transmission socket/extension question

[timspider]

I'm having a hell of a time getting my upper drivers side bolt back on the transmission.
Can someone tell me exactly what configuration of extensions, universals,wobblers and/or locking or magnetic sockets you use to access this bolt in a way that you can actually exert some forward pressure rather than just turning it?
The other 3 bolts went in fairly easily- this 4th one is just a major pia
Any suggestions are welcome. Approaching wits end- I can see it from here.

[azruss]

It been a while, but i think i used a standard socket with u-joint with 18" and 12" extension. It requires getting your hand up in there keeping the socket straight until you can get it started.

[Exit98]

Tim,

Going from memory (uh oh) I recall I had George under the car with the various extensions and socket and so forth and I was at the top. Air cleaner off I could get my hand in back there and kind of get the bolt in the hole and get and hold the socket on the bolt. WIth the two of us it wasn't bad.

Sorry about your struggles. I'm about to pull mine out again to find the source of the trans leak. Ugg.

[timspider]

Just got it. Thanks for the assist. On to the starter.

[focodave]

The starter bolts are probably going to be even more frustrating than the bell housing bolts.
I would suggest having an assistant guide the swivel socket in place from above, while you are underneath the car.
If you don't have an assistant, I would suggest using a single layer of black electrical tape around the swivel part of the socket to hold the socket at the proper angle as you are fishing it up through from underneath the car.
This will keep the socket from falling down at the wrong angle, which would make it almost impossible to get the socket to land on the head of the starter bolt properly -- and also making you want to kill something even worse than you already want to right now.
I've done it both ways: with an assistant (the wife) and without.
Just keep your cool and don't give up. Many of us have done this job successfully so you know it can be done.

[timspider]

Amazingly enough, the starter went in fairly easily. Even the tough top bolt, which I got without a helper. Used a 2 foot flexible magnetic thing to hold bolt and position it up near the hole, then tied it off with a gear tie while I went up top to see if I was even close. Right next to the hole just waiting so I snuck my hand in the opening and with 2 fingers was able to get it to the hole and even got a few turns on it. My hand is swollen now from being jammed in there and wrenched around, but it was worth it.
once in, I came up with an extension configuration that worked and got the socket on from underneath. It really helped at this point to orient my body head toward the left front tire and feet pointing toward right rear- that position let me get both hands up in that tight area around the tunnel. I could feel the bolt head with one hand and lead the socket onto it with the other.
On to the drive shaft and re installation of the shifter.
Thanks everybody for the help

[RRoller123]

My mechanic said the same thing when I warned him about the "dreaded starter install". He said it took him 20 minutes total. Multiply by at least 10 and that is what it would have taken me.

[timspider]

I'm not as fast as any mechanic. If there is a long route, I can generally find it. But even with my slow, deliberate ways, this took me about an hour total. I was due for a small victory and thankfully I got one.
Drive shaft now giving me a little trouble, but not too far from driving I think.

[timspider]

Think again. Car running great. Clutch not so much.
Back to the drawing board. I fear another long non driving summer ahead of me.

[DieselSpider]

You will get there with persistence just keep at it. I had a crippling accident back in 1987 and had to learn that everything now takes longer then it did before when you now have to walk with a cane and that if I allowed frustration to take over it would get overwhelming. The old saying "Inch by inch and its a cinch" helps me keep things on a positive note because even an inch of progress is still progress.

"By the mile its a trial and by the yard its still hard but inch by inch its a cinch".

Take each inch of progress as it comes and despite any setbacks eventually the yards and miles will pass and you will get to your destination. It may take longer than you would like it to but you will eventually get there.

28 years later and I have beaten the doctors prediction of being in a wheel chair by 15 years and still counting despite being in a recent motorcycle accident going down at about 40 and having the bike roll over me. Things have gotten delayed a bit more for a while but I am still walking with my cane, riding motorcycles and driving the spider daily to work until the knee heals up a bit better and then it will be more motorcycle than spider while I catch up on the rolling restoration.

Keep at it.

[timspider]

Thank you for that inspiration. it helps. Strange coincidence, I got run over by a car 25 years ago and after 10 surgeries over 2 years was told that my left knee, as soon as everything else healed up, would not function and would need to be replaced. I still have near zero mobility in my left ankle, and the knee lets me know about weather changes, and it's kinda crunchy, but it works well enough to let me play hoops and run in short spurts when I need to.
Thanks for the reminder. I needed that.
Be well diesel

[DieselSpider]

I was almost killed on the gurney by a refrigerated IV that they used since the AC in the hospital was not working and they wanted to cool me off but forgot to set the flow leaving it wide open. After they got past that they forced in the wrong airway and the head of anesthesiology had to be called in to fix that. Then after the second hour they had to call in a second surgeon and gave up after working for an additional 8 hours in tandem declaring that the knee was too bad/messy to work on and would have to be replaced however since the degree of degenerative bone disease was too high already I was not a good candidate for it.

The did offer to cut my spinal cord in the neck area to mute the pain so I would not have to be on morphine derivatives for the rest of my life. I told them to take a hike. I have learned to tough it out and live with it. Had to make of few adjustments in regards to my new normal, go with the flow and find a new way to make a living and enjoy life. Moving to the South helped a lot since the barometric pressure does not fluctuate in Tampa Bay as severely as it does in New England.

Things that were previously intolerable have a new perspective now as does the view of what are necessities. Changed my entire outlook on life and was a bit enlightening.

One of my best friends had to move here from Texas for the additional heat and humidity due to his pulmonary fibrosis which required me to make adjustments since he could not survive in a dry or cold area such as an air conditioned car or restaurant. That meant driving in a convertible with the top down with brimmed woven hats on hot humid summer days and eating out on the patio when dining out. Even the cooler evening air coming in off the Gulf dropping temps into the mid 80's was enough to send him to the ER so we had to have blankets and thermoses of hot liquids for him when all I wanted was a tall cool one or an iced coffee. Made me appreciate how much I had compared to him. Sad day when the oxygen bottles were no longer enough to keep him going and the plug had to be pulled on life support. His wife was really torn up having to sign off on that but he was suffering horribly at that point with no valid donor lungs available.

Car troubles, home repairs and things I would like to do but have to put off are just minor things comparatively.