Hey Guys,

Just wondering if anyone has any tips on removing the gearbox out of a 2002 TJ?

I will be pulling it out tomorrow morning and selling it off, and seeing as i have never removed one before I figured I should get some ideas put together!

Thanks in advance.

First question is: Do you have a hoist or winch? The auto gearbox is flippen heavy - over 100kgs. You definitely want some sort of support. I used a few trolley jacks but it was still quite difficult to manuevour. I used a garage creeper that I used to wheel the gearbox away from under the car.

Also do you have much mechanical experience at all? It's not as easy as just undoing a few bolts.

Basically the gist of it is:
- Remove the airbox, air intake, battery etc to get access from the top
- Drain the oil from the gearbox
- Then undo wheels, and pop out the driveshafts either side. This requires some work with undoing the nut on the end of the driveshaft, in the middle of the hub - it can incredibly tight so get a very long handled breaker bar (or a short breaker with a hollow tube to extend the handle). Some say you can smash out the driveshaft from the hub using a good hammer, but personally I usually undo the tie-rod ends, disconnect the hub from the strut and break it free from the bottom control arm bearing, as this way it ensure the driveshaft boots won't get split from trying to stretch it into and out of the hub.
The drivers side driveshaft requires the bearing carrier to be removed and then you'll be able to remove the drivehsaft with the intermediate shaft conneced, in one hit. Usually slips nicely out.
Passenger side driveshaft can be more difficult. You need to put a prybar between the gearbox and the driveshaft (on the underside) and yank the prybar with a bit of force a few times. It should pop out, but does't always. There have been times where I've needed to put a thin screwdriver through the otherside of the gearbox/diff and tap the driveshaft on the inside. If all else fails, you can remove the gearbox with the pass. side driveshaft still attached.
- Then undo all engine mounts apart from driver side, support the engine+gearbox underneath the sump with a jac and a block of wood ontop.
- Undo all the electrical connectors off the gearbox and remove the starter motor, you may want to remove the radiator for better access.
- Proceed to support the gearbox and undo all the housing bolts. Be systematic and loosen them all evenly.
- Once the box is disconnected from the engine, you'll need to wriggle the torque converter to disengage it.Otherwise the box won't come off while the torque converter is engaged. The outer starter gear on the box can cut you up real nicely, really quickly, so use heavy duty gloves and be careful.
- When that's done then wriggle the box off, and you're done. You may need to drop the height of the engine (on an angle) to clear the rails when removing the auto gearbox

That should do it. I wouldn't recommend doing this on your own, especially if you've never done anything like this before. Get some beer and some mates. Maybe even some of the AMC//SA crew might be willing to give you a hand for some food, grog and good times.

Toolwise - you'll need at least a full 1/4" to 1/2" quality socket set, a set of prybars at different sizes and lengths, a few big screwdrivers to get in everywhere, plus the usual array of tools. You can buy and use tie-rod splitting tools to separate the rod from the bearing, bearing pullers to push the driveshaft out of the hub. Some air tools wouldn't go astray if you've got access to them.

Definitely have a rattle gun on hand. The p/side driveshaft is pretty tricky to pull off as well. I just pull the box off first and remove the shaft when the box is off as Magna P.I suggested.