to be mobile enough to locate the shafts, without being so loose as to slip off and crush you. The auto box is probably a good 50kg at least, and bloody cumbersome too.
I've dropped the box on standands aswell, though the opposite - I'll never pull an engine and box together.
Well as long as it will physically fit out from under the car whilst on stands, I will give it a whirl then. And cry about it later.. Unfortunately it's going to be a two man job, as I couldnt rope enough women that were keen to come play with a greasy box. Maybe I asked the wrong way..
Ramps at the front, then jack the rear up as high as you can and put on axle stands. (or axle stand at front and rear) Remove exhaust and prop shaft. Then get the jack underneath the gearbox, loosen the support. Lower and put blocks of wood underneath sump to take load. Undo bolts holding box to engine, speedo cable etc. Pull gearbox backwards and lower with jack. Take care when box is out of tunnel so it doesn't topple sideways. If you have car high enough, pull out from under car balancing box on top of jack If too low, pull jack out from under gearbox and let box fall onto sheet of plywood, then drag box out. To put back in, you need to get box back on top of jack. If car too low it is very hard to do underneath the car, so raise car if needed. Once on jack, raise into tunnel, line up and push back into place. Great fun ! Autos much heavier than manuals so not much fun. Definitely can be done by yourself, but should be easier with 2.
Manual gearbox is easy to drop on your own with the car on axle stands. Have done it on my own several times. All you need is a good trusty trolley jack. Much easier to drop box and pull motor separately than pull both at the same time. Worst part of the job is removing and reinstalling the exhaust imo.
Have to agree... I dropped gearbox before pulling the motor. Done with axle stands front and rear and trolley jack under the 'box. Oh and helps if you have a big strong bastard like Ports helping out
