I had a lift when I owned a business years ago. Was big and strong. Had hired help then too. When you combine all of that, its fairly easy to install a tranny of any size.
Now years later, I'm a home garage kind of guy and my '74 Chevy needs a tranny. No lift, no neighbors who can or should attempt to lift a 4L80 while laying on their back, and my shoulder and back can't handle much these days. Lifting it out of the truck was interesting. I'm fairly resourceful and have looked around at scissor tables and tranny jacks but the lift height seems to be too short. All tranny jacks made for lifts are too tall or cost prohibitive. I could easily build a nice scissor table that suits my needs but, more often than not, I over build which ends up taking far longer than it should and, though it would be sweet to have one, I don't really need one taking up space. Ive considered making an adapter gizmo to turn my cherry picker into a lift but envision an epic fail. I could jack up the truck, get the tranny under it, remove the wheels and lower it down over the tranny on any of the fore mentioned lifting/supporting devices...which is about the point where my wife says "why do you like that old truck again?".
I've considered paying someone local but, if you're like me, you don't like (trust) someone to touch your junk. Another issue is that my tranny swap isnt exactly simple. SM465 to 4l80e. I have *most* parts but, knowing my projects, something will need some thinking (exhaust, driveshaft, crossmember, etc)...which either the corner shop charges and arm and a leg for (I used to), or they aren't capable of doing. I can do it all, no joke, but can't get the tranny in. I find it funny given what I used to do on a daily basis.
Any ideas? Cheap one-time solutions, brainstorms, or epiphanies would be great. Don't need the one ton and/or tranny crushing my butt so hold back the plans that involve stacking 2 cinder blocks and four 2x's on a radio flyer...I might just have already tried it but I won't tell.
TIA
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