Tranny install suggestion

R

rabiddawg

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Joined
Dec 1, 2008
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60
Location
Lafayette, LA
This is for all us lonely gear heads that don't have a car buddy close enough to help out.

I recently had to remove the tranny from my 81 and as you know, taking something out is often easier that getting it back in. After trying two different evenings and two different angles of attack I had decided to remove the engine and reinstall the both of them together. At the last minute I decided to ask my neighbor if I could borrow his motorcycle jack and boy was I glad I did.

The mc jack has two flat plates with rubber cushion that support the bike. This serves as a perfect platform for the tranny pan. I place the scissor jack that came with the car and a 2x6 under the front crossmember and jacked it (front of car) up high enough to slide the tranny under the car. Then I placed a 2x4 6" long on edge under the edge of the pan. This allowed me to roll the tranny over far enough to get the mc jack partially under the tranny. You will have to muscle it the rest of the way. After that the rest is easy because the mc jack holds the trans stable and you can shim under the pan to get the angle you need.

I started with the car on the ground at 8:30 am Sunday and by 10:30 I had four bolts in the tranny and made it to 11:00 mass. I buttoned up the rest after lunch.

I guess this is kinda long just to say that everyone needs a motorcycle jack.
 
I use a 2x6 about 12" long on a bolt I drill/tap the hole into the cup of my floor jack....this sets under the tranny pan and so I use that to raise/lower the tranny to meet engines....

I have never had enough height under a car on stands to put the engine and tranny in/out as a unit.....the geometry is always off, and too boot, keep any tranny oils inside has always been a problem....I dropped a whole load of ATF one time, that was a freeeking MESS to clean up, that was my last attempt to work them as a assembly.....

:cussing::cussing:
 
The motorcycle jack is a good idea. I've always used my trusty floor jack. Like Gene, I've never had enough room to put the trans on the jack and then roll it under the car, but I worked out a way to slide the trans under and then lift it up on the jack pad.

That's what this forum is all about- different ways to get a job done. safely and as easily as possible.
 
TimAT said:
The motorcycle jack is a good idea. I've always used my trusty floor jack. Like Gene, I've never had enough room to put the trans on the jack and then roll it under the car, but I worked out a way to slide the trans under and then lift it up on the jack pad.

That's what this forum is all about- different ways to get a job done. safely and as easily as possible.
Click to expand...

HEEH...aside from that, the problem for me is trying to get a tranny/engine in/out as a unit, the damn tranny has always been some 12' long, and having to pull the engine so high, and that tranny tailshaft is into the ground, and then the engine harmonica balancer is hitting the top of the rad support, somehow I have NEVER made that work without having to raise the car some 15' in the air, whatEVER, that damn geometry is a killer on NORMAL jack stand height....

so I slide tranny under the car, slide jack after it, get tranny on jack...and go from there....I gotta keep it doo able by myself, even if it takes me more time and maybe even more effort, I gotta keep it doo able....
fucking skeleton, .....:cussing:
 
mrvette said:
I use a 2x6 about 12" long on a bolt I drill/tap the hole into the cup of my floor jack....this sets under the tranny pan and so I use that to raise/lower the tranny to meet engines....
Click to expand...

That works too. I looked at my floor jack and decided that drilling it woud be too much work too. The mc jack has casters on the front that made steering it easier too versus the casters on the back of my floor jack.

Btw, my neck and shoulders are still sore.
 
I used a motorcycle jack to put my diff in. It worked well, much safer than trying to balance the diff on a floor jack cradle.

Oh, and it also works great for picking up a motorcycle!
 
shft22 said:
I purchase this transmission jack from Harbor Freight and it has come in really handy with transmission and differential removals....

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=39178
Click to expand...


I got the tranny jack fro HF, too. It worked like a champ. The cool part, is that it will lift the tranny up about 3' high, so you can easily load it onto a pickup bed. I used my air ratchet to raise and lower the jack.

With the 6-ton HF jack stands, it gets the Vette just high enough to roll the transmission under the car on the tranny jack stand.

I guess I could use my tranny jack on a motorcycle, if I needed to.:tomato:
 
I used this plate which was installed on my jack. It has a standard jack mating dowel in the bottom. Just lifted off the stock rubber cushion and dropped in the plate. My friend had it made up at a local shop, cheap...just a square piece of steel with some sides and the dowel welded to it. Not shown in the picture, but I also used some temporary studs in place of the trany bolts which made it very easy to line up the trans and push it home.


Picture058.jpg
 
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carguy said:
I used this plate which was installed on my jack. It has a standard jack mating dowel in the bottom. Just lifted off the stock rubber cushion and dropped in the plate. My friend had it made up at a local shop, cheap...just a square piece of steel with some sides and the dowel welded to it. Not shown in the picture, but I also used some temporary studs in place of the trany bolts which made it very easy to line up the trans and push it home.


Picture058.jpg
Click to expand...

Why the jack stand under the bellhousing?

I've been thinking about getting the one from Harbor freight. Now there's one about 1/2 hr from me.
 
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