How easy is it to whip out the tranny on my 85 M1009 Blazer and replace the starter ring????

 

Is it a manual or auto?

 

Auto. i have about 3 teeth missing on the starter ring and when i turn the motor off it always stops in the same place.The gap now on the starter ring always stops where the starter motor dog engages.Resulting in me turning the motor by hand with a 12ins ajustable to get the gap moved on a bit so the dog will engage.The previous owner didn't replace a broken starter mounting bolt that had sheared so the starter motor was out of alingnment and took out 3 teeth befor i noticed it.

 

The job isn't that bad depending on the tools and equipment you have at your disposal. If you are doing this in your driveway, it may be a bit of a challenge.

You basically will have to disconnect the drive shafts. Remove the shift linkage to the transmission and the transfer case. Disconnect the transmission vacuum lines, kick down cable (if equiped), speedo cable, and cooler lines. Make a quick check over of all of the cables, hoses, etc that connect to the transmission, ensuring that everything is disconnected.

Remove the dust sheild on the underside of the front of the transmission (if equiped) followed by the removal of the flex plate to torque converter bolts. You can now support the transmission on a jack with a block of wood about 18" long between the jack and the transmission pan. Make sure that you have the jack on the transmission such that it is as balanced as possible. This point will probably be more towards the transfer case with as large and heavy as the transfer case is on these trucks. Jack the transmission up a bit and remove the rear cross member. Drop the transmission down a bit to better access the bell housing bolts.

Be aware that once you remove all of the bell housing bolts that there really is nothing but friction on the dowel pins holding the transmission to the engine. A little bit of prying may be necessary to separate. You will want to make sure that things are balanced for this separation as you do not want to drop the trans on yourself... You will definitely want to have some help for this! The TH400 and the 1-ton transfer case are HEAVY!

From there, just unbolt the flex plate and bolt up the new one. Reassemble in reverse.

 

Whay are you taking out the tranny? Just slide it back 3"-4". take teh Flywheel/flexplate off and replace it or replace the starter ring.

Like posted above, disconnect all the stuff hooked to the tranny/t-case, Take out the bottom two bellhousing bolts and replace it with a bolt 4"-6" longer. Take out the top two now. They can be a bitch in the S10's. Take out the center two bellhousing bolts, again replacing them with bolts 4"-6" longer. slide the tranny back as far as she will go on thos longer bolts. They will keep the tranny lined up and easiely slide back into place.

 

To each his own. With my big hands and arms, I need more than 3-4" to comfortably work up in there. I would much rather remove the trans than walk it back. If there is enough room to move it back 6", I would be much more comfortable. Most of the time though, there isn't. With a fullsize there may be. But that's what forums are for. Try to walk it back and see if you can get everything you need in there.

 

you only need to get a wrench on the nut and have room to take it out, about 1 1/2". No need to stick your hand all the way up to the rear seal or upper bolts. Use a long scrwedriver or prybar to spin the engine via the starter ring and the side of the tranny case, spin it so the next bolt is within easy reach. Use the prybar to hold the flexplate from turning while your trying to loosen up the bolts too. The torque converter bolts are only a few inches from the edge of the starter ring, a regular wrench should get on them and leave you room to work.

You can take the tranny out if you'd like, I am not knocking it. For me it adds a few more hours of work. Now you have to also disconnect the tranny cooler lines.

 

My problem isn't in the removal of the bolts. Rather in the reinstallation of said bolts. I end up scrapping things all up. But again, to each his own.

 

Well chaps,job all done.I done it over a period of 2 days.2 hours one evening and 2 hours the next evening.I also rebuilt the starter motor as the head was cracked and the starter dog was chewed.The thing is now when it changes up on the move it doesn't give that little jerk when changing gear.It changes gear but you can't tell it's changed,it's so smooth.Is that normal???

 

As stated before it changes gear ok from 1st to 2nd,but changes to 3rd to early.When in 3rd and you come to a hill it won't change down to 2nd unles i do it manually.All i did was tilt the box to get at the top bolts and slide it back to replace the starter ring.Why is my trans peeing me off???