Well, my project creeps forward!

My front clip is off and my 429 engine is out. (Engine should be ready from the machine shop tomorrow I hope). I've cleaned and cleaned and cleaned (I think I've likely removed 50 lbs of gunk), then painted the frame rails with POR-15, touched up the firewall with some factory matching paint, replaced the calking, installed new rubber boots, changed the clutch rod, cleaned and inspected the wiring harness and wrapped it with friction tape. I'm now in the middle of replacing the rubber cab mounts, what a P.I.T.A. I re-installed my steering box onto the frame only to find out it has a nice leak so looks like I might be sending it off to Red Head pretty soon.

The more I look at my project, the more I think I just need to keep going and pull the transmission (NP435) and transfer case (NP205). It's just time and money right?

Give them a good cleaning, fix the leaks, paint them and put it back before re-installing engine. That way I can clean underside of cab and do some more painting on the frame rails as well and not have to deal with this later. The end result will also be much better. So, this is new territory for me. I've researched it some and I am looking for your advise.

The cross member does not look like it can drop straight down. It would get caught on the lower frame unless the assembly get twisted sideways enough to clear. Can it?

Do I remove the transfer case from the transmission first or just pull the whole thing as an assembly? I've read it can be done either way. I have a floor jack, an engine hoist and one or maybe two helpers.

I've read that transmission should be put into 1st gear if they are separated to keep bearings from falling out and to help turn trans when going back together.

My bell housing is already off, so from what I understand my next steps are to:
Remove the floor mat
Remove the transmission cover from floor of cab
Remove shifter
Disconnect speedo cable
Disconnect front & rear drive shafts
Drain fluids
Attach engine hoist to tranny (by going thru door window?)
Disconnect / remove all cross member brackets
Lower assembly to ground using hoist / floor jack

Any tips on what I could be missing or should do would be appreciated.

Short of a full rebuild, while the tranny / transfer case are out, are there simple things that should be changed / inspected / replaced? It seemed to operate 'okay' before when it was running but the input shaft of the tranny seems to have quite a bit of slop and the motor was certainly abused by it's PO. I can grab the end of the shaft and move it up and down maybe 1/16" at the end.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

couple things. you don't "have" to drain the fluid before pulling, just might be cleaner that way.

I've never heard about leaving it in first, I always just go for neutral since it leaves everything unlocked.

You will have better luck if you take the transfer case off first, then the tranny. You should not have to remove any crossmembers, just the bol holding the transfer case to frame and the mount holding tranny to crossmember.

It's not that bad of a job, if you have 1 helper you can get it done pretty quick. I always get stuck doing stuff alone and even then i bet I can get it all out in an hour or less. Just be ready, they are heavy.

 

Placing in neutral makes removing shifter collar easier. Definatly put in neutral if you remove top cover of tranny. The shift forks will align much easier when reinstalling.