This probably sounds pretty stupid, but I'd like to know the ideal places to put my jackstands so that I can start my tranny swap. I did searches and got a lot of responses about putting the jackstands on suspension components... but if the suspension is loaded, then I can't jack the car up as high, and I need the car as high up as possible. I started putting them on what I think is called the subframe but I could be wrong. It is a beam-shaped line attatched to the under body a few inches deep and wide that runs along the sides of the car. But I noticed it started denting/bending inward! So I removed them. What's the best way I can get my car up on those jackstands and not damage/bend/twist/mame my car?

Before you say ramps, my car is currently immoble.

 

puttem under the front subframe(the large metal rails next to the trans on each side) make sure they are posisitioned so that they wont be in the way when you go to drop the trans and place the other 2 right before the rear control arms

 

 

yup yup jus like zepher hasem!

 

In those pictures, I am only supporting the front of the car.
I use the jacks as a backup for the jackstands.

 

Look at Zepher's pic; for transmission work, where I want as much clear space under the middle of the car as possible, I put them under the big thing that goes underneath the motor, where the front bolt for the control arms goes through.

I do not like the jack stand placement in that pic; that puts about 40-45% of the car's weight in front of the stands, kind of hanging the heavy stuff (engine & front suspension) off the end in front of the stands.

 

I put the stands in that location since I was installing the long tube headers. I also don't have all the wieght in the engine bay yet. No radiator, engine is dry, no accessories, etc..
You can actually see the rear raise up a bit when I lowered it onto the stands.

Having subframe connectors will make it a bit easier, but the stands will still be behind the motor.

I don't know if you can get really high ramps and just jack the car up and slip the ramps underneath. Jacking under the a-arm would load up the suspension to make it easier to put a tall ramp underneath.

 

I always just jack up the front a-arms and then throw the jackstands under the a-arms or under the k-member, and then I throw 2 more in back under the rear axle. That is of course if you have access to 4.

 

I think my jackstands are breeding. I've got 12 of them in the garage. Started with 4 a few years ago.

 

Zepher that's exactly where I started putting mine, but it started bending and denting inward.... so I took it off. I didn't feel safe putting it there...

 

When I dropped my trans, I put the jackstands as I always do:

Front- under "spring perch" of lower control arms. The spring perch in the LCA is a circle; I put the jackstand so it "grabs" the innermost edge of the circle, closest to the center of the car. The little "U" in the top of my jackstand faces left-to-right.

Rear- right in front of rear lower control arm attachment point, on the subframe. There's a hole in that part of the subframe that you might squash inward a bit; doesn't matter.

Then; the most important bit as I figure; I stand up, and "bump" the sides of the car with my thigh. If anything moves the slightest, I reposition the jackstands. The last thing I want is for the car to be "wobbly".

Remember too when you're swapping trannies, you'll need to, at some point, support the engine with a jack underneath the oil pan, with a large block of wood between the oil pan and jack. With the trans removed, the engine will just tilt backward until the distributor smashes into the firewall. http://www.eastwoodcompany.com sells a nifty tool that allows the rear of the engine to be supported from the top of the fenders. It's a bar that stretches across the engine bay, with feet, and is adjustable so the feet lay on the upper fender bolts. Then a chain loops "down" to grab the back of the engine. I'm thinking of making one myself next time I have to swap trannies.

Don't know what you're swapping in/out, but if it's the 700r4 automatic- make sure you seat the new torque convertor all the way. You need to engage the second set of splines. The TC will slide on easily and then "stop"- it's probably not seated. How to check? When the trans housing is bolted to the engine, the torque convertor should not be mashed against the flexplate!! You should be able to slide the torque convertor towards/away from the engine's flywheel; the TC will slide on the trans input shaft. If the torque convertor is mashed against the flywheel, you didn't seat the TC completely. Starting your motor will destroy the TC, and probably send metal through your tranny, requiring another rebuild. Don't forget to dump a quart or two inside the new TC before you install it; just fill it thru the TC opening; it'll slowly bubble inside the TC. Takes a while but saves the TC.

