[thingstodo]

It stopped raining so I can get out and work on the S10. My wife is gone for the weekend plus Monday so I can use the concrete pad on the driveway - I need to move the truck to the pad so I can use my creeper and so I don't crawl through ant hills and such to work on the truck.

The transmission is still on the metal plate, which is on a grating, which is on some decorative ties. The first thing appears to be to re-install the rear support of the transmission. I got under the truck and struggled with the transmission a bit, sliding it forward to get some room to work. I was not successful moving the transmission from beneath. Working from the front of the truck and lifting while pulling, in a very awkward position, I managed to lift it and move it forward.

The transmission is not very stable in this position, and it appears that there is still some transmission fluid left since it is leaking out of the rear of the transmission. I used a couple of wooden blocks to keep the transmission from tilting. But the wood slides easily on the oil that has leaked from the transmission. How do I keep this transmission from moving while I'm working on it, and in the way if it decides to slide?

One solution - lift the transmission rear further and jam the top of the transmission into the floor of the truck, so it can't move. It takes a bit of swearing to wiggle the transmission and raise it with some wooden wedges.

Now that I'm safe to go under the truck, I get under and put the transmission support in. I only lost one of the nuts ... and the edges of the frame only scraped my knuckles a couple of times.

Remove the wedges from beneath the transmission and slide the transmission back into place. The transmission holes do not line up with the support ... I wonder why ... but that's for another day.

The transmission is supported on the back. Now now what do I do with the front of the transmission. I found a 2 x 2 piece of scrap lumber and fit it across the front frame. A couple of pieces of ready rod into the transmission mounting holes, across the 2 x 2 .. it looks pretty good.

Now that the transmission is supported, remove the decorative railroad ties, and the grating, and the sheet metal. Get everything else out from beneath the truck - she's moving soon. THAT's where the crescent wrench went ...

Now on to moving the truck over to the garage pad. I could push the truck for about 80% of the distance. The remaining 20% had a bit of an uphill grade (about an inch of rise, like bumps - too high for me to push the truck over). So I used the rear differential with the ratchet and the T bar, etc. This time it worked (last time I broke stuff trying to get the truck up my vehicle ramps).

Instead of moving blocks on each side of the truck every time I turned the rear differential 1 quarter turn, I found it easier to have the large 6 x 8 that I use for levelling the lawn sit behind the truck tires, and move it up as I get the ratchet to move the differential. It took some effort, and some tuck tape, but the truck is moved.

The truck is on the garage pad, it is blocked, and I need to bolt down the transmission.

After a short search for bolts, I found a mount in my trailer of parts. It appears to be a rubber mount to fit the bracket for the transmission, and that the transmission fits onto it. It does not appear to fit, or to fit easily. The transmission won't lift high enough to allow it to be installed.

And my creeper goes under the truck just fine ... unfortunately my belly does not. Perhaps the truck did not need to get moved to the concrete pad after all - a bit of effort wasted there - but at least there are no ant hills on the concrete pad!

After sliding/scraping myself to a position under the truck, I spend an hour moving the transmission this way and that, forward and back - the darned support mount won't go in. As a last resort I looked at taking the transmission support, the piece of frame that is held on with 2 bolts for now, off. It looks quite easy. 5 minutes later, the transmission is bolted to the mount and the frame support is back in.

Well, it's almost bolted in. I'm missing a couple of bolts. When Kelly and I were removing the transmission, I was not paying attention to where each bolt goes since I thought it was not going back in. So I left a few bolts on the ground in his shop (which are likely at the metal recycler by now). I guess I'll get by with 1 bolt and no nut until tomorrow. I need some other bolts anyway.

Now on to the front of the transmission. How do I keep this thing in position when there is no motor to bolt it to? I removed the motor mounts from the engine - no bolts to connect them to the frame brackets. Another thing for the shopping list. They are at funny angles so some custom brackets are going to be needed. More good news, as I am almost as bad a welder as I am a mechanic.

I went through my scrap iron heap and found a few brackets that used to be on my old dock. They are already welded and I think I can make them work by removing some metal. I can work a chop saw and a hack saw ...

An hour later and the transmission has 2 bolts connecting it to the old dock supports (I need to buy more transmission bolts as well). It keeps the transmission at about the right height, and it should be OK to adjust once I get a motor mount created.

Last thing for the day is to remove the hood. I should have done that at the beginning of the day, but its done now. I'll get some pictures (I forgot that one of my co-workers loaned me a camera for the weekend) posted tomorrow. Thanks Derek.

Pictures:
SalvageS10 from the front - no hood
From the driver's side of the hood, looking down at the motor mounts, transmission on the right
Transmission on blocks, from the bottom passenger's side
Transfer case, drive shaft under the truck, from the passenger's side
Another view of the transfer case
Looking down from where the box should be, from the driver's side. Transfer case is in the same location
Rear differential with the 'T' bar still installed
Transmission, from the front of the truck looking at the cabin. The two chunks of galvanized metal visible are the 'mounts' that used to be dock supports