Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: > On Jul 24, 2006, at 12:52 PM, Gonz wrote: > > >>>... that's really more a reflection of the quality of the >>>design than the type. >> >>I'm sorry, but you're still not convincing me. I've changed >>transmissions on both types of cars and there is a *world* of >>difference. > > > As I said, differences in difficulty reflect the quality/ > serviceability of a particular design and are not indicative of a > type distinction. I probably pulled, overhauled and reassembled at > least 100 transaxle and separate component setups over the years > since 1971 and today. >
IMO, the particular design doesnt matter. What matters is that the basic assembly is the same. On a FWD, in order to move the split shaft assembly out of the tranny case, you have to take the wheels off, loosen and move to the side the brake assembly, loosen the suspension from the wheel assembly, probably loosen and/or remove the major suspension frame member closest to the tranny (because that member usually holds the tranny mount and the tranny usually has to come downwards to get out), loosen the shaft support on the long side of the shaft, take the short shaft off the tranny and the wheel assembly, and finally pull off the long shaft. Now, you've just gotten started. You next have to support the engine, take one or more engine mounts off (this is usually because there is not enough space to pull the tranny off the engine in its normal position and you will have to drop the engine/tranny assembly downwards), take a huge part of the junk above the tranny and engine (air intake assembly, battery, etc, 90% of the time, this is just to get to the top side bolts from the top). Pulling it out is no fun either, in theses transverse mounted situations, there is barely enough space to do it and it first has to come straight out then a bit of a tilt before coming down, all the while permanent crap like air conditioning hoses keep getting in your way. Of course you could take them out, but then you have to put it back and evacuate/re-charge the cooling system, not fun. Compare that to a RWD, where I've never run into anything remotely resembling the difficulty of a FWD tranny replacement. Its pretty much a simple shaft loosening, hose and linkage removal, followed by dropping the tranny, no suspension hacking, no wheel/brake/air conditioning/air intake stuff ever. Give me a RWD job any time. > Some are a major pain in the ass. Others are a piece of cake. Of both > types. > > Which ones have you worked on? > Mini-vans are the worst FWD, small cars can be real bad. American are worse than foreign. For RWD, like I've said, never ran into a hard one. Trucks are a joy. Never done a 4WD yet. > Godfrey > -- Someone handed me a picture and said, "This is a picture of me when I was younger." Every picture of you is when you were younger. "...Here's a picture of me when I'm older." Where'd you get that camera man? - Mitch Hedberg -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
