[SierraDan]

Is removing a Vitara transfer as easy as it looks? Or are there tricks and turns and thongs to piss me off and make it a bigger job than I thought?

[Scrawny]

Na, it's just the bolts you can see on the outside

[SierraDan]

Maaaaad.
Thank you.

[christover1]

Manuals apparently have a hidden bolt under the gear stick, that my auto don't have.

[Scrawny]

christover1 wrote:

Manuals apparently have a hidden bolt under the gear stick, that my auto don't have.

Interesting. I've only pulled one off an auto. Sorry SierraDan, I may have lead you astray

[Gwagensteve]

They have the same bolts, it's just that the magic bolt that points the other way isn't hidden under the shifter on a manual.

Moral of the story is you have to remove the one bolt that faces the opposite direction on the very top of the gearbox. Other than that, it's straightforward. The back-to-front bolt is a bitch to get to in the car, moreso in a manual.

Steve.

[SierraDan]

Gwagensteve wrote:

The back-to-front bolt is a bitch to get to in the car, moreso in a manual.

Steve.

Great! Should be a fun morning on the Vit then haha.

Thanks guys.

[shandy92]

if you remove the shift housing (6 bolts) its easy to do. removing the shifter housing was the hardest bit for me ahah

[DarkHorse]

Yep. Shifter housing off is a crap job (remove crossmember and drop the whole lot a couple of inches on a jack to give your hands some room under the tunnel. Looooong bolt on top, then all the shorties around the edge.

[christover1]

Body lift and auto, and purchase of some 1/4" drive sockets made mine pretty easy

[shandy92]

DarkHorse wrote:

Yep. Shifter housing off is a crap job (remove crossmember and drop the whole lot a couple of inches on a jack to give your hands some room under the tunnel. Looooong bolt on top, then all the shorties around the edge.

getting to the bolts wasnt the issue, tho it does help with a good 3/8 flexy ratchet, i just couldnt crack it. TIP: if at first you cant pull it off from within the cab due to the greymax/ silicon suction. get underneath and with an extension and a mallet give it a tap up. popped straight off.

[alien]

i also gave shandy92 a hand with his - we used a recovery strap slung under the transfer and up through the shifter hole - i stood on one end of the strap and held the other so once all the bolts were undone it wouldnt land on his head - also meant we could gently lower it down. Used the same trick to lift it back up into place gently and safely.

[DarkHorse]

Pffft. Just bench press it ya big girl.

(Good trick if you have two people working on it... although I found that even a little ratchet strap through the shifter hole was a PITA getting my hands around everything, but I was by myself.)

[SierraDan]

Nearly a year later I'm finally doing this by necessity(bad noises).

Is the loooong bolt the one with the 17mm hex?

[Gwagensteve]

No, 12mm, same size as all the other bolts IIRC.

Steve.

[SierraDan]

Yeah, poor context in an above post. Got the case out.

[Zook_Fan]

If all the bolts are out, 12 in total included the one under the shifter housing, the case should just come straight off right?

I've got all that off, can see daylight between the cases but cannot separate them. Tried bigger and bigger hammer, even ratchet strap to the shed to pull it off with no success.

[SierraDan]

In my SE yep.

Does the exhaust bolt to the trans in your car? Did you get that off?

[Zook_Fan]

The box is on a bench, not in the car. It's out of an SE so obviously there is something wrong internally.

[shandy92]

The splines can get a little bit rusty and suck. Similar happened to me and my shaft has surface rust on it.

[SierraDan]

Ah sorry.
My shaft had red dust on it. Wasn't hard to get off though.
Yeah might be stuck on.

[Zook_Fan]

And how did you get yours apart shandy? Block of timber and a sledge hammer hasn't worked so I'm thinking brute force tatics are gone.

[shandy92]

Nah, mine wasnt that bad. Just wiggled it back an forth till it came. Cant think of anything, but Is the case in neutral?

[Zook_Fan]

Both cases have been in and out of gear. It shouldn't really make a difference though because that spline does not retract or anything if it's in neutral.

[DarkHorse]

Can't think of anything that would be stopping it coming apart... not something stoopid like trying to get the wrong the joint apart?

[Zook_Fan]

I don't believe so. I'm pulling it as per the manual, with the 12 bolt circle going around the case. 12mm bolts with a long one under the shifter housing.

[SierraDan]

Have you got it past the dowels yet?

[Zook_Fan]

No but they seem loose. With the small gap (1-2mm) that I can get it seems to be stuck more on the input rather than the dowels.

[got_bar_work]

Fill the case with diesel for a few hours that will free any rust