Clutch Linkage Problem/Questions 1984 K20 5.7 4 Speed

[westtexasrebuild]

I recently replaced the clutch fork on my 1984 K20 5.7 4 Speed Transmission. I am having a really hard time getting the linkage to go back in the hole on the plate at the frame. I have been messing with it all morning and aside from totally removing the transmission again, I can see no other way to get the thing to slide in the hole. Here are a few pics of what I have going on and if anyone has any tricks or advice on how to install it without pulling the transmission, let me know. I am trying to avoid pulling the transmission again at all costs.
I have removed the crossmember bolts and lowered the transmission that way and can still not get the bolt to go in the hole at the frame. The only other idea I have is to remove the drivers side bell housing to block bolts and try and get some movement there in order to release the pressure on the bolt up against the plate attached to frame. Realistically, I know I will probably have to remove all transmission bolts in order to get the transmission to move at all, just hope there is a way to fix the problem without going that far. If I have to, I will. Thanks in advance

Here is the linkage


Here is the issue I was having first go round, I could never get the bolt to line up with the bell housing.


Here is the issue I am having now. If you see the one picture shows that the bolt at the plate is sticking over ever so slightly. The other shows the rod attached properly to the bell housing ball.




Here are pics of the plate attached to the frame




Here is where I am at this point. I need to get movement in order for the bolt at the frame to slide in place. Maybe I am just totally going at it wrong but I cannot think of anything else beside totally removing transmission.

On a side note, I noticed that the bolt that goes inside the linkage will not come off. It is stuck inside the linkage and there appears to be either a rubber O-ring or metal lip that does not allow it to come apart. This is the bolt that attaches to the plate at the frame. If that were able to come off, I could have had this thing tackled in 15 minutes.

[westtexasrebuild]

Ok so here's the update for those of you who have this type of linkage and have to replace the clutch fork.

MAKE SURE YOU HOOK LINKAGE UP BEFORE INSTALLING TRANSMISSION BOLTS!!!!

Haha I got it all fixed.

I took the trans bolts off one at a time and replaced them with longer bolts it order to keep my alignment. I then removed the crossmember bolts and lowered the trans a little and slid it back until I had about 2-3 inches clearance between the bell housing and block.

Then I attached my linkage to the plate on the frame. I also put the ball stud into the rod on the linkage and got it to slide into the hole at the bell housing.

I then jacked the trans back up and removed the longer bolts one by one. When I removed one, I would add 5-8 washers on that bolt and then bolt it back in place. This allowed me to guide the trans back in place without messing anything up. I continued this process until I had the bell housing close enough to install the original trans bolts to the block.

During this process, I made sure that my Linkage was still in place in the hole at the bell housing.

Once I had all my trans bolts back in place and all my crossmember bolts intsalled, I went back to the linkage and used a small set of channel lock pliers to thread the linkage bolt back into the bell housing. Once I got the threads started, I used an 11/16 open ended wrench to finish bolting it in place on the bell housing.

Now I am bolting everything back up and should have her going by this evening.

This is just an FYI in case anyone is having to remove their manual transmission and has the same type of linkage as I do. This was no where to be found on the internet and I just wanted to give someone heads up in the future so that they would have some pointers on what to do. Thanks

[Captkaos]

The ends of that should slip to allow installation you just unbolt from the frame and push it towards the ball and pull it down.