v drive removal

[munkymush]

hya, has anyone got a rough idea how long it takes to remove a v drive gearbox from a 2004 x2 ? got a rattle on my drive plate..so im thinking of checking it out ..

[notnowgus]

I have an 02 X30, and I replaced my drive plate early last year. I think it takes me longer than most to complete a job on my boat. So, if you count taking out the back seat, floor cover over the gas tank, motor access cover behind the seat, supporting the motor for tranny removal, prop shaft and the connections to the trans itself it took me about 4 hours. I replaced the plate with an aftermarket damper that greatly improved shift smoothness along with noise reduction and less vibration. It was an amazing upgrade that I would highly recommend to anyone pulling a transmission. I also replaced seals while I had it out. I have pics of the process.

[Jim@BAWS]

Originally Posted by munkymush

hya, has anyone got a rough idea how long it takes to remove a v drive gearbox from a 2004 x2 ? got a rattle on my drive plate..so im thinking of checking it out ..

Give yourself a good 8-10 hours for removal and reinstall if you have never done it before

Jim@BAWS

[99xstar]

notnowgus - As someone who is anticipating having to replace my drive plate in the near future, I would love to see those pics. I think there are many others on the board who would also.

Thanks

[erkoehler]

8 solid hours with some air tools, closer to 10 if your doing it all by hand.

[notnowgus]

Here is a little background on this project. The only way that I could ever afford to own a boat is to do my own maintenance. It takes me a lot longer, and most of time I make mistakes but the end result is the same, plus I save a few bucks and have the satisfaction of knowing I successfully completed a job that keeps me owning a boat. So, one day last year I arrived at my garage space to find the floor covered with transmission fluid, obviously from the boat. After some investigating I discovered that the lower output seal on the transmission was bad. This seal is all the way at the bottom and out of sight. At that point, I decided to change all of the seals, install a new damper plate and Globe Drive Saver. Thinking if I do it all now, I’ll save a lot of time later on.

I didn’t take pictures of the removal of the seats and surrounding fiberglass because this part of the process is fairly simple.

Next, after the seats were out I went to Lowe’s and bought a roll of self sticking carpet protector and put a double layer on all carpeted surfaces, front to back. I knew at some point I would have a mishap and I’d have transmission fluid everywhere.

[notnowgus]

Here is a shot of the engine compartment before any work started. By this time I had already pulled the prop.

[notnowgus]

The next step was to remove the prop shaft from the transmission. You can see that there was very little room to work. I was able to slide the gas tank forward far enough to work on it. Removed the nut from the shaft and started looking for a puller to get the shaft out of the coupling.

[notnowgus]

I own an assortment of pullers but none of them would work, mostly too big. So I decided I needed to make one. Went to NAPA, bought a steering wheel puller and started chopping.

[notnowgus]

I cut the puller center bolt almost in half then ground it to a point to ride in the center of the prop shaft. The main body of the puller was too short to span the distance of the coupling holes so I made a brace that would reach the pattern. It was from a scrap piece of 1/4 inch steel which I drilled three holes in to match the coupling and centerline of the puller.