Changing my flex plate

[70Custom10Nut]

Ever try to talk somebody through changing a flex plate over the phone? I spent the better part of two hours trying to explain to my son how to do it. He's in SC and I'm in Germany. Question. Once the three mounting bolts are out, the torque converter should slide back enough to get the plate out, right? He says it won't move back far enough to allow the bolts to fall free. It's been about 15 years since I did this , but I don't recall it being that difficult. Please tell me he can do this without separating the engine and trans.

[FL71C10]

I got this off a club hot rod posting.

A trick I 've used in the past is to dig up a couple of long bolt the same thread size as the bellhousing bolts.

Remove the drive shaft and crossmember (and possibly shift linkage), support the tranny on a floor jack (a good one that does not leak down). Next remove the lower 2 bellhousing bolts and replace them with the long bolts, then take out the rest of the bellhousing bolts.

The transmission should slide back about 4 to 6 inches which will let you get to the converter bolts with a long thin wrench. The cooler lines and starter can be left in place, but watch the lines as you pull the tranny back to make sure there won't be a problem.

I usually save about an hour doing it this way ranther than dropping the tranny completly to the floor.

[70Custom10Nut]

Thanks. I'm forwarding this to my son. It's hard to do this stuff over the phone when I want to be the one on my back underneath the truck. I think that I used "the Long bolts in the mounting holes trick" before and it worked. I remember doing it by flashlight in my carport at Ft Bragg. Ah the memories

[MARKDTN]

Usually if the distributor does not hit the firewall I just take all the bellhousing bolts out and let the engine and trans "V" at the bottom. Then you have enough room to take the bolts out of the flexplate. The exhaust and motor mounts won't let the engine fall and the trans mount and the driveshaft won't let the trans fall (I do put a jack under the trans pan to lower it and support it).