Ok, well as the title states, Everything is out. Ready to drop the tranny but for the life of me I cannot remove the steering joint (yes, both bolts out and marked). Any tips? It won't slide back.

 

You dont have to pull that out. Iv changed 3 of them and never had to mess with that. all your doing is lowering the back of the motor so you can get to the top trans bolts..

 

If anything, unbolt the rack from the subframe assembly. It's 4 bolts.

 

Well now the tranny wont come away, triple checked all the bolts are out, including the starter bolt and the fork is removed.... Seems like its binding up. It'll move 1/4 inch prying on the bottom but it wont move on the top.

 

Check the starter bolt again. If the trans is off a little, and stuck, it's the starter bolt.

 

good luck, i was going to do my own but seemed too much of a pita for me to do alone using a floor jack, i'd rather do stuff myself but i have enough headaches without adding a clutch job to it. i've been getting too lazy the last year or so, instead of replacing my softtop i just got a hardtop, two brackets and two latches is a lot easier than tearing apart my interior and having down time. one day i'll be motivated again.

 

All good, just had to manipulate the tranny a bit. The input shaft was binding up (cocked at a weird angle). Came out pretty smooth in the end. Now just need to put it all back together. Steering joint had no effect. I don't know why so many people say to remove it......

If you were dropping the subframe down more than 3" I could see a problem but I only ended up dropping it 2" at most and everything slid right out.

Just for those of you worried about doing it yourself. I did mine with a 3 1/2 ton floor jack from Sears, 4 high lift stands and a few hand tools (plus 2 20" extensions). I'd just recommend you have a breaker bar standing by.

 

Also, I am going to be replacing the flywheel, all OEM parts from Honda. Odd that the manual calls for no type of treatment to the threads of the flywheel bolts prior to reinstall. Anyone recommend any type of anti-seize or just install as is?

Lastly it calls for a thin coat of oil to be applied to the pilot bearing prior to install. My flywheel came from Honda with a bearing already installed, should this still be performed? If so, any specific type of oil?

Thanks, just wanna make sure I get it right.

 

As I recall the manual actually calls for the FW bolts to be replaced with the FW. No, I would not put any lube on them.

 

You can bend the steering shaft if you dont disconnect it. Or break the neutral sensor part of the rack.