My tranny rant... God grant me the stregnth...

I went into this thinking that it wouldn't be easy, I guess I just didn't expect it so many things to factor into it. Installing a 700r4 into a 61 Apache is interesting to say the least. Cutting the crossmember out kinda sucked at the time, but now seems to be one of the easier steps. I had a couple of flywheel bolts that I ended up having to cut off and extract. I mounted the flexplate and torque converter without a hitch an then called it a nite last night... So today we get the tranny onto the jack and go to roll it under the truck... The tranny doesn't fit under the truck. I have the truck on ramps since I don't have access to a lift. So I call my brother and drive 20 mins to his house to pick up his floor jack. Get home, jack my truck up and position the tranny under the truck (I know this is dangerous), to discover that I need to remove the torsion bar crossmember, so we did. Now with that out of the way there's plenty of room. So we lowered to truck to just where the tires rest above the ramps. I didn't want to drop the truck all the way because the torsion bars aren't hooked up. Trying to get the tranny to line up with the torque converter is a nightmare. Anybody reading my rant that has a trick or a easy way to get them to line up please let me know. We tried for awhile but then the light bulb burnt out and my 2 brother in laws that are helping me, there 19 & 20, convinced me to call it a night... So I did. It sure has been an experience trying to get this tranny into this truck but the end result should be well worth it.  
61 Fleetside 327 sb

First of all, you don't bolt the torque converter to the flexplate and then try to line the tranny up to it. You need to put the converter into the tranny. Make sure to get it all the way into the front pump, so as not to destroy the pump when bolting the tranny up to the engine. If you do this step properly, you should have 3/16 to a 1/4 gap between the converter and the flexplate when the tranny is bolted tight to the motor. To make life a little easier on yourself when trying to line the tranny up to the motor, take a pair of 2 1/2 to 3" bolts, with the heads cut off just below the head. Screw them into the block on opposite sides and use them to help lign up and hold the trans. in position while bolting it to the engine. GOOD LUCK! It can be done. I do it all the time  

God give this man strength...Amen.lol