Bob, Go pop the hood on a Chrysler LH car (Intrepid, 300M, Vision or Concorde) and tell me there's no room to work on a FWD car. It really does depend on the car.
I still will insist that CV Joints make a FWD car more expensive to miantain if everything else is equal, but that's my experience with AWD/4WD coming out (the front end is always the moneysink in AWD/4WD setups, usually due to CV joint wear. Luckily not everything is as bad as a Saab 99 or Chevy S10 4WD. -Adam Bob Sullivan wrote: > Gonz, > Thanks. Godfrey's "I know it all" attitude was beginning to get on my nerves. > The bullshit detector was going off every time I read his commentary. > I've pulled the transmissions on RWD cars and wouldn't even try a FWD. > Things are way too cramped in a modern engine compartment with FWD. > Regards, Bob S. > > On 7/24/06, Gonz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> >>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 >> > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
