Disconnecting automatic transmission linkage

[jangell]

I have one thing left to do before I can lift the engine/trans put of the car: disconnect the auto trans linkage.

This is much harder than I had anticipated. I've spent about two hours trying to just get a 10 mm wrench on the two nuts that sit between the frame and body so that I can remove the bracket holding the linkage inside the fuel accumulator cavity, and have pretty much complete failed. I might get it in there for a second, and then it slips right off again. I assume it's possible, but I'm hoping that someone might have some suggestions about how to make this easier short of taking the body off the car.

I was also wondering if I can disconnect the line at the transmission, but this seems equally hard to access and may lead to its own problems, as I have no idea where the other end of that piece goes inside the trans.

The bracket I'm trying to remove is the brass one on the bottom left of this image:

24096

And here's the two nuts between the frame and body; I only know what that looks like because I was able to take a picture:

24098

Thanks!

-- Joe

[jangell]

So I gave it another try, and was finally able to get the 10 mm wrench on the nuts and remove the bracket. As usually I figured it out right after I asked for help. :)

Mind you, I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to get them back on again, but if I ever take the body off the frame I'm definitely going to put rivnuts in.

-- Joe

[Rich]

Glad it worked out at last. For general reference have you looked at G:07:01 in the shop manual?

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?102

Auto Trans Pt. 1 .pdf on the link

[jangell]

Yes, thanks -- I've been looking at a combination of that and the section about removing the engine. I'm more of a computer guy than a mechanic, so sometimes the workshop manual can be a bit opaque to me. Although I just looked again and realized I missed disconnecting the parking brake cable from the right rear wheel (I had been wondering what that was, and if it would clear the transmission as it and the engine were lifted out, but I should disconnect it just in case).

Thanks again

-- Joe

[DMCMW Dave]

So I gave it another try, and was finally able to get the 10 mm wrench on the nuts and remove the bracket. As usually I figured it out right after I asked for help. :)

Mind you, I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to get them back on again, but if I ever take the body off the frame I'm definitely going to put rivnuts in.

-- Joe

The two nuts are supposed to be welded to the frame. Is this by any chance a car that was converted from a manual?

Another FYI - if you decide to take the cable off the transmission, be sure it is in Park (Cable pulled out) or the linkage will fall down inside the trans and then you get to take that apart as well.

[jangell]

I don't think it was converted from manual, but I don't really know for sure -- i got it in 2002 or so, and I believe 767 is listed as an auto in the registry, anyway. The nuts were definitely not welded, and spun freely as I tries to remove the bolts.

I did finally get the bolts out, so I've left the linkage in the transmission itself, which is a good thing since I had moved the shifter to '1' to make it easier to reach the nut on the pivot. Still have to figure out how I'm going to get the nuts back on, but I'll worry about that when I'm outing it back together. Given that rust I mentioned in the other thread, I might be pulling the frame from the body anyway.

Thanks

-- Joe

[Delorean Industries]

The two nuts are supposed to be welded to the frame. Is this by any chance a car that was converted from a manual?

Another FYI - if you decide to take the cable off the transmission, be sure it is in Park (Cable pulled out) or the linkage will fall down inside the trans and then you get to take that apart as well.

Early vin cars seem to be missing these intermittently. We added these to 559 when restoring in 2012. I have another low vin auto coming apart in the coming weeks and will see what is going on with that one as well.