Has anyone replaced the trans in a 1999 ish year 3.0L 4x4 Ranger with Y-pipe still on?Heres a video so you can see what I have going on..

 

I just finished pulling and doing my engine in my 99 3 liter. (B3000 Mazda)
Yes it is possible, but you have to remove the drive shaft so you can slide the trans back to clear the "Y" pipe. You also need a trans jack to do this.
Truck has to be up high so you can lower the jack and angle the trans to pull back and clear the trans tunnel.

I didn't do mine this way, my bolts up to the exhaust manifold were not as badly rusted as yours _ they came out, but manifold bolts into the head were really on there.

I have a small oxy/acetylene to get those out.
You need heat and lots of it.

You can heat up the upper "Y" pipe bolts with the torch with out damaging the manifold if you heat up the general area, concentrating on the bolt area.
Has to be almost "cherry" hot so the bolts will move.
It still has to be "cherry" to crack the bolts, so work fast.
As it cools keep rocking the bolts back and forth and applying more heat as needed.
Once they're cracked you can now use penetrating oil to gently rock them back and forth and they will come out.
Some times they will even come out with your bare hands once things have cooled down.
Same goes for the other bolts lower down.

I took all that out so I could paint the frame and it required a lot of heat, but that method always works with steel to steel.
The heat from the torch expands the steel to break the rust bond and also chemically changes the rust _ it turns black.

Use heavy duty aluminum foil to protect the area from the torch.

At any rate once the drive shaft is out of the way, the trans should just slide back (cross member gone of course).
You have to remove the drive shaft anyway so the bell housing will clear the ring gear.

 

Thanks Jeff R 1..

Yeah I know what all needs to come off and have everything to do it,just wasn't sure if the Y-pipe had to come off or not..Looks like i'll have enough room once I take the trans mount off and engine leans back,that way it clears the tunnel good..I just didn't wanna get the trans all unbolted and ready to pull just to see it won't come up with Y-pipe on..I thought about heating the flange up (I have MAP gas) but,the bolts are rusted so bad on drivers side,they will for sure break which is something I rather not deal with right now..I rather deal with the exhaust later down the road because this is my wifes daily driver so gotta get it done asap..Geres pics of the exhaust bolts so you can see what i'm saying,the drivers side will for sure break or the head of the bolt will strip/round off..

 

Those are pretty bad.
It should clear, at least it does for a manual.
MAP gas won't be hot enough.
You need an acetylene torch to break those.
MAP gas with an oxygen supply maybe.

 

If a manual clears then a auto will ...My back is really shot so taking my time but man,this front driveshaft is a real pita,I beat the hell out of it yesterday and about to go at it again LOL...

Thanks man..

 

Front drive shaft ???
It's on splines, shouldn't it just slip out once the rear UV joint is unbolted ?

 

Sorry its taken so long to reply back..The front drive shaft was rusted to the T-Case,I had to beat the **** out of it...

 

Trans is out and bolted in as of yesterday.. Just gotta bolt the T-Case,both drive shafts and bottom cover/guard for T-Case back in then fluid..I didn't have to take any of the exhaust off but,was a real pain in the *** getting the trans back in..Had to twist the trans so the bell housing went over,still had to pry a little...

Heres trans out and can see whole exhaust is still on..

 

New/used trans is in..Glad I got a 3 month warranty because its taken about a month to put it in,thats how screwed up my back/neck is..