merfal

So what did you end up doing?

Bellboys

I am having the same problem and my manual says to remove the starter but I cannot see where the starter attached to the bellhousing. There two long bolts running from front to back, but I cannot see any other place where the starter attaches. I have spent hours trying to get the bellhousing to part from the engine and it will ony come away maybe 1/8 of an inch. HELP!!

bb7110

Don't know if this will help any, but my experience was pretty horrendous so I hope it might help someone, someday.
Make sure you have those two evil bolts out of the top. That took dropping the trans nearly until the cylinder head contacted the firewall, in addition to crazy long extensions with a universal on a BIG impact wrench. The starter should be totally removed, with one of the bolts being a stud in the bell housing. (At least on the 87 SR5 22RE Auto) The dip stick and the midpipe on the exhaust (from the header to the cat) needed to be removed. The midpipe had a bolt on it that I missed the first time that was solid enough to keep everything in.
A quick safety-don't do what I did- warning: The bellhousing is SOFT cast Aluminum. Trasnmission jacks can be super sketchy. I had my truck up on my lift, and didn't have the trans strapped tight enough to the jack. The trans slipped, and the whole thing met the shop floor real hard. Ended up shattering the bellhousing. Be careful when dropping the trans!
A note to auto guys: If you removed your trans, and pulled the torque converter out in the process, make SURE that when you put it back in that you 1. Fill it with ATF 2. make SURE it seats in the trans. If it doesnt seat, the trans won't mate flush to the engine, leaving like a 1/4" gap--one is tempted to use the bolts to pull it flush, but that will destroy the TQ.
Hope this helps someone!

toyotabull

you have your bell housing bolts, your starter bolts, 1 on top and 1 on bottom of starter. your dust plate is bolted to the block behind the flywheel, so pry between the dust plate and the tranny bell housing when trying to get them to separate.