This probably won't help you much but my husband bought us the Ford Transmission Repair Manual 1960-2007 It's relatively cheap and gives you all kinds of info. on both manual and automatic transmission.
http://www.themotorbookstore.com/transmission.html
it helped us tremendously. :banana:

 

You can pull the engine and trans from the top, but you'll need to pull the engine before you pull the trans. There isn't much room and you won't be able to pull the trans aroudn the engine if it's still there.

The easiest way is to drop it out the bottom, though. You'd basically use an engine hoist to lift the car up, and lower the subframe as easily as you can, preferably onto a dolly.

JR

 

You can pull the engine and trans from the top, but you'll need to pull the engine before you pull the trans. There isn't much room and you won't be able to pull the trans aroudn the engine if it's still there.

The easiest way is to drop it out the bottom, though. You'd basically use an engine hoist to lift the car up, and lower the subframe as easily as you can, preferably onto a dolly.

JR
[/b]

OK so I've gotta pull them separately.

I'm really trying to avoid having to drop the subframe unless there is a clearance issue that makes it manditory. I want to mess /w the suspension and etc. as little as possible.

 

Dropping the complete powertrain module out the bottom (the way the factory put the powertrain in originally) is not as difficult as you may think.

You need a pair of jackstands that will hold the car at a height of at at least 24"-25", an engine hoist, a floorjack, and some 4 X 4s and 2 X 4s to use as blocking and cribbing to support the powertrain module after it is lowered from the car.

Basically what you do is disconnect the engine and transmission from the electricity, fuel, and computer. Then use the floorjack to raise the car and support with the jackstands. You can drop the front suspension with the powertrain, or disconnect the cv axles, and the lower control arms at the struts by removing the pinch bolts and letting the suspension arms seperate from the struts. BUT this would be a great opportunity to service the front struts.

A couple of 4 X 4s are placed across the legs of the engine hoist, and the powertrain module is lowered down. When the powertrain is down on the engine hoist legs, and after the stability is checked, the engine hoist is disconnected, and the engine hoist with the powertrain module is rolled from under the car. Now you reconnect the engine hoist and raise the power train module enough to place a stand of 4 X 4s (and 2 X 4s as necessary) under the powertrain module so you can remove the hoist to make room to service the module.

The IMPORTANT THIS TO DO is get the Ford Factory Service Manual (get a Genuine Original Ford Service CD or DVD from one of the many Sellers on eBay for less than $15, including the shipping), and follow the instructions/directions. Neither the Haynes or the Chilton Manuals give you complete instructions/directions.

I bought my engine hoist as it would appear to be cheaper to own it (paid $150 for a U.S. made engine hoist), rather than rent for $30-$40 a day. Considering the number of times I have used it in the past six years that I owned it (I spent hundreds of dollars over the previous 30 years renting), I should have bought one a long time ago.

It seems like things always come up when you are doing a heavy service, and if you are renting by the day, you should plan on at least two days rental on the engine hoist (incase issue/s come up). If you prep before you rent the hoist (disconnect everything and get the car up on jackstands before you go to rent the hoist, you should be able to drop the powertrain module, and get it back up into the car in one day if nothing goes wrong.

The first Taurus that I did this way took about 2-3 hours to drop the powertrain module, and another 2-3 hours to get back in. (first time will always take you longer. I used another couple of days to go through the car (I bought it as a non-runner) before I started the new engine and tested the transmission, and anopther couple of days to replace the brakes and front and rear suspensions before I lowered the car back down.

 

gohim:

Thanks for the advice!!

I do have the factory service book on CD. I would not even consider doing this without one. I haven't yet bought an engine hoist, but I was planning on doing so because I figure this job is going to take me a week of evenings or more (won't be able to do it all in one shot).

So doing it by dropping the subframe sounds like I wouldn't have to worry about messing with the Y pipe until everything is out of the car where its easier to work on. Front struts, arms, ball joints, and alot of other stuff is new so I'm not worried about that.

Where do i support the vehicle with the tall jackstands? I've always used the subframe as a support when I've worked on it.

What about the A/C? The shop manual basically says to disconnect the hose and let the compressor ride with the engine, but I would have to discharge it to do this and I loathe that idea unless I have to.

 

there are spots under the unibody that you can use to place the jackstands under.
if you cant tell by looking, i think the owners manual tells about where they are.

 

I use long 2 X 6s placed on the flat bottoms of the black plastic rocker panels. This is where Ford Says you can support the car, and this is where modern commercial hoists lift the car from.

You can also use the short frame extensions when the box sections are attached to the chassis behind the front wheels. However this is not a good place to set your jackstands since you will need to access much of the area under the front of the car while servicing the powertrain module.

 

I am in the process of pulling a tranny from a Taurus but I am supporting the engine with a 4 x 4 post along the inner fenders and dropping the subframe and trans out the bottom. I already pulled a junkyard unit this way and its not too hard, just time consuming.You can also use a 3 bar engine support to support the engine and their about $69 new.

 

Piece of cake......

 

Did you make that dolly yourself Paul, it looks like its got additional boards attached to it.

 

The dolly they were throwing away at work on one of their crazy we got to clean house days. Probably cost over $300 to get one like it. Steel wheels are a must.

It has a 4"x4" frame of wood setting on it to get it to just he right height.

 

The angle of that pic it looks like you took the rear wheels off.

 

No but I raised the car until the back bumper was dragging on the ground.

 

wow..impressive LOL...I wish I had the time and knowledge to re-build my own..from my understanding it isn't that hard/expensive to buy a re-build kit the hard part is getting the damn thing in and outta the car.
I have a gravel driveway also so it'd be more of a trick for me