I'm Hurtin' This Morning!

[Bruzilla]

After two whole weekends, my son and I were finally able to get the new transmission into the Roadrunner. I've definitely realized I am too damn old to be swapping transmissions on a driveway!!! I got up this morning and needed three BC powders to get the strength to get my *** out of bed and into work.

On the plus side, the new transmission with the Mancini Racing valve body and shift kit is a thing of beauty to drive. It's amazing how much better the new trans feels compared to the stock worn-out one from the doner car.

And on the pluser side, I paid $500 for the trans, $100 in gas to get it, and once I sell the 2,500 converter that came with it, the tailshaft, dipstick, and the housing, I figure I'll make about $100 off the deal.

 

[Richard Cranium]

A two weekend job?

 

[Bruzilla]

A two weekend job?

Yep... two weekends... well, almost. We took off Easter Sunday to spend with family. What sucked is we got the old transmission out pretty quickly, and I got the new transmission into place by myself, but we could not get the damn thing to mate with the engine. We spent three hours last Saturday trying, and finally got it into place, but when I went to bolt the flex plate to the converter I saw the converter was 10" and the plate was 11", so we had to drop the trans again and replace the converter, and it got dark before we could get the two to hook up again. Then this Saturday I tried a solo act and got nowhere, and Chris came by Sunday and we got it in.

We found out our problem was we were lifting the trans with a 2.5 ton floor jack that was just to unstable. When we started using my 3 ton job, that's about 8" wide, we had success.

 

[747mopar]

That will definitely kick your but, I remember hurting after putting the tranny in my car by myself.. laying on the floor and I'm only 40!

After climbing scaffolding, mowing, weed eating, bicycling, installing ceiling fans and climbing up and down a ladder I'm soar as hell again today.

What's BC powder?

 

[moparnation74]

That will definitely kick your but, I remember hurting after putting the tranny in my car by myself.. laying on the floor and I'm only 40!

After climbing scaffolding, mowing, weed eating, bicycling, installing ceiling fans and climbing up and down a ladder I'm soar as hell again today.

What's BC powder?

It is a cup of coffee and aspirin....lol

The oldest analgesic on the planet....Great stuff to have handy...

I was working under the X awhile ago and my wife comes out in the garage for something. So I slide out and start to rise and she comes over and grabs my hand and says, "Come on old man, I will help you." August I will be 43 and the 40's blows...

 

[DeltaV]

That will definitely kick your but, I remember hurting after putting the tranny in my car by myself.. laying on the floor and I'm only 40!

After climbing scaffolding, mowing, weed eating, bicycling, installing ceiling fans and climbing up and down a ladder I'm soar as hell again today.

What's BC powder?

Faron Young TV commercials back in the 1960s...for headaches.

 

[Darter6]

Oh the days gone past,,Working on your back thinking what fun it was !!
Now trannies or 8 3/4 pigs weigh at least 10 times more then they did when we were in our 20's or 30's. I remember lying on my back and with a 8 3/4 pig on my chest doing a bench press hiking it up into the housing.Now I can barely get it off the ground !!!! Most of the time I just roll it on to a dolly to move it.

 

[khryslerkid]

Wait till you are old!

Both of my hands are flared up today, just scraping undercoating for a couple of hours yesterday. So you take a day off. Really sucks not being able to stay at it like I use to.

You do something one day and two days later something is hurting. "Why am I hurting there? Oh yeah, two days ago..."

You try to discipline yourself to limitations and useing leverage to get the job done and not so much physical strength. Wish I would have done that years ago, maybe I wouldn't be as worn out today.

 

[Bruzilla]

What's BC powder?

God's gift to old guys. It's like taking a NoDoze, an aspirin, and an Extra Strength Tylenol and grinding them into a fine powder. The caffeine in the NoDoze gets your heart pumping faster, the aspirin thins the blood, and along with the Acetaminophen (Tylenol) reduces inflammation and pressure that causes pain and they get it done fast!

It comes on a piece of paper, and you pour it into your mouth and drink it down with a beverage. Tastes awful, but since it's a powder it dissolves almost instantly and gets into your system faster than anything short of an injection.

The down side is I usually only see them sold in the South. There are two brands, BC and Goody's, and they are about the same.

 

[Bruzilla]

One of the toughest parts to doing this yourself was getting the new trans up high enough to get a jack under it. This was double tough on this job as the trans has a deep pan and I couldn't get the car high enough to get the trans past the sway bar and oil pan if it was on a jack.

The workaround was to make a U shape out of some 2" x 1/4" steel stock. The bottom of the U had two holes that mated up to the two lowest holes for the dust cover, and the side pieces were about 8" high. I welded about 10" of chain to the tops of the sides.

I used two of the dust cover bolts to bolt the rig to the trans once it was under the car, then I used a jack to lift the chain at the top of it, which raised the trans up about 6", which was enough to get a jack under it.

 

[Bruzilla]

Oh the days gone past,,Working on your back thinking what fun it was !!
Now trannies or 8 3/4 pigs weigh at least 10 times more then they did when we were in our 20's or 30's. I remember lying on my back and with a 8 3/4 pig on my chest doing a bench press hiking it up into the housing.Now I can barely get it off the ground !!!! Most of the time I just roll it on to a dolly to move it.

I kept telling my son about the first time I did this. It was on St. Agnes Lane in Catonsville, MD, which was a sloping road. We didn't have off-street parking, so I had to do it with the car sitting on the side of the road with cars passing by. And I had to lift the car using two of those old bumper jacks, and we all know how stable those were. But I got it all done in one night. Sure is different doing that stuff 27 than when you're 56. ;)

 

[69 GTX]

Wish I was early 40's again! After you crest the hill the grade gets pretty steep......

 

[Ranger16]

The mind says "I can do that", but the body says "Oh no you can't". I still fall into that trap as well, refusing to admit the truth.

 

[dart4forte]

Wait until you hit 50. Things start rolling down hill from there. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

 

[moes]

getting old sucks, when it comes to jobs like that!!!!!

 

[69 GTX]

I remember bench pressing a power glide while my friend started the bolts back in the day. Now I start the bolts!

 

[69b3rt]

I was wondering that, if the son was helping, he would be the muscle. I have bench pressed those transmissions in when younger. I was never a big guy.

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

I have the mind of a 10 yo and the body of a 80 year old Pushin 60 and I know I can't do the trans on jackstands anymore.I am fortunate to have knowledgeable friends that have lifts in the shop!

 

[Darter6]

Best investment ever . A LIFT !

 

[747mopar]

I remember bench pressing a power glide while my friend started the bolts back in the day. Now I start the bolts!

I put the T56 in my car 2 years ago doing just that only I benched it in, got it slid into the pilot bearing then holding the tranny with one arm bolted it in with the other. Don't think I have to mention how soar I was especially since the first attempt failed making me have to do it twice.

2 years later I start building a new garage and before I even dug the footer I ordered a 2 post lift haha. I'm accepting the fact that it's getting harder and more painful. If coarse building the garage gave me Tendonitis in the elbows!!! Whataya do