I just spent the most frustrating day ever trying to put the transmission in my '53 3/4 ton. Started off with the clutch and it went in with no problem. Used an alignment tool and everything lined up dead center. Then came the problem. I used a transmission jack to raise the tranny and tried to get the damned thing to mate. No dice. So after about 7 hours, I gave up and went down and rented a cherry picker to try putting it through the floor like the manual says. Before doing that, I checked the alignment on the clutch and centered it again. It was off just a little, but hardly noticeable. Scratched hell out of my new painted dash using the cherry picker, but I managed to get the transmission back on the guide pins again. I am witin about 3/4" of the mating surface and can even put the lower bolts through from the back, but it will go no further and the U Joint is locked up tight. Maybe it is supposed to be locked up. I don't know. I don't know whether to start cinching down the lower bolts and hope that it will pull it in without damaging the clutch disk or what. I noticed the flywheel is harder to turn now than it was before, but I don't know if the front spline is through the clutch disk or if it is binding and causing that. I have it in 4th gear which is what the manual calls for. The clutch fork moves freely and is properly mated with the new throwout bearing. I guess I'm trying to figure out if it should go all the way forward to the mating surface on its own or if I'm binding up somewhere. I'd like to finish this tomorrow. Any suggestions out there? thanks.
