flexplate broke, help/suggestions

[Juggernaut929]

hey everyone, i recently had a problem with my legacy, the flex plate broke, and im planning to fix it myself, i think im in pritty good shape as far as what to do, basicly that is

it happened a while back when my car began making a tick tick noise, which increased with the speed of the engine, at first i thought it was the lifters but the noise was comming from behind my engine, such as between my engine and transmission, luckly i took it to my mechanic and he said the plate broke when the car was on his lift, lucky me huh

anyway im planning to do the work myself, its still cheaper to buy the nessisary parts and tools, so thats my option, from what ive gathered, im planning on supporting the vehicle on 4 floor jack stands, and of course using a transmission lift to remove the trans. i found a scissor type that was relitively cheep, but max weight was 450lbs, is that enough? (auto trans)

another concern i have is clearance, how big is the transmission, how much do i have to raise the vehicle to clear the trans? i believe the trans lift that im looking at has a 6 or 8 inch clearance,

in addition to that, im also not to sure about how the flex plate fits in to the assembly, my manual has decent instructions on transmission removal but doesnt go much into the flex plate. when the trans is removed and put back on i have to put the flexplate-to-torque converter bolts back on, i can do that from below correct? do i just rotate the crank to remove and attach all the flexplate-to-TC bolts?

i think my mechanic said that the trans was 18 inches high, so i need that to clear, so would that not mean that i need 24-28inch jack stands? how is the best way to get my car up that high? obviously with a floor jack, but how do i raise the thing up on 4 jacks that high without killing myself? bring it up slowly all around? what if i dont have a floor jack that can lift that high?

summary of questions...
1)any transmission lift will work right? how much does a auto tranny weigh?
2) what kind of clearance do i need to drop the tranny?
3) any tips or suggestions for doing this repair?
4) any recomendations on how im suppose to get my vehicle up this high? 4 jack stands?
5) any suggestions on how i can not screw this up?

thanks everyone for your help if you can, anything is greatly appreciated

[phantommaggot]

the flexplate is the exact reason i dont still have a 1991 legacy..

i broke 2

i did the first one with the help of a firend. it isnt all that hard.

we did it just taking the engine out. we took the motor out and left the tranny in the car.

it came out pretty quick, just label your wires, and remember your hoses for your rad. and your set.

youre better off putting a 5 spd in if you want to keep your legacy imo, or get a really good flexplate..

[SHOfast]

You may want to consider pulling the motor out of the top rather than the transmission out the bottom. Pulling the motor is really easy. That said I have not pulled the transmission out of this car.

To jack the car up you will want to do it in stages. If you are using axle stands with no pads on top you may want to consider some. Metal on metal can be really slippery. You will want to get a good amount of clearance, dont skimp. Remember if you are using a transmission jack you need to account for the height of that too. If your floor/car jack is too short for lifting your car onto the axle stands you may need to place it on some 2x10 lumber or something. If you have a jack that rolls while it lifts make sure you don't get in the way of that.

The flexplate blolts right in between the engine and torque convertor. Remove the bolts for the flexplate to torque convertor before you remove the transmission. That way you will be able to leave the torque convertor attached to the transmission.

[shazapple]

I've pulled the tranny out from the bottom. You have to remove the exaust and driveshaft, a bunch of heatshields, lots of tranny bolts, the starter, and the airbox so you can get at stuff. Not to mention unbolt the tophats so you get a bit extra clearance when removing the front axles.
I dont know if it would be easier to pull the motor or not.

Reverse the car onto a set of ramps, then jack the front up and put some jack stands under there. I would have put a set of ramps under the front tires but you need to take them off. There was enough room for me to fit underneath but we had to turn the transmission sideways to pull it out from under the car.

We didnt use a transmission lift (it would of been a hell of a lot easier though) make sure to plug the rear driveshaft hole, as that likes to leak. Get another friend to help is the most important thing. This is not a one person job

[Juggernaut929]

yeah, ive thought of that, pulling the motor, im an amateur mechanic and i dont have any illusions that i could still screw something up.

imo i think i would rather drop the trans, it seems like i would be touching less of the systems on my car, so it has an appeal, though im not too thrillled about jacking up my car 2 feet and getting under it. but it seems like the best course of action for me.

haha, i would love to stick a 5 speed in here now, but unfortuently i dont have the money, barely have the money to do this job, but i will have the tools and more experiance if i ever decide to do so later.

where would be the best place to jack the car up on, where should i position the jack stands under the car, would anythign be better than anything else?

how much does the auto trans weigh?
how much clearance do i need for just the transmission? how big is it, what are its dementions?
are there any trans lifts in perticular that i should use? types?

[Juggernaut929]

hey everyone, little update, im going forth with it, i decided to drop the trans, my mechanic highly suggested it over pulling the engine, ive ordered all the parts and ive gotten the tools i need, (except for a gasket that goes between my turbo and S pipe)

so far ive removed my AC out of the engine bay, didnt work nor need it anyway, haha weight reduction

also ive removed my airbox and some of the air intake stuff, i got the car up on jackstands now, he(my mechanic) said it would be fine to have the 4 jack stands placed on the side skirts, where the jacking marks are, so far ive gotten the car raised to min jackstand hight. just to take a look. but i think i gota get it up to max jack stand high which is like 24 inches.

got a big question, obviously i should jack it up in stages, but should i jack up the front then back then front a few inches at a time, or should i jack it side by side?

my concerns are from my newbness, and that my car weighs 16 times more than i do, i dont want to screw around.

if i jack up the front a few inches could the car slide back on the stand at all, or is that too much weight?