For the past 2 weeks I have been at a stopping point, being unable to get the transmission to slide down into and past the clutch splines. (5 speed manual on a 4.0) The face of the throwout bearing is up against the pressure plate fingers. I previously confirmed that the throwout bearing will compress on the input shaft under hand pressure. The slave cylidnewr has no fluid in it and the bleeder valve is open.
I installed 4 6-inch long pieces of threaded rod into 4 of the behllhousing bolt holes in the back of the engine and the trans is perfectly lined up on these threaded rods. The trans is in first gear and the transfer case is off. I can grab the output shaft and rotate it. when rotating, I can feel the splines on the input shaft scraping against the splines of the clutch. As far as I can figure, I am unable to get the throwout bearing to compress. It has been two weeks of effort and I cannot get this trans any closer to the engine. My son the auto tech suggested that I have someone turn the engine with a breaker bar on the crank bolt while I wiggle the trans around and push. The theory of that is that the clutch splines are keeping the input shaft from going deeper towards the engine. ON the other hand, I could put nuts on the threaded rod and tighten the nuts to force the trans forward. Sometimes I can push and pull the trans to the point that the output shaft will not rotate, suggesting that it is engaged with the clutch. The pilot bearing is new. I installed the clutch on the flywheel using an alignment tool . frustrating. For almost a month I've had to walk everywhere and take the bus to work. Anyone install a trans behind a 4.0 and have similar issues? Thanks for the help.

 

I had a similar issue on my 3.0 when i did my swap i basically just had to wiggle and push till it went on it took me and my brother to get it to seat properly. Just recheck clutch alignment with the tool first before you go wailing on it.

 

Thanks for the news. Having no experience to compare this with, other than changing out a trans in a F100 and multiple classic mustangs, I don't know whether I am doing this trans install correctly in the Ranger. Your comment helps.

 

No problem and to make it easier i put the shifter stub in and put it in gear to lock the input shaft in place to help the splines line up better may help you out some.