Seriously.
First off, a disclaimer.
This may well be the dumbest post ever. Those with an intolerance for dumb posts may find all this a little silly. Poo I say.

But...
I spent an entire afternoon trying to get my transmission out of my car to change the clutch. Yep. I disconected the shift linkage and all the wires, unbolted everything on the bellhousing and the driveshaft, undid the crossmember, and me and a friend pulled and shook the stupid thing for almost an hour. It separated from the block about a half inch, and then just stopped. Seeing that the little bubble on the bellhousing for the starter appeared to be contacting the firewall, we attempted to rotate it to ensure it wouldn't hit. Still nothing. We insured everything was level so it would come straight out....nothing. It feels like it comes out a little more, and then kinda catches and pulls itself back together. Sadly, nothing seemed to work.

At this point, I'm open to being publicly humiliated for something I've forgotten to do, or my inability. This is only the second time I've done this, so please feel free......any advice? Ideas? Questions? Vive la France!

Greg

Big screwdrivers 'tween the block & hellbousing. Pry that sucker off... mind your head.

Heres the trick, be REALLY mean.

in addition to what matt and raz said

it's a GD volvo tranny...i.e. not made of ceramic...put out on the mofo and make sure you arn't under it when it falls!!! hey matt PICKLEFORK FTW??

ciao

So more force then....alrighty. I've already hit it with a hammer, and stuck a tire iron in there. I'll get two big screwdrivers then, and go at the bellhousing from opposite sides.
Hmmmm....I'll report back.
Thanks guys,
Greg

Doesn't standing on the clutch pedal tend to separate engine and tranny when they're not physically attached? Granted, you'd need to hook up the clutch cable again...

Report:
Thanks to everyone that responded.
Dale, I hooked up the clutch cable again, but the tranny had already separated enough that it wasn't even engaging anymore. I've got about a 3/4 inch gap between the bellhousing and the block...I'm guessing that's already out of reach of the clutch throw, sadly.

So, I had a friend over, and we spent another 1/2 hour, jiggling and pulling on the tranny. He put a large pry bar in at the bottom, and I put mine in through the engine bay, and we both yanked pretty hard on the flywheel. Yep, and NOTHING HAPPENED.

I had already unbolted the shift fork thingy from the tranny, so we could rotate the thing more to help get more clearance between the starter bubble on the bellhousing and the firewall. Space is tight in there.
There's always something contacting the tunnel a little, but there should be enough room to get it out right? I mean, it only needs to come out like another inch?

There's nothing left to do. I'm seriously nearing my end here. Like holy crap, I have no idea what to do. We raised and lowered it, shook it, pryed on it....
I have stale gas and a match. I love this car to bits, but this is ridiculous.

I know it may seem really simple....but is your shifter taken out?

Yep. And the fork its attached to.

The only thing I can think of is it's binding on the clutch spline. That can be the only thing holding it in unless, like Andy said, the shifter is still in...

Hitting the tunnel isn't going to stop it from coming out. There's enough give in the engine mounts.

Can you get it lined up and back on? I might be tempted to slide it back on so the dowel pins are engaged...maybe even do up a bolt or two to suck it right together. Then remove the bolts and give the clutch pedal a good stomp. That might shoot it far enough off the spline to come out. I assume you have a bunch of old tires under it to catch it instead of you or your buddy trying to catch it when it comes off? She's about 75 or 80 pounds. Not something I'd want to "catch", if you know what I mean... Laying under a car with an M46 on your chest with nowhere to put it can lead to some anxious moments. Been there, done that...

awww comon Dale, every volvo owner has to experience the jow of lifting an m46 by himself.

80 lbs?

a bit more than that with bellhousing and all the shit added on to it, could be that light I suppose, but all the uncomfortable protruding things make it seem worse

Dude, if you haven't gotten it out by friday, I'll drive down over the weekend and help you get it out.

- R

I read it's 105 lbs.

You might not be able to get the transmission bolted back up now, anyway - the way that clutch was slipping, it's possible that it's slipped down under the weight of the transmission hanging off it, and it's binding it from coming out.

I can't believe the brute force method isn't working. How good are your motor mounts? Are they allowing the engine to slide backwards, pushing the bellhousing to the firewall, preventing the thing from coming out? You might need to support the engine somehow, if that's the case.

Some times it's easier to pull the engine than to drop the transmission...

I have had a few like that.
It is either the clutch splines or alignment dowels hanging up.

Don't get frustrated (I know really hard not to), keep wiggling & jigling & prying. It will eventually come

I'm thinking maybe there's some buildup of crud on the input shaft between the pilot bearing and clutch spline and it's hanging on that.

You're not going to damage the block by laying into the pry bar. If you wreck the bellhousing, there are likely a few spares around. Someone will get you one. Like the old saying goes...If all else fails, get a bigger hammer...