Need advice from diy mechanics

Never trust any jack and NEVER put so much as a finger in the pinch zone of a transmission jack. Empty it'll hurt, with 800+ lbs of transmission on it, it'll cut off whatever extremity you've got in the way. Secure the transmission real good to the jack. If it slips off the jack, best case scenario it falls and rips a hole in your fuel tank. Worst case you get squashed.

Just take your time and be mindful of what you're doing. Its a pretty simple and straightforward job for the most part.

 

Wouldn't hurt to double check and make sure the discs in the new clutch are installed in the right orientation. The odd one gets assembled wrong at the factory and the clutch will not operate correctly if even just 1 disc is backwards. They're usually marked as to which side faces the intermediate plate.

 

Great post! Did not mean to get you into all of that but you left out the best part. Your bride helping with the P/U truck.

 

It’s a lot easier job for a mechanic with proper tools. I may sound like I’m exaggerating, but honestly, for a DYI’er it’s a challenge. Definitely have a greater respect for those who do it for a living. Average Joe isn’t going to just slap it all together in 8 hrs. Lol. Can’t take enough time being cautious. That 1000 lb. trans ain’t no joke. I’ve only done one clutch before this one. On my 67 Plymouth. 6 cyl 3 speed. I pulled it out, right onto my chest. Lol. It wasn’t funny at the time. I had more strength than brains back then. Some thought is mandatory on this big a job. I’m glad I did it. But it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. A lot harder.

 

My first clutch took me around 2 days to do if I remember it right. Had to pull 2 PTOs off, plus it was a Western Star so I had to support the rear of the engine and work around that in addition to the jack. Think I had to cut the u-joint out as well. Then it had to come out for some work under the top cover, so quarter fender and driver's side steer tire had to come off to get it out.

All in all I think I did pretty good for an 18 year old with only a month or 2 experience on the job.

 

She did good, using the phones to communicate. The best part was hearing her complain while barring the engine over,” Its too hot out here, I didn’t sign up for this when I married you, how much more do I have to keep doing this, aren’t you done yet”, ##### ##### #####!!. I made her bar it over a 3rd time around, double checking the torques just for complaining so much. Lol. I was so beat up from this job, I didn’t have much tolerance for her complaining. I really had to bite my tongue. She did good, as always when it really matters.

 

As someone who did this for a living , I say have it done. Cheap trans jack will get you hurt or worse. If things go south and it takes you 2 or 3 weeks to get it done, how much money did you lose by being down? A good shop will have it done in a day or 2 and have the proper tools so things don't go south, and you will have a warranty.

 

I kinda agree. Warranties are worth the integrity of the man standing behind the work. A good one is done in 10 hours and you don't look back for years. A bad one and you ease out on the clutch at a red light and the stick goes through the floor because all the bell housing bolts fell out, and it's your fault.

Choose wisely

 

Very good advise. I've had 2 trans leave the jack. One was a burnt up Spicer in a 9400. Old worn out Jack. Someone got carried away. No one hurt, but it came out upside down.

Next was a Mack triple counter shaft trans. Co worker slid it of the jack. Headed south. But hung up. Easily could have killed both of us. Time and patience are very important even with quality tools.