Replacing the flexplate without removing engine or transmission

[dmjlambert]

I thought some of you may enjoy these pictures. I replaced the flexplate without removing engine or transmission. My truck is a 1969 CST/10 with 350 engine and TH400 automatic transmission. I am a newbie for such an in-depth repair, so if I can do it anybody can. Some of you may recall a recent post of mine where I talked about chewing up my flexplate and needing to replace it.

First of all, the research. I found this interesting forum article:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/automatic...l#post18644698

The only special tool I ordered for the job was a Lisle Flywheel Turner. I highly recommend this tool, it is just great.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FN7JE2/

I did some things slightly different than the article. I did not remove the driveshaft. Instead I just took loose the rear u-joint and the carrier bearing mount bolts, and rested the driveshaft on a strap so it could move front to rear with the transmission.


I disconnected the negative lead of the battery. Instead of removing the starter, I just loosened the inner bolt and remove the outer bolt, and rotated the starter out of the way.


I removed the parking brake cable guide that is right behind the transmission and pushed it up the cable and out of the way, and put a small bolt and nut in place, and hooked the cable under it. It is out of the way for when the transmission moves back. This picture shows the transmission already moved back.


I took out the flexplate-to-torque-converter bolts with help of the flywheel turner tool. I removed the various transmission connections and mount bolts. I put in the 4 long bolts one at a time, and took out the top 2 transmission bolts. I put a jack under the transmission to lift just a little bit of weight. It probably wasn't mandatory, but I thought it was a good idea. The truck was on ramps for the operation. My Home Depot was out of 4 inch 3/8 grade 8 bolts, so I got some 5 inch bolts. It worked great. The transmission slid back on those bolts with little effort, and what I saw was a big work area to get at the flexplate-to-engine bolts.


Here is what the flywheel turner tool looks like.