I cant get the tranny to mount flush with the bellhousing. It's about a 1/4 inch aft of the bellhousing. Everything is lined up good. The pinion is not bottomed out in the crank. I was thinking of trying to pull it in with the mount bolts. Is this a bad idea? All suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Hmmmmmm...... 1/4"????? Is the bellhousing hole the correct size for the front bearing retainer???

The way my buddy and I did with mine was to get a small 2x4 against the clutch fork and 1 person push the clutch fork and the other wiggle the tranny in. Sounds harder than it is. This same thing happened to mine.

DO NOT pull the bell housing in with the bolts! You'll likely break stuff. That's a common alignment problem with A833's. There's nothing likely wrong but the angle of attack and lubrication. Try pulling it out and greasing the input shaft and pilot hole, try to keep weight off the input shaft as it goes in. A tranny jack will help a lot.

Last one I did was by myself, I cut the hex off a couple long bolts, threaded them into the bell, this helped the alignment and took a lot of load off me!

The allignment is perfect; I can install the four mount bolts and hand screw them into the bellhousing. The engine, tranny, and bellhousing are factory original. I did not lube the pinion shaft per the FSM. I did not want to use the bolts to pull the tranny in. The pinion bearing was purchsed from Passon so I'm sure thats correct. I'm using a tranny jack. Darn thing just won't go in

Do as previously suggested, pry on the throwout fork to disengage the clutch a little than push the transmission in. If you used one of those plastic disc line-up tools they suck for alignment.

Just a thought, but I don't see mention of the crank being drilled for the 4 speed. If it's not, you could be butting the bottom of the crank against the input shaft.

No doubt this response will cause dozens of objections, but, I've used the bolts to pull the 833 in my sedan flush several times. If the bolts get snug, give it up. I've alternated tightening the bolts when there's only a 1/4" to go with no problems. I don't think you'll damage anything unless you try to use the bolts to force the trans. Again, if the bolts start to get hard to turn, something may be wrong.

was this trans on this bell before? I agree with above. A 1/4 " is about the thickness of the bearing retainer and bolt heads preventing the teans from mating to the bell.

The OP clearly states "The engine, tranny, and bellhousing are factory original."

check the front bearing retainers for damages or burrs, same thning on the bellkousing. If there both okay try lifting up the back of the trans. tailshaft and pushing forward and rotating the trans back and forth at the same time I've had some of them slide right in and the next time with the same trans and bellhousing (different clutch discs.)fight like the devil also you can do it, don't break it forcing it It is probally catching the edge of the front bearing reatiner now, your 7/8 of the way there get the last 1/8 in there properly

I know a guy that had that happen on a truck and it ended up being the clutch disk was in backward

Got the transmission in. What a PITA. Thank you all for our help on this problem. I just kept reposition/move the trans and finally it got to where it needed to be. The last 1/32 I pulled it in with the bolts using an alternate pattern of tighten/loose the bolts. Thank you all again for your help

Good Deal