Recommend a transmission jack
- Thread starter Spook50
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I rented one from the local tool rental place (it's actually a Hertz biz now). Worked fine. 2 hrs to remove, 2 to reinstall...lots cheaper than buying one.
Only caveat though is that height might be a problem for you. With the tranny jack all the way down, the rear tires had to be 3" off the ground in order for the top of the tranny to clear the frame rails. I did it on the street, so no height limits. Probably could have put the tranny on it's side to slide it under the truck, then stood it up for install. Would want a strong helper on that though as the tranny/transfer combo is heavy.
I thought about fabbing a plate to allow using my floor jack to lift/lower the tranny. It's a lot lower profile. I think a floor jack is the lowest option out there.
Or, could you use a cherry picker through the access panel in the tranny hump?
Only caveat though is that height might be a problem for you. With the tranny jack all the way down, the rear tires had to be 3" off the ground in order for the top of the tranny to clear the frame rails. I did it on the street, so no height limits. Probably could have put the tranny on it's side to slide it under the truck, then stood it up for install. Would want a strong helper on that though as the tranny/transfer combo is heavy.
I thought about fabbing a plate to allow using my floor jack to lift/lower the tranny. It's a lot lower profile. I think a floor jack is the lowest option out there.
Or, could you use a cherry picker through the access panel in the tranny hump?
- Thread starter
- #3
That would be awesome, though I don't exactly see the entire assembly fitting through there....
I bought and used this one for the manual swap on my 80 and it worked fine:
Transmission Jack - 800 Lb. Capacity
Transmission Jack - 800 Lb. Capacity
I guess I was thinking that you could slide the tranny/transfer under the truck and then roll the cherry picker into the truck, lower the hook through the tranny hump access panel, and then lift the tranny/transfer combo up with the cherrry picker. I've never done this though, so maybe am missing something.
I have one of these too. Decent jack, but not exactly low profile.
- Thread starter
- #8
I see Harbor Freight also has a low profile tranny jack (so to speak) for $300. The specs say it'll hold the assembly about 3" lower than the one posted earlier in the thread. For $300 I could go that route and simply sell it (or just store it up and out of the way) when I'm all done. The 2000lbs capacity would easily handle an A440F/tcase combo (which I imagine would be the heavier tranny to have to move around).
The one I have handled the a440 and 80 series case no problem. I did have to jack up the side of the truck to get that monster out from under the sliders. You probably will want to measure how much clearance you really need before you have it out on the jack under the truck. I have a 10' ceiling in the garage so it wasn't a big deal to just lift the truck, but it was a little unnerving having the truck completely disabled with the transmission trapped under it.
I own this transsmission jack
The only pitfall of this transmission jack is the jack screws diameter that tild the top pad. It takes alot of force to turn them, because the jack screw diameter is to small to distribute the stress of the transmission.
The chain that is provided is a real joke. Best to by some rubber hook straps and or cable or new chain to keep the transmission on the stand.
The only pitfall of this transmission jack is the jack screws diameter that tild the top pad. It takes alot of force to turn them, because the jack screw diameter is to small to distribute the stress of the transmission.
The chain that is provided is a real joke. Best to by some rubber hook straps and or cable or new chain to keep the transmission on the stand.
- Thread starter
- #11
I suspected that would be the case if I got a HF jack. Figure some good chain or a couple cargo straps (the heavy duty mofos that we use on our aircraft, booya) would solve that issue.