So I’ve been struggling with this the last week and needless to say it’s been a GD nightmare.

I have some ladyfoots pry bars inserted into 3 bell housing holes into the threaded engine block holes. And I have a smaller long pin punch inserted into one of the lower holes on the engine block that attaches to the threaded holes on the u151f transmission on the edge of the access panel at about 5 o’clock if looking at the front of the engine. The ladyfoots pry bars are aligned enough to have them inserted dead on but the bottom hole with the pin punch in it is inserted at an angle. I still need to get the bottom of the engine in allignment.

ive been struggling, moving the engine up and down moving the transmission up and down while using a pry bar to pull it forward. I’ve come close a few times but never close enough.

so I’ve tried alternately raising and lowering the engine with the hoist and transmission with the jack and then using the jack on the engine and even putting the jack right in between both of them (with a wood block on the jack plate of course) the engine is completely free floating and the transmission is still connected to the side mount but the mount is not fastened to the frame so it’s semi free floating.

Is there any trick to get these two reconnected Inside of the engine bay? Pulling it out and attaching it to the engine and then putting them both into the bay at the same time is pretty much out of the question. This transmission is massive. It has to weigh at least 400 lbs probably closer to 500-600 with the transfer case and I’m pretty sure the engine itself weighs no more than 700-800 lbs so it’s around 70-80% of the engine. If it were a smaller transaxle I would definitely have pulled it out with the engine and then separated and attached it before putting them back it but without a lift to drop the subframe thats not really feasible.

I know others have done it this way before but I can’t find any info or videos outlining this process/step. Even a video or picture guide of someone mating a 1mz to a similar transaxle would be very helpful but information on mating an engine to a particularly massive transaxle is pretty much non existent.

I feel my best course of option is to jack the engine up from the front at an angle to push it back in hopes I will be able to get the bottom holes aligned and then start wiggling/ pushing them together until things are close enough to start swapping the aligning metal rods/ladyfoots with the right bolts and tightening them up slowly. I would like to get them pressed up together before I begin threading in fasteners but I’m not sure that’s going to be possible. There was only 1 dowel pin on the replacment engine but 2 on the one I pulled out. I probably should have removed one of the dowels on the old engine and put it on the new one but it’s too late for that now.

any ideas, tips or tricks? The sooner I get these connected to sooner I can start connecting the other items and finally start this sucker up.

 

I have no idea.
I'm just here for encouragement and support!

 

well tomorow I’m going to try bolting the engine onto the mounts and the rear exhaust manifold cat bank onto the exhaust pipe to get it stationary and where it should be and then try manipulating the transmission into alignment. It’s the only thing I haven’t tried yet.

there must be someone with a helpful tip on getting this done.

 

Get 2 or 3 bolts and cut the hex heads off. If you feel ambitious, either taper or round off the cut ends. Use bolts that are longer than the bolts used to bolt the transmission on, as long as you can fit into the clearance you have.

 

I’ve had this suggested to me. I instead used ladyfoot pry bars but I just can’t get the two mating surfaces lined up close enough and I feel it’s because both are free floating so I’m going to try and put the engine in its permanent home tomorow and see if that will make things easier.

also if it doesn’t go well tomorow and I do decide to try this what is the diameter and thread pitch of the bell housing bolts? Are they m12x1.25? I discovered that This is the specified bolt for most Toyota bell housing to engine bolts but I’m unsure if it’s the same for the u151f to 3mz

 

As suggested get some bell housing bolts, cut the heads off then hack saw a slot into one end so you can turn it with a screwdriver. This is makes is sooooooo much easier, get the transmission resting on the temporary bolts, snug it up with other bolts then of course remove your pilot bolts. Probably M12x1.25 measure the thread diameter the pitch will be 1.25.

Please make absolutely certain the torque converter is seated correctly in the transmission otherwise you will force the keyway into the trans pump and break it.

 

the torque converter is exactly as it was when I separated them but just to make sure all is well I rotated it by hand to make sure it’s properly seated in the transmission and it turned with minimal effort.
If I can’t get them mated tomorow by securing the engine onto the mounts rendering it stationary and level and manipulating the transmission into alignment then I’ll buckle and get some long m12x1.25 bolts and use them as pilots. But I do have some ladyfoot prybars and some long pin punches I can use as guides. I think the main problem I’m having is the transmission assembly and the engine are both too large and cumbersome and attempting to connect them both while they are free floating is just virtually impossible. Maybe a transmission jack would make this easier. Or if I did it the way the factory service manual suggests by dropping the cradle it would be easier but a) I didn’t at all feel comfortable raising the car 3’ or more in the air with a hoist and b) I was unable to disconnect the intermediate shaft from the steering gear without an air hammer and I would need to disconnect them to get the t case out from between the steering rack and the support bar 4-5” above it. This was one of several things making it impossible to remove the entire drivetrain assembly in one piece. I had to take out the bumper reinforcement bar / front fascia and the radiator/ condenser to slightly raise and slide the engine out the front because I couldn’t remove the back cat header from the back of the engine from the underside. The heat shield was covering most of the bolts and with the exhaust pipe steering rack and trasnfer case I couldn’t fit my extended reach ratchet up there and the wobble socket on a long impact extension was just too wide an angle to fit. So I had to do it the hard way and now I’m suffering because of it.

 

Glad to hear about the torque converter. My approach is to hang the transmission as much as possible in balance so I can manipulate it into the engine. Usually works by putting two bolts on the top of the tranny, then using braided straps and large washers. In your case due to weight you may have to wrap straps around the transmission, then tie into those.Trying to move the transmission from underneath at least for me only serves to tip the transmission around and never getting anywhere.

Awhile back I came very close to have a car fall off jack stands, don't raise the vehicle more if you feel there is any chance of instability.