Simple problem.... 350 tranny in my 31 A Truck rod is leaking at the speedo cable. So, I jack her up with my floor jack, which I have to take the saddle off cause she only sits about 4 inches off the ground, placing the jack under the front straight axle, like I have done a thousand times before. I then lower her on the stands. I crawl under, unhook the Hurst linkage, pop out the speedo cable housing, drain off the fluid in the tail and pop out the bad speedo seal and O-ring. I get the parts, put everything back together, and while hooking up the shift linkgage, I notice some play. I mess with the shifter a few minutes and come to the unhappy conclusion that the rooster comb retaining nut has backed itself off the shifter input shaft. So.....I drop the tranny pan, and the rest of the fluid, with most of it ending up on my garage floor. I tighten the retaining nut, put a new gasket on the tranny pan and bolt back up. Replace the linkage and check the shift points. Guess what??? it's still sloppy. I figure out that the rooster comb must be bunged up. So.....drop the tranny pan again and pull the comb. Sure enough, the tappered sides of the input shaft hole are screwed up enough to allow an 1/8th inch play. I get a new rooster comb from town, replace the bad one, bolt the tranny pan back up and check the shift. It won't move. I get mad and force it. I break the shifter cable... ]* Doh! Luckily (yes there was a little bit of that left) I had an extra cable. I drop the tranny pan again (number 3) and discover that the rooster comb was hitting the tranny filter that I had installed in the wrong direction I put the filter in the right spot, put the new shifter cable in, checked the shift points, bolted the pan back up and filled with fluid. All was well!! No leaks, positive shift points, life is good!!! I remove the jack stands and slowly lower the floor jack. All of the sudden, the jack slips drives forward under the engine and the front end comes crashing down nailing my knee. I am on the ground writhing in pain and screaming every obscentity known to man and beast. I live on 5 acres but I can see my neighbor 5 acres away coming out to see if Howard Dean is at his door Several minutes later I crawl back to the front of my rod and peak under the front....and guess what?? Yup, the jack punched a hole right through the oil pan. So.....I get a scissor jack, lift the A high enough to pull out the floor jack, then reposition the floor jack, lift her up and put her on the stands. I now have a cocktail of motor oil and tranny fluid on the garage floor, my clothes and my body. I drop the oil pan, pound out the dent, mig weld the hole, grind, new gasket and bolt back up. I go back to the floor jack, take out the stands and begin to slowly lower her...Guess what She flys off again. Only this time I manage to get my body parts out of the way. But guess where the jack ends up Yup, exact same spot!!!! So.....I do the scissor jack thing again, get her in the air, drop the oil pan, pound it out, weld the new hole, bolt back up. This time...I put the forks on my Bobcat and use it to lower the truck. No problem, FINALLY!!!! I top with oil, shed my work duds and climb in to fire her up.......DEAD BATTERY.......

I wonder if ATF mixes with Jack Daniels


*Edited by Admin*

 

"I feel your pain" you bet, I had two months of that with the Dodge. Still have a leaking front seal. My son wants to name the truck "Murphy's Law"

 

And I thought I was the only one with the nick name DO OVER DOUG
Days like make you wounder .
Thank God there's allways another day just over the horizon.
Have a better day
ramguy

 

A nice benefit to creating "war stories" is the pain eventually goes away.

I was trying to move my transfer case last week when I stabbed my finger. Luckily only one injury with this repair, I must be getting better. I was trying to pry it from the frozen ground with a board. The board snapped, and I drove a sharp piece of it in along the bone full force, and layed it open. I only dropped it off the jack 3 times, and no. 2 broke the speedo gear.

 

Thanks for the laugh of the day. I can laugh because I can relate all too many times to those situations. It's not a laughing matter at the time it happens, but latter when you sit down and relate your sad tale of woe to friends, then you can laugh, if somewhat ruefully.

 

You and I seem to have what I like to call "Retro-active-karma" which is when you seem to pay the price for things that you haven't even done yet!!

 

Kinda sounds like when we were putting my DD clutch in. Ever had Cummins flywheel drop on you?

Them things hurt.
DM01

 

Oh man that hurts just reading about it!!!!! Thanks for the support guys

 

The topic of this thread is exactly why I have given up working on my own truck anymore. Had new clutch put in last week, paid $350 labor to get it installed and I had no headaches or concern about screwing it up and getting hurt or really mad. I used to have a 1949 CJ2A and it fell off the jack more times than I care to think about. I am getting to old to get hurt, takes to long to heal.