Well, shortly after making that last post I heard a horn honk and went outside, got distracted a couple of days, didn't get back on it until this morning, and even that wasn't early, probly about ten before I got back into it. I did work all day on it tho, wanting to get the old tranny out so I'd only have that much to go back with tomorrow. It wasn't easy, hit hurdles all day, but thankfully it was already all up on jacks. Pulled the center bearing and rear driveshaft, dropped the rear tailpipe, pulled the cat, the front Y pipes, put the transmission jack under the transfer case and got it out. Put the jack under the transmission and lifted the weight off and pulled the cross-member out from under it, got that out of the way, pulled the trans rear damper support, realized the transmission jack only had two wheels on the ground and was perched onto the front cross-member, kinda locked up on there, but I'd already removed most the bolts to the engine block, thought dammm, i'm in a jamb!
Recalled the decent looking come-a-long(Circa 1980- $10) I'd found at a sale last Spring and got it out, put one hook on the center cross-member and the other on the tranny, haha, and started crankin it down. Fortunately it didn't create any added probs, simply pulled it back as I wriggled it around and soon enough it was firmly on the jack and the rear engine support (jackstand with makeshift wood block) was firmly in place. It was already so close to being dark it was beyond grabbing a photo.
I was sure glad to get the old one out today, now I have all day tomorrow to get the new rebuilt back in and it all together by dark tomorrow, I'd hate to miss my windshield appointment for Tuesday, this family has been in the business a long time, my only other WS replacement was done there 37 years ago, and I'd have a hard time finding any comparable shop these days
Side note, when I dropped the transmission fluid there was yet another piece from the bad bearing cage I first became aware of first time I dropped the fluid, 12 years and over 100,000 miles ago, this thing was definitely on its last leg. I figure it's the front bearing, it's been really rough since the throw out bearing fell apart two months ago, mostly in 1st,2nd, and 3rd, hard to get it moving, but i haven't pushed it too hard in those gears, taking a lonnngggg while to reach 60 mph to go to 4th, where it smoothed out on into 5th, for relatively smooth highway travel, although i could still feel the vibration through the stick. Most the bolts now were not even really tight, the top two transmission bolts were, well one was completely gone and the right one was just hanging there, making me think i hadn't torqued them near enough, but that wasn't the case, it was just in terrible shape, and i'm glad as hek to get it out and get the rebuilt in there