Transmission Removal

So I just wanted to update my progress. There is a ton of great advice in this thread!

The transmission jack I had lined up to use didnt pan out, so I bought an adaptor. That didnt pan out (it was very weak looking) so i made an adaptor. I basically took a rectangle piece of 3/8 steel I had laying around, welded a saddle from a floor jack under it (that I had saved for some unknown reason from a busted floor jack) and on the top I welded some 2x2 3/16 square tubing. I made an H pattern and welded almost every seam I could get to. I attached chains on each side with bolts. It is really strong and I even ground the saddle where it goes into the jack a bit so I had some swivel movement. I also welded a bolt underneath and used a washer so my adaptor couldnt come out of the jack.

It worked like a dream! It took me what seemed like forever to get the center floor section out of the truck. I did have to support my engine, and how I did that is I took two hydraulic jacks, put some blocking underneath, then used a jack on each side of the engine to support the engine, plus I could raise and lower the jacks if i needed too. (and I found out I did need to!)I removed the PTO. After that, it was as easy and removing the driveshaft, undoing air lines(labeling all of them with masking tape and a marker), unbolting the bellhousing, undoing the rear engine mounts that are bolted onto the engine, jacked the tranny upa tiny bit, and yanked er out. I should note that I had to work on my truck outside since my shop floor is only gravel right now, and what i did there was laid 2 4x4 sheets of stainless and checker plate (upside down of course) down on the ground so I could roll the jack.

I did this all my self with my father in law "helping" watch for things to get stuck on.

To reinstall I had a bit of an issue at first, I had to jack up the engine so I could raist the tranny up over the rear engine mounts, so I could slide it into place. I got it almost fully into place, was getting stuck on the clutch fork (but didnt realize it at the time)then realized I didnt put a new bellhousing gasket on (rookie move I know!!) so i took everything out, and threw the gasket in.

Round two I got the tranny into place again, made sure I had the clutch brake installed, made sure i had the clutch forks in the right position, slide it most of the way into place where just the end of the shaft needed to go into the pilot bearing. I took a pair of calipers and measured around the bellhousing and set the tranny up so I had even measurements the whole way around, and slid that thing into place.

Im not finished right now as i am one of those guys where I have way too much stuff on the go, but as she sits right now I have the tranny into place with the bellhousing bolts started, the rear engine mounts started, and thats about it.

So far Ive been doing it all by myself, and it hasnt been teh worst job Ive ever done.

Ill update as I get more done as well, and I will have to take the truck in to get something figured out for the tranny cooler (my old transmission had the tranny cooler at the back with a coupler on the auxuillery countershaft, and the new transmission has a different size countershaft and they dont make a coupler to fit anymore) and to ge tthe pto installed properly.

Soon as I get a day I should be able to finish putting everything back together though.

 

So just to update again, i finally got the tranny completely in, took the truck to a shop to get the pto properly put on and installed.

They charged 450 bucks just to do that, sounds stupidly expensive, but I needed it done, so cest la vie.

Gotta fiddle with the air dryer now cause it screwed up on me while driving it into town yesterday, ahh the joys of running old iron!

 

No I didnt do anything with the clutch.

Reason being, i have reciepts from when I got the truck, that the clutch and everything was done on it, and I dont use the truck very much. For my uses, this clutch should last me forever haha.

Im planning on getting rid of this truck and upgrading a little anyways. I wouldnt put things back together half assed though, and if things needed replacement I did, and would have replaced it.

Might sound cheap to some of you hardcore truckers out there, but I only work a few months of the year, and can really get away with cheaping out haha.