Well, I finally have had enough. Ordered a OEM Ford Flexplate and starter from Tasca today. My truck has been limping along for too long and I cant prolong the fix anymore. I shopped around, saw there were some cheaper flexplates I could get, some of them weren't SFI certified though. Im going to keep the truck for a bit and figured I would be better off with OEM parts (even though that's failed to begin with!!!!)

Here is my dilemma. I am more than qualified to do the job, but don't really have a great place to do it, or a proper jack to support everything. I can bring it to a shop, pay them 750 bucks to swap it out, or tackle it myself over the weekend. For those of you, who have done the job, how big of jack did you use? Did you use 1 or 2? Did you try and strap the tranny to the jack? I am just trying to figure out the best method to do this. The job itself doesn't appear very complex, just wondering if a couple of floor jacks would work. Thanks for the input!

-M

 

I would want one jack and 4 jack stands. I would want the truck in the air on both ends on stands. Then use a floor jack to help maneuver the transmission. Never get under one when its on just a jack. A seal can fail and you can get trapped.

 

I would go rent a transmission jack, that will make it a lot easier than screwing around with floor jacks.

There are adapters to use with a floor jack, they don't work too well.

 

I don't know why I would need to jack the truck up and lift it on all four. Its already 4x4 and sits up high enough where I can get the transmission down to the ground and replace the flexplate in place.

I am going to call around and see if I can find a transmission jack to rent around town. Not sure who would be the best to get a hold of for that. There is a United Tool company in town I might give a whirl.

 

If your truck is high enough to maneuver around under it without all corners on stands then that's good. Mine isn't.

 

No go at United...

 

Yeah it definitely is. I suppose I will go see what they want for a heavy duty floor jack. I just liked the idea of being able to strap the transmission to something.

 

An adapter for a floor jack is better than nothing - you have a Harbor Freight near you? They have both adapters and dedicated tranny jacks.

 

So I bit the bullet...brought the truck down to the repair shop on Friday to have the flexplate and starter replaced with OEM parts. I just didn't have the time the next couple of weeks to do the job and it NEEDED to be done.

They called me Friday afternoon and told me every one of the bell housing bolts broke when they were taking the tranny out.

I should have the truck back by Monday afternoon.