Also make sure you flush the trans cooler lines with something; a dying automatic can send metal through the fluid. You don't want your freshly rebuilt automatic picking up old metal that was laying in the trans cooler lines.

 

tell me if doin something wrong but i've always put mine right under the sway bar mounts on the front, ya know those two bushings, the jackstand kinda cups em in there and it feels real secure, i can see the body shift a little when i let the jack out, but barely anything

 

So you're saying that when I put my jackstand on the subframe (around that 'hole') and it squashed inward, I shouldn't have worried about it?

I'll take a closer look at your jackstand points when I get home from work... thanks!

Quote:

Don't know what you're swapping in/out, but if it's the 700r4 automatic- make sure you seat the new torque convertor all the way. You need to engage the second set of splines. The TC will slide on easily and then "stop"- it's probably not seated. How to check? When the trans housing is bolted to the engine, the torque convertor should not be mashed against the flexplate!! You should be able to slide the torque convertor towards/away from the engine's flywheel; the TC will slide on the trans input shaft. If the torque convertor is mashed against the flywheel, you didn't seat the TC completely. Starting your motor will destroy the TC, and probably send metal through your tranny, requiring another rebuild. Don't forget to dump a quart or two inside the new TC before you install it; just fill it thru the TC opening; it'll slowly bubble inside the TC. Takes a while but saves the TC.

Yes, I'm swapping a 700r4 for a 700r4. I'm a bit confused regarding the torque convertor seating issue; probably because I've never swapped an AT before. If I understand correctly, the torque convertor is going to be sort-of "inside" the transmission housing, as in you won't be able to see the TC once you bolt the tranny up to the engine, but you're telling me to try and slide the TC towards and away from the flexplate... how would I be able to access the TC if the tranny is bolted up to the engine already and surrounded by the tranny housing?

I'll draw a picture... this is how everything is assembled, right? What am I not understanding?

Thanks Tom, as always you are MORE than helpful!!!

 

what i do is put my car on ramps up front and the stands under the axle tubes on the rear.

 

You drew that?? WTF, man, I can't even draw that in black and white with a PENCIL.

You'll be able to see the bottom of the torque convertor with the flywheel inspection plate removed. Otherwise, it'd be a bitch to try to bolt the flywheel to the torque convertor. I'll see if I can find my messages from when I did my swap; although I think that was in '98 or 99, they might be too old to be kept on thirdgen.org's computers. Even when I put the TC up, I knew about the second set of splines, and coulda sworn that I engaged them. I put the trans up, and nope, TC was mashed against the flywheel. I had to lower the trans again and play with spinning the TC until it seated into the trans all the way. And when it did, the TC was able to slide all the way "into" the trans bellhousing.

As far as the jackstand and squashing; what you described isn't what I described. You talked about a thin line running the length of the car, on the outside. That's just the body; glad you didn't leave the jackstand there!

I'm 99% sure you know what a lower control arm is so just follow the rear LCA forward, to where the LCA bolts to the car. That's the framerail I'm talking about. It only "lasts" for a foot or so; then it disappears underneath the car. I put my stand right in front of the LCA, not on the LCA; the frame squares off a bit in that spot.

I just noticed, in Zepher's first picture, you can see the front lower control arm, and the circle for the spring. If you look on the driver's side, he's got a patch of straw or dead grass hanging from it. Zepher, man, your car looks so clean- get that crap off there! My jackstand goes directly to the left of that piece of straw, "holding" the circle of the spring. And on the passenger side, I "mirror" that position.

 

Well, didn't find my original messages, but here's a link to a message I wrote up a while ago, that has the details in them: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=106041

 

Hehe I just drew it with the line and fill tools in Photoshop, could've been done just as easily in Paint... isn't hard at all, really.

What does the flywheel inspection plate look like? Anybody got a picture? Is it something bolted onto the tranny or onto the engine or..? Sorry, but remember I've never done this before.

