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

[SERKETSICCS1NINE]

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.

[padresag]

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

[SERKETSICCS1NINE]

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

[padresag]

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

[SERKETSICCS1NINE]

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

[Eagar1]

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.

[padresag]

Originally Posted by SERKETSICCS1NINE

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

.
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