Just did this a couple months ago, u need to loosen the bolts or drop the front subframe to get a good angle for the tranny to come out, u only need to take off the transfer case brace bracket. U do not have to remove the transfer case from the tranny at all, need to take off the transfer case driveshaft to the rear diff and the center support bearing bolts and let that dangle from the rear diff, try and mark the how they went together from transfer case to driveshaft with a marker or something u can c they have counter/ balancing weights, after all that the motor should be lower and titled if u somehow supported the engine from the top via engine supportstand or cherry picker, the rest is just unbolt and slide off

 

so should i remove the subframe and also jack the engine a little? or should i remove the subframe and loosen the motor mounts for it to drop a little. how did you reach the bolts all the way on the top of the tranny? when you lowered everything im guessing they were more accessable ?

 

I loosen the top bolts from engine mounts,lowered the subframe and yes it will just be sitting there if supported from above the engine, couple extensions and inverted torque sockets and boom there right there easy to c with a light source and easy to remove

 

U also need to take off the front diff from the driver side and remove when u have lowered the subframe, I had to pry my subframe down a little to get it started to become lowered, I actually removed all 4 subframe bolts and it drops like 5-6 inches

 

im new to this so sorry for the questions lol but if i dont have a hoiist or even a jack supporting the engine, when i loosen the subframe bolts, the engine will still not complete fall right.? sorry if its a dumb question

 

Yeah i wouldn't do that at all in dropping the engine without support from above, habor frieght sells engine support stand for like 75 bucks and u could always return it when done I kept mine though, or u could make your own possibly

 

im just asking becuase im parting the car and the engine is junk anyways so im thinkging of just dropping the subframe and removing crossmember holding the transmission and using a hoist to just remove the engine and tranny as one piece

 

Yeah that could work since it's junk anyways

 

I did the clutch in my 2002 Xi a couple of years ago. I did NOT loosen my front crossmember. I did loosen the motor mounts, removed the transfer case from the transmission, which is easy and made things much lighter and easier to get at the top bolts/shifter. Tilted the back of the transmission down enough to get LONG extensions with wobble bits to get at the top mounts. It was a long day, but got the clutch and engine/transmission mounts done in one day taking my time.