Planning to pull the th350 out of my '80. Car will be on a quick lift so bottom of tires about 16" off the floor. Since I plan to remove the th350 and replace with a 4L60e, basically whatever I buy will only be used twice. I've been hunting for an adapter to go onto my floor jack but haven't found one yet that I can be sure will work. So, I'm looking for recommendations both what worked well and what didn't work so well. I'll also take recommendations on tranny jacks themselves if the consensus is none of the adapters are all that great. Thanks

 

I just cut some wood the size of the pan and use a floor jack.

 

Thanks Bird,

Any issues as far as the install to get it tilted? Also, did you bolt it to the floor jack and use anything to strap it on to the board. This will be a one man show. But I'm game to give it a try. Heck, my solution to getting my batwing rear end back in was ropes around the frame for balance, the floor jack for the heavy lifting, and the scissors jack sitting on the arm of the floor jack under the batwing to control to control tilt.

 

I would only do that with a helper. Someone working the jack handle for me.

 

I have a Harbor Freight tranny adapter that has worked fine for me. I guess I've only used it twice ...and once was with a NV4500 (one HEAVY cast iron tranny out of a Dually). The only problem with the jack adapters is the trans sits high and hard to get out from under the car unless it's REALLY high on jackstands. But with your lift you shouldn't have a problem at all.

A specialized tranny floor jack is nice, but probably wouldn't go tall enough for use with your lift.

 

https://www.harborfreight.com/450-lb...nsmission+jack

Maybe ?

 

I have done it many times on my 1980 with some wood and a floor jack with the car on jack stands. Once I was away from home when the torque converter failed and had to have a trans shop replace it. They did it just the same on jack stands. The main advantage of a trans jack is so You can chain it down so it can't fall off. But since your not on a Lift 6 feet off the ground that really doesn't matter. In theory you can adjust a trans jack to the exact angle and height but in reality you just wiggle it around till it fits.
PS. If You are going to do the Rear End job at the same time you can save some time by not un doing the U-Joints on the Drive Shaft. Just lowwer and slide the rear end out and the Trans Yoke will just pull out. You might start to lose some ATF out of the trans. Since Your probably going to replace the U-joints just unbolt the Yoke out in the open and put it back in the trans before removing it. Re assemble in the reverse order.

 

I have too ...with a piece of plywood about the size of the trans pan. It works ok. You just have to take your time, be a little more careful, etc. If a person has only jackstands to support the car, it's probably a better way to go since a jack/trans adapter raises the tranny high enough off the jack that the transmission bellhousing often won't go low enough to clear the vehicle (When using jackstands). And when you're done with the job, you don't have a tool kicking around the garage. You can also buy a flat 'pad' for the older traditional floor jacks (won't work on the new center-screw jack pads), which is very nice for supporting a piece of wood. They have screws, a guy could probably screw a piece of plywood on using the existing screw holes (longer screws). I bought one for about half of the link below at a car show and leave it on all the time.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Floor-Jack-...k/273583103435

I forgot, I also have one of these scissors trans jacks which works well too and DOES go lower. In some ways it's better than a floor jack adapter because:
- Goes straight up/down (doesn't follow an 'arc' when jacking up)
- Goes a lot lower (for jackstand use)
- Compact storage when not in use.
- Easier to scoot around under the vehicle than a floor jack
- The "V" of the top plate works well for holding barrel-shaped manual transmissions.

The primary downfall is it doesn't have a flat base for automatic transmissions, and I've had 'manual' transmissions fall off and roll on my arm during the lower-down process. The other downfall is if you have a REALLY heavy duty transmisison, the weight gets a little 'floppy' as the scissors is raised near it's top travel. But for overall jackstand use and standard TH350's, I think these are better than a jack adapter because they go lower and easier to move around. Only I would suggest making a flat base out of plywood that fits the size of the tranny pan and screw it SECURELY to the top plate of the tranny trolley jack. You need to see it it'll got tall enough with your lift. I suspect no. (in your particular case)
https://www.harborfreight.com/450-lb...YaAk5fEALw_wcB

 

That is what I used and it worked good. But I made a small modification to it. I bolted a 12x12 piece of plywood to the top because I didn't really like the bent metal plates. It's cheap at $100 but it works.

 

If in doubt rent one or find somebody that has something you’re comfortable using. Quick story.

15 years ago I was pulling a NV3500 out of a S10 pickup using the old floor jack and wood trick. Transmission rolled and fell off the jack onto my right arm smashing the radius, ulna, and breaking metacarpals 4-5. In short had to have pins put in my hand and rods in my forearm. I still pull transmissions and all that crap but I purchased one similar to this many years ago. https://www.harborfreight.com/800-lb...ack-60234.html. Totally worth it to never go through that again.

