My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

I went into this thinking that it wouldn't be easy, I guess I just didn't expect it so many things to factor into it. Installing a 700r4 into a 61 Apache is interesting to say the least. Cutting the crossmember out kinda sucked at the time, but now seems to be one of the easier steps. I had a couple of flywheel bolts that I ended up having to cut off and extract. I mounted the flexplate and torque converter without a hitch an then called it a nite last night... So today we get the tranny onto the jack and go to roll it under the truck... The tranny doesn't fit under the truck. I have the truck on ramps since I don't have access to a lift. So I call my brother and drive 20 mins to his house to pick up his floor jack. Get home, jack my truck up and position the tranny under the truck (I know this is dangerous), to discover that I need to remove the torsion bar crossmember, so we did. Now with that out of the way there's plenty of room. So we lowered to truck to just where the tires rest above the ramps. I didn't want to drop the truck all the way because the torsion bars aren't hooked up. Trying to get the tranny to line up with the torque converter is a nightmare. Anybody reading my rant that has a trick or a easy way to get them to line up please let me know. We tried for awhile but then the light bulb burnt out and my 2 brother in laws that are helping me, there 19 & 20, convinced me to call it a night... So I did. It sure has been an experience trying to get this tranny into this truck but the end result should be well worth it.

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

you shouldn't have a problem lining up the conv with the trans as you just put it over the splines and push it in and when it bottoms and then turn it until it engages the frt pump and you will feel it move in some more. bolt up the trans to the eng. the conv should be freeto rotate on it's own at this time until you bolt it up to the flexplate. remember to lube the conv hub with a/t fluid or vaseline before you install it in the frt pump
ron

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

I already have the converter fastened to the plate. Should I remove the 2 from each other...

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

the convertor should first be installed in the trans and then installed to the eng. you will see what the problem was after you try it
ron
hope that you haven't forced anything and screwed up the frt pump

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

Thanx for the heads up. Will it be obvious if I did mess anything up.

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

Yes, you must attach the converter to the trans first, sometimes it helps to jack up the front of the motor to help with clearance issues, I always grab a few phillips screwdrivers to use as alignment tools. Make sure the trans is lined up on the pins before you try to bolt it down as you can crack the bellhousing. Once you have the trans bolted to the back of the engine, you can spin the converter to align the first hole on the bottom, then after that you will need to use a screwdriver in the flywheel teeth to carefully rotate the engine to get to the other bolts.

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

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yes , just as long as you didn't get it close enough to put bolts through to the block and try and pull it together you should be ok
ron

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

with that crossmember out the rear of the eng is free to drop a ways so there would be noo need to jack up the frt of the eng
ron

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

All these handy comments that im going to need in a few days when i try to hook up my TH400...THANKS GUYS

Jory

PS i Assume these techniques and comments apply the same way to a TH400
ie torque conver to tranny first...spin and bolt after....ext

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

Yup...alot easier. You won't be fighting that shaft into the converter while also trying to get the transmission forward and into place.

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

OK also i have the engine out of the truck should i still do it this way?

Jory:chevy:

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

yup
ron

Re: My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...
 

Jory you won't have as hard of a time as SERKETSICCS1NINE since you have a '63. You don't have the torsion bars and the X-member to deal with. But you will still want to install the torque converter into the trans first. Once you slide it onto the input shaft, turn it while still holding pressure on it, and you should feel it slide in and make a clunk sound. If I remember right this should happen 3 times for it to be in all the way. The front of the torque converter should be about an inch or so inside the face of the bellhousing part of the trans.

When you begin to install the trans onto the engine, once you have it onto the dowl pins, check to be sure the torque converter is free and rotates before tightening any bolts. Once the trans is bolted tight to the engine, you should have to slide the torque converter forward slightly to make contact with the flexplate.