How do I get the bolt behind the down pipe?

[Mike-M]

Im taking my ZF5 out. I had no problem with the other 5 bolts holding it to the engine, but im stumped on the one thats hiding behind the down pipe. Is there some trick to it? I see posts where guys claim they can swap trannys in a couple hours, ive been on this bolt most of the day.

First I had to shorten a socket just to get it on the bolt head. Then after losening the bolt, theres no room to take the socket off. So right now I got the socket stuck on the bolt head, and the tranny wont come out because it cant slide back enough, my socket hits the down pipe.





So close but yet so far

 

[Dieselcrawler]

loosen downpipe at turbo.

 

[rjglenn]

I just took the down pipe off. But I have a slip joint at its end so there was no issue. If you are welded I can see where that would be a problem.

 

[Mike-M]

Ok that was a ***** but I got it. Thanks guys

 

[riotwarrior]

Ok that was a ***** but I got it. Thanks guys

What the heck did you do? Don't leave us hanging...

 

[icanfixall]

If you don't explain what you did to remove this bolt we wont help you next time.. Its like being banned to the nether-lands but not banned from the forum. Moderaters can put you in rooms where you THINK your posting but you are not. It just looks that way on your screen. Tricky bunch those moderaters are...

 

[Mike-M]

I thought I replied yesterday, guess not.

Well, I still havent figured out how the downpipe comes out at the top, and I didnt want to get into taking the turbo out to learn whats there. So I used a big ass pry bar to force the downpipe over an inch, then used a not so big pry bar against the block to slide the tranny back.

Now that the transmissions out, I should be able to see up there and figure out how it all goes together. This also might be a perfect time to do the psd downpipe mod.

 

[laserjock]

Some times brute force is the simplest answer. I find myself trying to finess things too much with my rusty old truck.