97 LOB Auto trans removal/Fexplate replacement HELP!

[driftkid]

my friend has a 97 outback and a few weeks ago while diriving he romped a curb and a few miles down the road the car dyed out on him and he had it towed back to his house. Nopw that we got the car at his house we've spent the last few days diagnosing wat went wrong, the car will crank but the motor doesnt trun, but you can here the flex plate slappin around, so we removed the starter and found that with the car in park you can freely turn the torque converter/flexplate to extent and than it seems to get hung up. Now my thinking has led me to beleive that the flex plate is broken in the center and its spinning around and getting hung up on itself. My question is can the torque converter and flexplate be replaced individually? or do they have to be done together? and i have never removed one of theses transmisions before is here anything i inparticular i should be aware of? or is it a pretty staright forward removal/reinstallation? any info would be greatly appreciated!

[Huffer]

It's fairly straightforward if you have all the tools, time and patience. There's debate over whether it's easiest to remove the engine vs. dropping trans, but in your case it might be easiest to remove the engine.

You can find replacements for the torque converter etc. Anything for a 4EAT 95-04 should fit.

[mike-tracy]

The torque converter needs to be matched to the flex plate. Ie. 2.5-powered 4eat's torque converter has different bolt hole spacing from the 2.2's flexplate. Ask me how I know this, not noticing it till AFTER the motor was installed. :-( Grab the torque converter and flex plate from the same car.

[Huffer]

Good info!

[httrdd]

Yes sir^^

There is bolts that sit under the cover where the trans splits from the ngine on top. You need to remove those bolts. You can remove one and then spin the crank to get to the others. Best with two people. PM me if you have any questions.

[driftkid]

thanks for all the info! got all the answers i was looking for, the only problem is this is going to be done in the driveway, tools are not an issue its the cold weather and lack of an engine hoist that are gunna suck, but its W.E. ive done worse shit in worse weather lol Now does anyone know where i can find a new flexplate/ ive checked rock auto and they dont have that or a torque converter and id rather not get one from the junkyard cause i dont feel like pullin a trans twice. thanks again for the info!

[httrdd]

Put up a WTB add. There are many partouts on this site with trannies seperated.