Transaxle removal

I am replacing the transaxle on a 97 Taurus 3.0. I have everything loose, engine supported from above and transaxle on a jack. I have loosened the right hand motor mount and pulled the engine right over against the wheel well. The transaxle needs about 1/2" more to clear the frame. The transaxle is about 3" below the bell housing but it will not clear the frame. What am I missing? Someone told me to loosen the two body to frame mounts on the left side about 1/2" but I do not see how that will help. Relative position between the engine and the frame does not change unless I move the whole thing sideways. Tips. Ideas?

I assume you have removed all of the pulleys, accessories and everything else on the front of the engine. I haven't done a trans removal, but can the side pan be removed while in the vehicle buying you the space you need? You say frame. Do you mean the sub-frame aka the engine/trans cradle that's bolted to the underside of the body? If you have no engine or trans weight on it, you have nothing to loose to drop it. My repair manual says to remove the trans, you need to remove the engine. Sorry, no help there.

Yes, I am referring to the sub frame but I certainly do not see any advantage to lowering it. As a matter of fact I would think that lowering it would just make it worse. Removing the sub frame mounts is not easy since they are hard to get at. All the information that I have says the transmission comes out the bottom. I could remove the side pan but replacing the transmission through the dirt with the pan removed does not seem like a good idea and sooner or later I have to put a transmission back in. The one thing I have not tried is to suspend the transmission from above so that it can swing.

On the drivers side the automatic transmission mount is on top of the subframe, per Haynes(1996-2001), Chapter 7, page 7-5, figure 6.1. Did you remove this mount as per Chapter 7, instruction 5.17?
On page 7-4 it says that "on some models it is necessary to remove the subframe before the transaxle can be removed from the car."
So, which repair manual are you using? Sometimes these manuals omit important details, such as "which models".
You need a real transmission jack under the transaxle, not just a floorjack with an adapter, as the transmission jack has a wider base. Also, once the transaxle is on the transmision jack, you should be able to move a half inch as the transmission jack has caster wheels.

I did a search of the forum and found: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=441408&highlight=Taurus+transaxle+removal

I finally ended up lowering the sub frame. The Haynes manual does not tell you to do this. I downloaded instructions from the Auto Zone site and that said to remove the sub frame. After fighting for far too long I finally came to the conclusion that the only way to remove the transaxle was by removing the sub frame. Unfortunately there is more involved than just the four bolts holding the sub frame, like hoses rack and pinion etc. I can see that having a hoist and the proper jacks etc would make the job much easier but we have to work with what we have.