My buddy and I are just having a bitch of a time putting my tranny back in. Its a 92 AWD with the standard 5 speed tranny. We are using a tow strap over a beam and a floor jack. But, we just cant quite get the thing back in. Any suggestions or any help?

lol yeah buy a hoist and have me hold it up in the air while ryan and eric line up the pins.

Thanks for the help there guy! Anyone else?

have it rotated farther counterclockwise than you think. Also try rotating the flywheel some if you can't get it in. Sometimes it will block it a bit and make it hard. Lastly, get ornery with it! Once it gets up on the flywheel don't give up. Get the jack under it and get it level. Then kick it if you have to! Just make sure it is lined up first.

And make sure the dowel pins are still in there. They help keep every thing aligned.

Get one guy on top, one on bottom, and one on the side, and lift and shove it on the shaft. Then line it up on the dowels. If it's not going on, make sure your clutch was aligned correctly.

it should slide on easily.
having to pound it on is a great way to mess up clutch disc's, throw out bearings, input shafts, clutch covers...etc..
make sure you lubed the input shaft and the splines on the clutch cover.
Rotate the motor, sometimes the splines dont match up on the input shaft and clutch disc.
Make sure all wires are out of the way, I've seen them get pinched before.
Start with the 'diff area' of the tranny (where axles go in) is higher up than the other end and rotate it down into the 'hole'. You can't get it to rotate up from the bottom.
good luck.

What and where are the dowel pins?

Ok, the best way I've found to do this after taking out about half a dozen trannys is to ditch the tranny jack and jack stands and get that thing on the ground. With the car in the air, slide the tranny underneath in the general location of where it sits. Then slowly lower the car with a floor jack. It works best with two people, one adjusting the tranny so it doesn't get caught and another to work the jack, but can also be done alone as I've had to before. It is a little tricky, but angling the tranny just the right way, the front diff housing will clear the crossmember/unibody. Then get the car as close the ground as you can w/o setting it on the ground and you should only have about an inch or two to lift it over the flywheel and onto the block. Give it a shot, you won't regret it.

I will agree with Steve and Josh, both of those methods will work well. I also say that if you are doing it right, you shouldn't have to force anything. The bigger hammer method is a backyard mechanic mentality that will cause you a lot more trouble in the long run. It definately helps to have someone watching the top and helping to guide it in.

First off I totally agree Raptor. We arent having a fitment issue, but more a hitting shit the whole way up issue. If we turn it one way, its hit one side, and vice versa.

Steve, I have never heard that one before, but I am willing to give it a try. Let me get it straight though.

Do you leave the wheels on the car? I dont understand how the car can get that close to the ground... Help me out here.

No, take everything out of the way you possibly can. Take off the wheels. Also there are two subframe pieces that should come off real easy. One is a long crossmember that runs underneath the tranny (I'm guessing this is out already if you got the tranny out) and the other one is next to that and looks sort of like a triangular piece held in with 5 bolts. Then all you need to do is follow my instructions above. You will need to angle the tranny a bit to make it clear everything on the cars way down, so go SLOW. Other than that, good luck.

Hey thanks Steve. I already have the crossmember and that smaller angular piece out for the removal process. I hope this works, and knowing your skills, I am guessing it will. Thanks and I will keep you posted.