Okay I am working on a 98 Ford F-150 4.2L 5 speed. Well the slave cyclinder finally went bad and I am in the process of replacing the Slave, clutch, Master cyclinder pilot bearing etc. I was working on the truck last night and i am running into some problems.

I have the shifter plate unbolted, drive shaft removed and all bolts except two holding the transmission in. So i ready to remove the crossmember and pull the tranny the problem is the exhaust. does it have to be removed in order to pull the transmission? I unbolted it at the exhaust manifolds but I can not get it broken loose at the connection prior to the muffler.

Can anyone give me some pointer on how to make this process a little less frustrating?

Any tips or pointers for easy installion/removal is appreciated.

 

If it's like most vehicles you won't be able to seperate them without mangling it a little. Often when they look like like they just slip together they actually have a small "rivet" (?) or are slightly crimped together at one point (usually on top, unfortunately). Even if they aren't it doesn't take long for them to essentially weld themselves together.

Everyone I've seen, including myself, has ended up cutting it and having it rewelded at a muffler shop. It shouldn't cost much. I would advise cutting after the muffler so that you can work the tailpipe for the drive to the muffler shop. Other may have better suggestions, I haven't done this operation on this particular truck.

On second thought, if you had the truck high enough, you might be able to just let the exhaust drop far enough down (sans hangers) to get good access. Not sure though, surely someone has done this before.