Well damn.... never thought it would be so difficult to stick a t-case into a rig, especially when the damn rig was built around the tcase. you'd think it would slip right in... nope.
It goes in thru the top, sideways, then slips in, turn and slides over. Has to clear the tabs for the back mount the somehow slide under the bar that give is about 1/16" clearance, then somehow get the splines to meet up with the tranny, then somehow get some damn rtv smeared on it.
If that isnt bad enough, 2 of the 6 bolts that hold it all together are damn near impossible to get to. And then they tighten at the rate of about a 1/10 of a turn at a time. Christ. I have dealt with trannys and tcases in tights spots before, but this is ridiculous. And being all tube, it seems like it would be a lot easier. ugh.
Here are some shot of the tranny tcase combo in place and bolted in, waiting for the engine.
So, here is the bolt that added about a half hour to this process. this is the same bolt that required i cut this panel out of the freshly painted skid plate. That sucked.
And for those that asked (again) about the skid being solid mounted, you can see the poly mounts in this pic. There are four, one at each corner. You can only see two in this pic, but the other two are just opposite.
I have decided that if (read WHEN) i need to pull this tcase and trans back out for any kind of repair or replacement, i'm going to cut out the interior tubing for easier access. It is all non-structural tubing and would make install and take out much much easier. I thought about doing it right now, but can't bring myself to cutting apart the freshly painted thing... ugh. No reason to do it now tho, will be just as fast and easy when it comes time, sawzall, etc. Flanges, squirt some metal, done.
Maybe i will get lucky and never have to pull it... hahaahhah.
So, now motor teardown for rebuild... I'm on a roll now.