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I am contemplating doing this myself vice having to pay for it due to the cost but I don't have a lift availiable to me anymore.
I'm looking at maybe to pull the whole motor and trans combo out the front as basically my only option... has anyone any experience with this? So far I've only found a few walkthroughs using a lift and retaining the engine in place.
Very doable. get the car up with stands. Support the engine with a suitable engine support. drain fluid. remove the subframe. Remove the exhaust. Remove the driveshaft at the trans, remove anything attached to the trans including cooler lines. Converter bolts, bellhousing bolts, lower away.
Did you end up going thru with this? Facing the same thing on my S5. Gonna attempt using a cherry picker from the side to lower the engine and trans but if you have any input it's greatly appreciated!
Tozo also put some handy hints up on the relevant post over at Paul's AudiPages site. To support the engine you MUST figure out a mount to the top of the shock towers. Nothing else there, including the fenders!, is remotely strong enough to support the load.
I used the more expensive transverse engine support from ECS Tuning to support the motor since the aluminum Fender Wings on the A8 can't really handle traditional engine supports. It took quite a few photos of both the removal and the rebuild process and have been meaning to do a write-up the compliment the other write-ups that I red to do it so I will try to post pics up soon.
you will definitely want some jack stands design for SUVs though so you can get the front of the car up high enough but you can get it out the bottom and I would recommend a floor trolley transmission check. I used the one from Harbor Freight.
I definitely appreciate the advice! Taller jack stands would definitely help! As for the engine the best I can think to improvise is a tow strap around the bottom cross support with a balanced bar wide enough to (hopefully) not let the strap crush my manifolds or anything else. Didn’t know ecs had something available tho. May have to look into that before I do damage!
Very interested in the pics, zarati. I'm currently in the middle of doing this (engine supported from above on the strut towers and exhaust being disassembled so far) and need to know about how high to get the car elevated above the floor in order to get the transmission out. Also where to put the jack stands to support the front of the car. I've currently got them under the front subframe, but realize I'll need another support point when it's time for that subframe to be removed.
I'm very interested in pics and write-up as well... I have and 00 in an interesting color scheme and a solid AUX motor, but a bad ZF. I've had a 01E laying around for awhile and think this is the one I'll finally get around to swapping a 6MT into. Curious how you got about getting the automatic out.
I ended up using tall jack stands (Sumner ST-881) supporting the front frame side rails at 29" height. This put the car 22 1/2 inches above the floor at the front rocker panel. Using a transmission jack that lowers to a minimum of 7 inches above the floor, this gave 1 inch of wiggle room when pulling the transmission out to the side.
04-26-2012, 06:02 PM
transmission removal without lift
