<VV> Removing transmission on early Corvairs

[Tony Underwood]

At 06:35 hours 04/16/2005, Bill Hubbell wrote:
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Tony Underwood" <tonyu at roava.net>
>>
>>And, it offers the option of your being able to do it by yourself in the 
>>back yard with nothing but one floor jack, two tree stumps, and a 
>>trunk-carried tool box to work with.    Removing and reinstalling the 
>>entire driveline with limited tools by yourself is not an easy approach 
>>under the best conditions and damned near impossible when the job is 
>>taking place in a friend's  back yard and he's such a nimrod you will 
>>remain happy that he's NOT helping you.
>
>
>
>Balderdash!  I almost ALWAYS remove and install the entire early 
>powertrain by myself, with nothing more than a socket set, pliers, 
>screwdrivers, one floor jack, and two jack stands.


In a yard at your friends house, no paved driveway?    Ever try to roll a 
jack in grass with a Vair drivetrain on it?


>  It is not at all a hard thing to do,


Bill...   try it in GRASS.


>and is certainly much safer than getting under a car to wrestle with the 
>transmission.  Two tree stumps??? Are you CRAZY?!!  Is your life really 
>only worth that much??


Perching the car on tree stumps is a Helluva lot more stable than 
jackstands, PARTICULARLY on grass.


Remember:   The guy was in a bind and the car was in the back yard of a 
rental house, no driveway except slanted gravel and no flat hard surface 
anywhere.   I brought my tree stumps over and we did it, no big 
deal.    TWICE.     One a 4-sp, one a PG a month later.   In the yard.   On 
foot-thick tree stumps.

Which did NOT sink into the grass like the jackstands.

Didn't you ever perch a car on a tree stump to support it while you worked 
on it?   What did back yard hotrodders use before cheap Chinese 
jack  stands became available at Wal-Mart?


>Look, I don't care if you  want to screw around with your own lives and/or 
>ruin your own parts that way, but please do not suggest to the "newbies" 
>that they should try your insane approach.

Well, thank you for that vote of confidence, Bill...  and particularly your 
psychological analysis... although I thought your field was medical.    By 
the way, I never ruined a gearbox or an input shaft doing it my way.    It 
ALWAYS worked for me, without a hitch.

And I did NOT advocate anyone else doing it this way.   Nor would I tell 
anyone else to ever do the crap *I* do in any event.   After all, I'm not 
you.   I'm the only one *I* am responsible for, and *I* am a self-admitted 
jackleg.   If you like, I'll add a disclaimer to my sig...


>Broken bones and bent input shafts are not worth the aggravation.


Ever see me in a cast?   Ever see me wearing as much as a *band-aid*?   And 
I've never bent an input shaft.


Trust me.   Perch the back of the car on two foot-thick tree stumps and it 
is NOT gonna go anywhere.   Obviously Bill, you've not used a thick tree 
stump as a work perch for a car.   It functions just fine.   I  sure as 
Hell will trust a good stout tree stump more  than any jack stand.    I 
have had a car fall off a jack stand (which sank into the hot pavement and 
tipped), but I have *never* had one come off the stumps.

There are 5 stumps in the back of the Dodge pickup...  I'll bring you a 
couple to the Vair Fair if you want 'em.   ;)



>On the other hand, I make a lot of money fixing up people who take the 
>kind of "shortcuts" you propose.


First:   Do NOT put words in my mouth, Bill...  I proposed NOTHING to 
ANYONE.   I simply mentioned that I'd twice swapped out transmissions in 
Vairs without removing the drivetrain, took only a few minutes and one 
person, in a grassy back yard, car perched on tree stumps.  No injuries, 
wounds, fractures, just success.

I also mentioned that I like cantaloupe with salt and pepper and buttered 
toast as a side dish, and sardines with graham crackers washed down with 
chocolate milk.   This in NO WAY means that I'm telling anyone to go out 
and stock up on cantaloupes  and sardines.


The word here, Bill, is *common sense*.  Use it and all will be 
well.     Next time you're in your back yard, try rolling a jack with a 
Corvair engine on it through the grass.



In the words of my favorite author:

"If it's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid."


tony..