2002 Merc 722.6 tip removal question

Hello all. I have a 2002 C4 Cab with a 722.6 tip. I need to drop the tranny so that I can take it get rebuilt or put a used one in. I have a Bentley Manual and it says to drop the engine and tranny as a unit then separate the trans from the engine after out. Once problem with this is that one bolt that holds the lower rear subframe can't be removed because when the nut is removed and you try to back the bolt out it hits up against the differential and can't be removed. So essentially the subframe can't be removed. I'd rather just take out the tranny only anyways. There is lots of info out there on taking out a tip only, but only for the older model tips. There is talk about the short special tool 9595 that you insert from the top of the bell housing to lock the torque converter in place, but that hole doesn't even exist on my tranny. Those have different bell housing bolts, different oil pan, etc. and the write ups don't seem to apply to taking out my 722.6. Am I wrong here? I'm pretty much ready to take the tranny out. Lower 4 bell housing bolts are super easy to get to. 6 torque converter bolts are simple. Everything is easy to remove but for the top 4 bell housing bolts. Anyone do this removal? The four bolts are all torx bolts and not hex. Or could I be looking at the wrong ones? Any advice would be really appreciated. Any help on how to remove those 4 bolts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

One thought I had was to put the torx driver on the bolt from above, have someone hold the driver in the bolt, run extensions down to the bottom and crack the the bolts, then get them out by hand from the top. I can easily reach in from the top put my fingers on each bolt enough where I could twist them out with my fingers if I can get them cracked loose. Although its just a thought. Anyone, help please! Thanks!

Check withTNT63Falcon https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...ion-issue.html

Well, I did it and it was surprisingly easy. There are 8 bell housing bolts that are T-45. The top 4 were difficult, but what I did was lower the engine slightly to get more room, then my son was up top and I fed a T-45 driver that fits onto a 3/8" drive socket wrench, on a bunch of extensions. My son would reach back through the engine compartment and put the driver on the bolt and hold it there while I cracked the bolt loose from below. Once each bolt was cracked loose, we could get them out by hand the rest of the way. The bottom 4 are not that tough if you have the right tools and thankfully I did. I used the T-45 that fits onto a 3/8" drive socket wrench on the middle two bolts. However the two bolts on the ends of the bottom set needed a t-45 bit as there wasn't enough room to fit the t-45 I used on the upper bolts. I then put a 10MM ratching box end wrench on the end of the bit to turn the bit and crack the bolt loose. This all took about an hour. Actually slightly under an hour. Now I just need to remove the CV bolts on each side, the front drive train connection, a bunch of little stuff and the tranny will be out. Hope this helps someone since there is nothing on doing this to a 722.6 and no one on here seems to want to chime in. I have the 9595/1 tool kit, but don't know where to use it to lock down the Torque Converter. There is no hole on top of the bell housing that the Bentley Manual illustrates to put the long 9595 tool into. I know there are guys on this forum that know about this. Anybody willing enlighten me and maybe give me some advice or any info? Thanks

Its out! Was really easy actually despite the Bentley Manual and lack of info online. For those who want to do this in the future, here is how I did it. Understand that the bell housing bolts and the rear mount is all that holds the tranny in place. Oh and the torque converter bolts. There are six of those. Everything else provding any connection to the car from the tranny needs to be disconnected and moved out of the way and anything blocking the tranny from dropping needs to be moved or removed (e.g. crossbars, coolant lines, etc.) so that you can drop the tranny out of the car. There are 8 bell housing bolts and they are T-45 star bolts so you'll need a T-45 socket and a T-45 bit. To crack the top 4 bolts, I fed a series of extenstions with a universal joint on the end and then the T-45 socket up from the bottom and had my son up top. When he saw the socket, he grabbed it and put it in the bolt and held it tight in the bolt so I couldn't strip the bolt if it wasn't seated all the way and I cracked it loose from the bottom. then we could back them out by hand. The bottom 4 bolts are easier. However you need to use a T-45 bit. My bit happens to be one with the other end of the bit being a 10mm hex. I taped the bit to a flex head 10MM ratcheting box end wrench and hooked another wrench on the end of that to gain some leverage and cracked those loose. Then I took off a bunch of other stuff that would prevent the tranny from dropping down and took off the center drive shaft off, removed the rear tranny mount bolts, after supporting it on either end with a floor jack. This is critical because you can't simply drop the tranny down strait as the torque converter will prevent you from dropping the tranny strait down. Instead, the tranny has to be moved back around 2-3 inches so that the torque converter can clear the engine opening, but its impossible to move the tranny back so you have tip the back of the tip down by lowing the floor jack holding up the front of it, then move it away from the engine slightly and so on. I basically hung out watching the mating of the tranny to the engine telling my son which end to raise and lower and when to push until it came free. Once the torque converter was clear of the engine, we lowered it down and it was out! Now its on to www.peterschmidtransmission.com They specialize in this and the ZF tranny. Rebuild will cost 3200 out the door and they'll actually deliver it back to my house for free when it is done. Putting it back is the reverse of removal There it is. Out and I'm feeling really good!

To see the continuation of the transmission saga if you care, please go to this thread as I will update it there as I get the transmission back and install it. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...k-in-a-c4.html