Is this non-quattro tranny very heavy?
I plan on doing the same thing (come late spring) so some writing would really give some pointers.
Not "affraid" of it - just want to know about "obstacles"(if any) you came across when first pulling the engine, and then with the tranny itself.
YVW - by the way....and good job!

 

The transmission was very heavy, I was really surprised. Im trying to do some more writing but the main tips and tricks are as follows:

To remove the exhaust, you must drop the rear of the subframe about 2 inches. This way the cats have room to slide out. Oh, and loosen the o2 sensors before you completely unbolt the exhaust.

To get to the top 2 bellhousing bolts, I removed the mounts from and lowered the trans a few inches. They were still by far the hardest ones to get to.

When removing the transmission, you must rotate it slightly counter-clockwise before you go down, as the passenger side of the trans sticks out further than the drivers side.

Other than that, the main difficulties reside in finding a combination of sockets and extensions that space out the ratchet far enough to get proper leverage. Once you get the hang of it, everything seems to work itself out

Sorry if any of this is vague or confusing, I'm on my phone lol.

 

Oh, on mine I can take the cats out with closed eyes Already dropped them in two different occasions. I personally remove the crossmember - 10 bolts (is that what you call the subframe?), getting it completely out of the way.
Yeah, I can't really picture it in my mind since I would assume that lowering the tranny while the bolts are fastened would put strain on'em and also make it hard to unbolt - but I'll figure it out when I'll get down to business.
Thanks. I'll keep watching the thread.

 

The C4 must be completely different than the C5. My subframe (interchangable with crossmember to some extent) also holds the engine up, as the engine mounts bolt to it. It seemed like it was more trouble than it was worth to support the engine independently and remove the subframe.

Ill try to find some pictures or diagrams to show you what I mean.