Pulling engine/transmission

I have been planning when the need arises to pull my engine and rebuild it and put in a new clutch.

I see no particular problem except removing the front axle shafts. I have been told that removing them can be quite difficult many time resulting in destroying the wheel barings.

Has anyone done this and how difficult and what tricks might there be in removing them from the transmission?

what you want to do to pull the axles is first, drain the transmission.take the nut off the axle. then jack up the car and remove the wheels. where the bottom control arm connects to the wheel hub you will se a 14mm bolt and nut . remove the bolt, then pull down or pry down on the control arm until the ball joint comes out of the hub. then using a pry bar between the axle inner cv joint and the transmission, pop it out of the tranny. once its out of the transmission you can pull outward on the bottom of the hub and axle should slide out. if it doesn't want to come out of the hub give it a few light taps, it should just slide out

While your going that far take about an hour to change the input shaft seal on the transmission. You have to split the case but thats all. No disassemble of tranny.

There is no need to remove the engine to rebuild it. The entire job can be done in-car and can be done in 18 hours if you are a rabid maniac mechanic like me..........
http://geometroforum.com/topic/1144189/

Removing the trans is simple. Here is a complete illustrated "How To" to help you.....
http://geometroforum.com/topic/638772/

Hope this helps

all the above directions are correct ... and it's not a difficult job.

i'm 'rebuilding' mine .... '91, 1.0l, 5spd, 326k .... but having new oversize pistons installed, ss valves, balanced / polished crank. been having trouble finding a new cam ..... but finally one is supposed to arrive next tuesday. i left the tranny in the car and if you're only intending to replace the clutch, you might consider that too .... bypassing the need to remove the shafts.

an alternative i used for removing / replacing the axle shafts was to remove only the 2 bolts attaching the hub / knuckle assembly to the strut and hang it by a wire from the strut after the shafts are removed. it's been a while since i've done this so i'm not being very descriptive but it seemed apparent as an easier option after the first change out disconnecting the ball joints.

this was how i discovered that small movements / changes in the knuckle to strut attachment could fine tune the wheel alignment.