 

Thanks everyone thus far. Looks like 3 options - floor jack modified with a wood plate, scissors jack from harbor at $100 also modified with wood, or harbor 800 lb tranny jack at $170. A big question is getting the height needed. With car on the quick lift the bottom of the tranny pan is about 24" off the floor. My floor jack raises to about 20". So, I either put a platform under it, add a lot of wood, take it off the quik-lift and go to jack stands/blocks, or find something with about 26" of lift for a little margin. The HF jacks have 22.5 (the 800lb) and 23.25. I'd need to add something to both, but doable I guess.

 

No doubt something I want to avoid. I'll likely run a couple safety ropes to hold it in the event it comes off the lift. That's what I did with the batwing/rear end.

 

That's a good suggestion to check with the parts stores to see what they might rent. For the average guy it's a one or three-time use item.

 

Another thing to consider is the torque converter. You don't want it falling out as you maneuver the trans into position. I use a piece of metal strap bolt to the bell housing bolt holes to make sure it stays in place. I don't have a Quik Jack but as said above jack stands would give you much more room to slide the trans in from the side.
I added a wood platform to my floor jack. Bolted it down to the jack pad. The piece of plywood was big enough so I could add metal "L" brackets that captured the trans pan. And a tie down strap.
I wouldn't try to do this alone. If you are under the car it's so much easier if some one can move the jack as needed. Also to take you to the ER if things go bad.
Good luck.

 

Hey Vince,

I just finished removing my TH400 a couple of weeks ago. I used the 800 LB Harbor Freight jack.

I also have a Quickjack. I raised the car using the Quickjack and then set it down on a set of wheel cribs I made. I then added the SUV adapters and extensions to the Quickjack (there's not enough clearance to add the extensions to the SUV adapters without having the car in the air a bit first). I then re-raised the car and set it back down on a taller set of wheel cribs. That allowed me to pull the Quickjack out of the way for more room to work. I didn't measure how far the transmission pan was off the floor but I did measure the frame. Sitting on the taller wheel cribs, the bottom of the frame at the front edge of the doors was approximately 20-1/2".

I didn't have much trouble getting the transmission onto the jack but then I wasn't sure how I was going to get the jack and transmission out from under the car as there didn't seem to be near enough room. The Harbor Freight jack is pretty tall. I eventually figured out to use the tilt levers on the jack such that the bell housing end of the tranny was tilted down as low as I could get it. At that point I was able to slide the jack and transmission out the side by keeping the bell housing as close to the rear of the front tire as possible.

If I had left the car on the Quickjack, I would have had a few more inches of room to maneuver the jack and transmission out from the under the car but I would have had less working room. When I go back with the new one, I'll probably slide the transmission and jack under the car with it on the Quickjack at the highest setting with the SUV adapters/extensions and then put the car back on the wheel cribs after that if I want some more working room.

It's not a particularly easy task to use the Quickjack to set the car onto the wheel cribs since the jack moves the car laterally as well as vertically.

It seems everything is a puzzle.

DC

 

I bought a floor jack adapter and used it once and then never again.

I have enough scrap wood around that I'd just make a wood plate for the floor jack bolted to the lifting pad. I've never found the tilt to be too big a thing. You can tilt the engine with a bottle jack to get the transmission and engine close enough to start the dowel pins. Once you're there, then you can push the transmission up to the engine. You could put a 1/2" or so thick piece under the front of the pan to get some initial tilt if you wanted.

 

I used a HF trans adapter for a floor jack at least twice on my manual trans and hated it. Just clumsy to work with. Nowdays HF has at least 3 dedicated transmission jacks that all look like they are worth their money. Sometimes you can get a 20% off coupon but look at the fine print as many items are excluded from their discounts. A 20% discount sure makes that sissors trans jack look good. That little sissors jack won't take up much room in the garage either.

Good luck.

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I've seen a lot a bad press on their adapter, and others for that matter. I think that option is out.

 

I made my own out of some old bedframe. Customized to raise and lower my heavy richmond 6-speed. I have also used it to raise and lower my Muncie m-21. Cut and welded it to fit around the bottom of the ROD so it holds it quite steady. I then bolt it onto my small floor jack. Been using for 20+ years and it works fine.

Last time I went to re-install the heavy Richmond I actually used my engine hoist through the shifter hole bring it up off the floor (I have a convertible)...then I slid the fabricated tranny jack underneath. (I'm not sure how the heck I ever lifted up before because it is really heavy).

 

DC3,

Thanks for that last post. Just to be sure we have apples to apples, I'm using a kwik-lift not a QuickJack. My fault as I spelled it Quik-Lift originally.

Right now the frame at the front door is 22" off the floor, But I haven't jacked the back end up yet. That will add a couple inches. My hope, in fact requirement, is to have enough height to have the transmission/jack slid in lengthwise. Otherwise, I'll need to get very creative about getting the tranny on and off the jack under the car as there's no way to get the jack and tranny in from the side.