Help dropping tranny

[medic]

'91 Legacy Wagon, all wheel drive automatic 4eat. Trying to drop the tranny. Having trouble accessing the four (4) drive plate to torque converter bolts. I've taken the timing access cover off and can see the bolts. 12mm wrench slips and 11mm wrench won't fit on it. Can't get a socket onto the bolts due to the cramped space and difficult angle. Have tried with a universal joint, 3/8" drive set. See the picture at http://www.tcshp.com/subaru

So I checked below: just to the left of the oilpan, I can again see the bolts. However, the space is too narrow to apply a socket and or universal adapter.

Can the transmission be dropped without removing these bolts? Is there another way to get at them? If not, what is the secret.

Thanks
John

[stant093]

perhaps a few more pics might help my understanding a little...i pulled a few tranny's and have learned to just take the whole cross member out and let it fall (figurativly speaking)...and to have a pit in a garage helps sooo much...also take the slightly smaller socket and (i dont know if you mind doing this, but it worked for me) banging the socket on the nut with a good hammer....might ruin the bolt/nut but from the sounds of it its almost ruined by now....and most of the time, it seems to work...sometimes the only way is to make way
hope this helps..if not disregard it

[medic]

Here's another picture.
http://www.tcshp.com/subaru/tranny.jpg
Sorry about the poor quality. I don't have any pics from the bottom looking up. Don't have a pit in the garage. But I have dreamed about a lift in the next garage! Actually, I'm on a broken concrete floor. Not enough room to use a creeper.

By removing the crossmember, I'll have enough room to get to those bolts? Does the front drive axle need to come out on both sides in order to do this? What else is entailed. I knew this would be a PIA but thought I'd be able to get to the bolts, just like the picture in the book.... dugh.

I'm out of ideas. Everytime I tried to loosen the bolts from the top, the wrench would slip because of the crappy angle. Then, if I was able to get any grip at all, the damn thing would start to rotate (the whole assembly).
Tried to block the rotation by placing a screw driver into the bottom but still couldn't get enough torque to break the bolts loose.

Got frustrated so I moved onto removing the exhaust to facilitate dropping the tranny. Got a nice blood blister out of that.

John

[entirelyturbo]

I would assume that taking the bolts out from the bottom would be easier. However, I am looking in a Haynes and yes it does look rather tight so I sympathize...

I have an MT so I can't say I have experience, but I do know that you can either disconnect the torque converter from the flex plate, or disconnect the flex plate from the crankshaft, and obviously the latter would be impossible at this point...

So those bolts have to come loose somehow... unless you take both engine and tranny crossmembers out and simply drop the whole drivetrain on your garage floor