Torque Converter won't slide back in?

[Dan [Sac]]

Finishing up an ATX ZE swap, and I'm at the point where the gearbox reattaches to the ZE. However, I can't get the torque converter to slide all the way back in on the input shaft.

Is there a washer at the end of the oil pump shaft that falls off if that shaft is pulled out? The splines on both ends of the oil pump shaft are clean, and I can clearly feel them click in place both on the transaxle side and torque converter side. However, the TC just seems to be about 1/4" short of sliding all the way in, so the TC-to-flexplate studs are sticking out beyond the plane where the engine/transaxle mate.

WTF, mate? My shop manual is currently on loan so I can't look up any info on that side...

[pgt4speed]

I would turn the little shaft a bit to make sure it is slid all the way in. Then I would turn the tc till is slid all the way in.

I really cannot suggest anything more than play with it till it slides in.

The only other suggestion is to glue some hair on the bellhousing...

Seriously, I have never run across that issue, but then again I have only installed one t/c ever (my saturn, I left it in the trans and bolted it into place when dropping the engine).

[Dan [Sac]]

I wiggled it every which way and it just seems to hit a hard stop about 1/4" short. If there is a washer or bushing that fell out of place when the shaft came out then it makes sense, but otherwise I'm stumped.

Ok, I got it to work - there were some almost invisible burrs on a couple of the input shaft splines (not the oil pump shaft) and that's what was causing it to hang up. She slid in nice and sweet once I cleaned those up.

[pgt4speed]

Ok, I got it to work - there were some almost invisible burrs on a couple of the input shaft splines (not the oil pump shaft) and that's what was causing it to hang up. She slid in nice and sweet once I cleaned those up.

Good deal.

[j4278h]

good job finding the burrs, i would have just beat it with a hammer and called it good enough

[nevin94 PGT]

Yeah, you just have to make sure there are no burrs. I have had the same thing happen before.

Good job on the swap, by the way.

[Dan [Sac]]

good job finding the burrs, i would have just beat it with a hammer and called it good enough

That usually ruins the oil pump shaft splines, and thank goodness for the engineer who designed it out of softer metal - that way it's easy to replace if you **** it up and don't have to tear the transaxle apart just to replace an input shaft.

You can also ruin that shaft by using the engine-to-transaxle bolts to squeeze the 2 together - everything is supposed to slide all the way in, including engine to transaxle to the point where the mating surfaces make full contact. If they don't, you're doing something wrong and need to pull back and re-insert (and I better not hear a "that's what SHE said" here!)

Everything worked once I did it on a level surface with a transmission jack.

[pgt4speed]

you're doing something wrong and need to pull back and re-insert (and I better not hear a "that's what SHE said" here!)

You said it, not me.

[NeonKnight]

That's what she didn't say!