Is there an easy way to change flywheel on turbo 400?

[Liz]

/me hands 1971 GMC SHORTY a cookie


back on topic please

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by Pont406

But you'll miss all the fun of soaking in a trans fluid!

I've throw away more than one shirt before I went in the house. Somehow I could manage if I never got soaked in trans fluid again.

[highperf4x4]

I got it all over my right side once and had it all down my right leg so I ran into the house hoppin and screamin and my step mother flipped out! She thought I was tore up pretty bad and she panicked. I mean she was hysterical. When I started laughing she got mad and chased me around the house 3 times before she gave up. It was alot funnier when I was 17 and didn't have kids of my own!

[Halltmja]

Do you have to disconnect the tranny fluid lines and linkage?

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by fine69

Wow,

Next time someone does this job in an hour pm me.

I want to come over and watch you do it.

I have been wrenching on stuff for darn near 30 years.

Have 2 post hoist. And more shop equipment than most guys ever will.

But still cant envision doing this job that quick.

Maybe rust has something to do with it??? LOL

Using a two post lift....with all the right shop equipment....

Speaking as an ex-flat rate mechanic, I cannot envision taking longer. Flat-rate mechanics learn to do jobs faster than any hobby guy could ever imagine, their paychecks depend on it. I can do a RWD flywheel removing the trans in less than an hour, and without removing around 30-45 min.

Flat rate only paid 1.8 hours so you have to be fast to make any money. You also have other incentives to get done fast, if work is slow you have to finish and get in line for the next job. It's like a pack of hungry dogs, and they throw the bone out there for you all to fight over.

What most people don't realize is the trans does not have to come very far back to sneak out a thin flex-plate.

I changed a crankshaft in a 1982 350 auto trans 4X4 K5 Blazer in under 8 hours, and did not have to hurry, and it only paid like 10 or 11, I can't remember exactly but if you do it according to the shop manual, you have to be Superman to even make flat rate. You HAVE to know the tricks to come out ahead, and not be afraid to take advantage of it because there were always the jobs you could not make flat rate on no matter what so you take it where you can get it.

We did timing gears on inline chevy engines in about an hour and a half, we simply drilled and tapped the camshaft to press the gear on with a bolt as opposed to removing the cam to do it like the book said. We usually got 6 hours for that, imagine pulling the cam and doing it in six hours.

Did chain covers on 4.1L equipped Cadillac 325-4L FWD transmissions in 45 min, got paid 3.8 hours. You simply removed the rear cross-member, exhaust Y pipe, and IF you removed the vacuum hose and let the heat riser fall off to let the manifold come down against the frame, you could sneak it out easy.

You don't have to be superman to do these things, you just have to know what you can get away with. Not doing it right would result in the job coming back and me getting to do it over for free, so results had to be positive at any rate.

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by jeffspower

Oh, and I need a hoist- that last one was layin' on my back. Maybe I could knock off 15 minutes standing up

A shop management trainer told me once not to buy equipment to try and increase productivity of slow techs. He said all you will get is more efficient inefficiency. I should have listened- he was right. I'd even schedule two similar jobs at the same time, doing mine on my back & letting my guy have the hoist to prove I could do it faster than him. And this was after years of listening to my guy complain that he would be faster & make us both more money if he had a hoist

Productivity is all about incentive. I can understand a slow tech will wallow in it and if you make it easier to do a 2 hour job that takes him 3 hours, he will still take 3 hours by working slower.

That guy needs to go, there are others who need the money. NEVER pay a mechanic hourly, and beware the guy who does not need to make a lot of money. MONEY MONEY MONEY and those who need it will work the hardest/smartest.

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by 1971 GMC SHORTY

Heres my cramed garage my buddies all wish they had all my tools and i have a service truck all full of tools.

Wow that looks messy. Better have your wife put all that stuff away so you will never find it again. LOL

[1971 GMC SHORTY]

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

Wow that looks messy. Better have your wife put all that stuff away so you will never find it again. LOL

Bet You Can't Find The 3 Harleys In There Eather. It's All Cleaned Now was working On A Big Movie and Building Harleys Now I have a Helper To keep it clean

[no1udknow]

Yah, when I was a teenager, I could just lower the trans down on my chest and shuffle out with it, but now I'm getting old and weak (34). Now I use a lift and a rolling table with a floor jack mounted to it, and a custom transfer holder that I made out of a piece of I-beam. I use about 2 ft of 1/2 extensions, a swivel, and a 9/16 and I can zip out a transfer in about 2-3 hours depending on how driven I am. I have done 3 in the last year, a dodge D350 dump truck, and 2 GMC Sonomas.

The big thing I tell people to watch out for is tearing a motor mount in the process. I have a piece of bar with 2 rubber blocks that I put across the fenders and then ratchet strap the rear of the engine up so I don't tear a mount.

[Ronald29609]

OK, I started this flex plate change today. I am working on my back under the truck. I have everything disconnected and removed 6 bell housing bolts but the transmission won't move away from the block. Any tips would be appreciated. This is my 1st build. A retirement project. 67 Chevy Pickup. 350, 200-R4. Thanks in advance. ronald29609@yahoo.com

[MARKDTN]

Did you remove the rear mount? What about torque converter bolts? If it won't separate, then you either still have bolts holding it together or something else.

[davepl]

Slowest tech I know (but really, really good, just slow) changed mine by sliding the trans back and not removing it because the crossmember bolts wouldn't come out without lifting the cab, so he had to do it in place or cut the bolts.

So it can be done, and that's with a big block... 4WD might be another story.

[davepl]

Originally Posted by Ronald29609

OK, I started this flex plate change today. I am working on my back under the truck. I have everything disconnected and removed 6 bell housing bolts but the transmission won't move away from the block. Any tips would be appreciated. This is my 1st build. A retirement project. 67 Chevy Pickup. 350, 200-R4. Thanks in advance. ronald29609@yahoo.com

Rear mount?
Converter to flywheel bolts?

[biketopia]

if all 6 bell housing bolts, 3 converter to flex plate bolts, and the mount are all removed you're probably just stuck on the dowel pins, try rocking it up and down to but lose the crud. Chevy's usualy don't stick too bad, now late model fords on the other hand.

[Mrturner1]

X's 2 on dowel pins, because the motor is wanting to tilt back making the dowels hard to pull out. Maybe support/lift the back of the engine a bit