I got my transmission mated to the engine and since my last update, I have had a few more interesting things happen.

I neeed to change the shift cam on the replacement transmission and I will describe the procedure. there are two cams on the transmission the smaller one is for the throttle kickdown, and is held on by the nut. (12mm if memory serves correct.) the longer cam is the shift selector and that is interesting. to remove this, you have to drop the pan and remove the gasket. Under the gasket is a drive pin that has to be pulled out with a pair of dykes. Here you need to squeeze hard enough to grab the pin but not so hard you cut the pin. You also want to be careful not to bugger up the surface of the case where the gasket seals.

Inside, the shift cam tube is attached to the detent cam with a large nut. It is a little tricky to bet an open end on the nut but once it cracks loose it spins right off. Now the cam can be pulled out. If there is any sign of leakage now would be a good time to install a new seal.

The dip stick tube is a two piece affair. The long section curves over the top of the engine and down. It is a friction fit inside of the small tube that is about 4 or 5 inches and is press fit into the transmission. I needed to re-use the old tubes. When pulling the transmission I lubricated the connection between the upper tube and the lower tube and wiggled it a bit before dropping the trans. In my case it came right out.

To remove small tube pressed into the transmission I got a box wrench that would just fit over the tube but not slip past the bell mouth where it receives the upper tube. Slipping the wrench on and tapping with a mallet popped the tube right out and I will be able to remove it.

I swapped the speedometer gear and sending unit. The only thing tricky was that the 11mm bolt would not accept my 11mm socket so I went in search of an 11mm open end and could not find one. I finally used a 11mm nut driver.

OK so on to the tool review. For this job I purchased the Harbor Freight 450lb capacity transmission jack. This tool works good for the price but If you were pulling transmissions on a regular basis I would spring for a better unit.

Coming out went fairly smooth, the first problem was that I could not roll out the transmission on the jack, and had to take the transmission off the jack to get it out from under the van. No big deal here, but I would suggest using Masonite over the concrete as it is a lot easier to slide the transmission.

This would also not be a problem if you were just doing a clutch since the transmission could stay on the jack.

Installing gets a little tricky. You need to get the new transmission up about 8 or 9 inches to slide the jack under it. This is doable if you have some scrap 2X4's and a crow bar to lever it up. I used both my mini floor jack and the van's scissor jack to work it up to the correct height. (It only fell once, and the only thing damaged was my pride and the heat shield. )

The tip feature is nearly useless on this jack. I used a 1X board under one end and made my final adjustment with the scissor jack under the engine's oil pan. Even then it was a pain to get the motor to mate with the trans. What I ended up doing was to get it close enough where I had one converter nut on and I got the two top bolts on the bell housing. Gave the tail shaft a real good wiggle and shake, and clunk it went together.

This jack has a ratchet strap to secure the transmission to the jack. This strap set-up is for the birds. If you cinch down really good on the ratchet, you can see the top flex quite a bit. It would be real easy to bugger the thing up.

So in all, I think it was worth the $79 price tag. I might re-design the top part to give it a little more precision tilt action, and a bit better clamping. Perhaps I can rig some sort of second cradle to load and unload the jack itself to avoid having to lever the trans up under the car to load the trans. If I do, I will post the results of my design work.

 

I hope you installed the torque converter correctly before trying to bolt the bell housing to the engine. There are 4 distinct steps that the converter has to slip over the input shaft. When it does, it will slightly scrape the bell housing.

There were shops that did not do this, and ended up crushing the pump.

If I were to modify that transmission jack, I would make something that more positively grabs the transmission, and be able adjust its angles.

 

What I did was to lubricate the seal and the converter with a bit of vasilene, then once I slid in the converter I rotated it while I pushed in gently until it clunked into place. I then dabbed a bit of the vasilene on the pilot on the converter.

I tried to get a square stab but I think I was a bit axlialy out of alignment. I also put a socket on the crankshaft bolt and gave the engine a couple of revolutions with only one converter nut fingered on. After I had put in the top bolts (finger tight) I relieved some of the pressure on the jack and did the wiggle it into place thing.

Air tools sure speed things up.

Amen brother.

I was thinking about clamps that you could adjust to sit between the pan bolts and clamp over the casting.

You would need tip and roll adjustments preferably with a nice knurled ****.