My car has lots of room under the hood and I want to know the best way to reinstall the transmission?

Question

If I put it on boards with rollers and roll it up to the engine because your not suppose to use the bolts to hold it aligned will that work while I align the shaft through the clutch?

Answer 1

You're supposed to use a transmission dolly or a stand of sorts. If the engine was out, on most cars you can reinstall them assembled.  

Answer 2

If you are careful to make sure the clutch and pressure plate are aligned properly you can install the transmission with a simple floor jack.

It helps to wrap a chain around the trans and the floor jack to help stabilize things.

Your rolling plank idea will only work if you are capable of moving the transmission up and down in small increments. This is a precise fit so you have to be aligned near perfect for it go.

Unless it is an automatic, then just stuff it up there with anything. They basically fall back in.

Answer 3

not knowing the type of car, or the size of the transmission, i would say rent an engine host from the rental yard.  pull the engine and mate the tranny to it before reinstalling.

with the engine out run it up on ramps so that you can get under it to push the back end of the tranny into position while dropping the engine.

if you do not have the correct tools such as a clutch alignment tool.

align the clutch using the tool before snugging the fhrowout olate down.

spending time here will prevent a lot of fustration later on.