Well I had a rather productive weekend that would have been more productive had I not chosen Harbor Freight as my tool supplier. Since I sold my engine hoist when moving to Arizona about 6 years ago I decided to use my 20% coupon to go purchase an engine hoist at Harbor Freight. Got home, and got to step 1:
Install 2 large casters on the base, 2 large casters on the legs, and two small casters on the front of the base. Guess what? Only two large casters and two small casters in the box. So back to Harbor Freight I go. Saturday afternoon I decide to take a stab at the assembly and proceed to step 2:
Attach legs using 4 pins YAY I have all the pins but only two of the four holes line up! Ok well I'll just get out the 1/2" drill bit and make my own! Alright Im moving along now on to step 3:
Attach upright to base using two bolts...And the holes dont line up! Now I could have redrilled but to further weaken the base is just plain stupid. So I load my half assembled lift into my truck and drive the 35 mins back to Harbor Freight where a nice manager says I have all the right parts but they sometimes require some modification and she introduces me to her "Assembler" who takes me to the floor model and shows me how he did it. In the place of the 1/2 bolt he had slipped an 1/8 inch one since it was all that would fit in the corners where daylight showed through. I told him this is an ENGINE HOIST you cant put that kind of weight on the main structure that holds it in the air! His response was well thats what you gotta do. I returned the hoist.
Long story short I swung into a Pep Boys since my time was tight and grabbed one from them that went together in about 10 mins. Ok its time to prep for the heart transplant!
First step drain the fluids. Dont think the previous owners ever changed the tranny fluid:
Not Looking So GOOD!
Crawled under the truck and started removing things when I noticed something that kinda killed any thoughts of rebuilding my tranny:
If you look real close beneath all that gook the case is cracked and part is missing.
I guess I'll be looking for another transmission....
Yanked out the old exhaust. Only had to make one cut just in front of the mufflers..The rest disintegrated:
Ok all set, no other surprises, and everything's unhooked ready to yank that puppy:
Now booger sits without a heart
Overall, I was called into work 3 times, had a terrible experience with Harbor Freight tools, but still managed to get alot done and I'd say that was a successful weekend.
