Date:         Fri, 13 Aug 2004 15:36:32 -0700
Reply-To:     Tobin Copley <tcopley@SFU.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tobin Copley <tcopley@SFU.CA>
Subject:      Re: transmission jacking up tips?
In-Reply-To:  <002301c48100$07d61430$0262480c@home>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

On Aug 12, 2004, at 11:37 PM, Karl Wolz wrote:
> Place tranny on your chest, with your feet toward the front of the van.
> Bench press the tranny up to about the elevation it needs to be, then
> push it into place using both your arms and your knees.  Hold it there
> while you slip a nut onto one of the lower studs.  Done.

Heh.  I don't have a problem benching a tranny (they only weigh about
100 lbs), but the problem is that unless you have the vehicle up on a
lift, it doesn't need to be lifted up very high.  This means (for me,
at least) that you'd be trying to align the tranny for installation
with your elbows bent almost 90 degrees, and hold 100 lbs at that angle
for the minute or two it'll take to get the tranny to slide in enough
to let you thread on a nut or two (holding it with just one arm,
remember) *is* a bit of a push.

Easier options, in my opinion:

1) Go rent a tranny jack.  They're cheap and available at just about
any tool rental place.

2) Use your jack, but build a cradle for it.  I haven't made one, but
I'm thinking along the lines of a piece of plywood on the bottom and a
couple of 2x4s nailed in on the sides so they'll snug against the sides
of the tranny and keep it from tipping sideways off the jack.

Hope this helps,

T.

-------------------------------------------------------
"I am not strictly speaking mad, for my mind is absolutely
normal in the intervals, and even more so than before. But
during the attacks it is terrible--and then I lose
consciousness of everything.  But that spurs me on to work
and to seriousness, as a miner who is always in danger
makes haste in what he does."
  -- Vincent Van Gogh