Quote:

As far as the jackstand and squashing; what you described isn't what I described. You talked about a thin line running the length of the car, on the outside. That's just the body; glad you didn't leave the jackstand there!

Are you sure? I think where I started mounting my jackstands is where they are on Zephers car pictured above... I think... I'd have to go take a closer look, but I'm still at work .

Thanks Tom, that's very helpful! Putting the jackstands in that spot doesn't load the suspension? (I know I know stupid questions but I want to be 100% sure on everything before attempting this...)

 

Tom, your links are great... you could write a book on this....

 

Another question Tom, if the flexplate and TC are bolted together, how are they not to be "mashed together"

 

When the TC is in the trans correctly, then when you put the trans against the motor, there will be a gap between the flex plate and converter, 1/8" or so. If there's no gap, STOP!!!! because the TC isn't in the trans all the way and you'll create instant massive destruction and high repair bills by hooking it up and running the motor, and it probably won't even work. When you put the bolts in, they will slide the TC that little bit back up out of the trans.

 

The inspection plate covers the bottom of the tranny,
here is mine removed,

 

Hey Zepher was that enuff room to slide long tube headers up into place? becuz i wanna install my hooker long tubes and ive been told u need like 32-36''s of room becuz u have to like rotate them up into place. or do long tubes just slip up into place?

 

I had plenty of space to get them on with that amount of lift.
I did need a second person to hold the pass side up since it would slide all the way back down to the floor if I let it go.
These Hedman headers were really easy to install.
this is what they look like,

 

hmmm sounds like ill be doing mine on my vaction week.

 

I know it's a little late, but heres Vaders diagram on jack stand placement:


https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...ht=jack+points

And also found this article as well:

http://www.installuniversity.com/ins...ift_points.htm

 

Woah; I wouldn't go putting the jackstands under the front anti-sway-bar mounts... for two reasons-

1- Crushing the brackets

2- Safety. Those brackets aren't the strongest in the world.

MX265, I love that last sentence from installuniversity, about denting the lower mount of the fenders. Just about every f-body I've seen has had that problem.

 

You're only talking about a maximum of 1,500 pounds per side. Look at the thickness (or, thinness) of the sheet metal that is holding the car up on either side at the front strut towers.

I'll bet you'd freak if you saw a 180,000 pound cold former sitting up on wood blocks on just the casting wings...

I've stood the car on the stabilizer brackets for days at a time with no deformation.

If you really want a revelation, inspect the GRP plastic "lift blocks" that the factory put on the front of a TA for lifting and towing.

 

As long as I wasn't under the machine, I wouldn't freak out. Hopefully the wood would mush before the casting snapped! Aren't formers and presses and the like supposed to be bolted firmly to the floor, so the work they do is accurate? My uncle (89 years old) was a machinist; I can only talk so much shop with him before he gets over my head. Formers create "first" blanks that get machined into parts, right?

GRP lift blocks?? Wait a minute... I think I had those on my original bumper. What did they look like? A square of plastic, with a lip on one side, and a hole in the center for a bolt? I wondered why I hadn't seen those again. I gotta get a picture of one of those and ask you if that's what it is! I kept 'em, figured they'd come in handy-- and the factory used that to lift the car???

I wonder if that explains why my front seats were Trans Am seats... some kind of weird option for a v6? Or the guy before me just got "frisky" in a junkyard? Odd.

Anyway, seems to me that the strut towers have an actual "tube" design, for strength, to them. Quite unlike the rear shock mounts, which are just a flat piece of sheetmetal, and break easily. IIRC, the front antiswaybar mount is just a little tab of metal; I don't like the thought that it could bend.

For what it's worth; I lost a bolt out of one of my front anti sway bar mounting brackets. The bar bent the hell out of the bracket- and I had a hell of a time trying to beat it back into shape with a hammer and vice. Wound up getting a junkyard one for free and bolting it in instead. But personally, even though that's hard steel, I wouldn't hang a car above my head with them.