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Transmission crossmember shifted over to the max after being unbolted?

Free Spirit

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So during a very painful driveshaft install attempt (failed) I unbolted and dropped the trans crossmember all the way down to try and get a better angle. But after following the instructions to reinstall, jack up, start bolts, remove jack and then tighten up. I've noticed it's shifted over the one side as far as the slots for the bolts allow and take more force than I can apply to move the other way where it originally was. Should I be cornered or just bolt it up and torque it down? It was previously torqued to 76 ft lbs per mgws website but it turns out mgws is wrong and won't correct their site and the correct spec is 46 foot lbs (hoping nothing's damaged as none of the bolts threaded nn by finger all of them got maybe 1/2 a thread before binding and needed a wrench to be forced in). So I'll ltotwue it to 46 ft lbs instead of 76 and do I leave it as is, photos show how far it shifted since you can see the circle outline looking straight up. I'd say roughly 1/8 in or so to one side. I did let it freehang so it's in its neutral position. I tighten the 4 and then loosened them all a a couple turns so it naturally wants to sit off to the side, not sure if this will cause issues or if I need to use a ratchet strap to the wall and force it back to the original position. Please help me. 😭 I just wanna burn the damn car down at this point. It's nothing but fix or repair daily. Spent more time on jackstands than driving since I've owned it.
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Johnny Rockit

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If it is the 1/8" that it looks like then I believe you are in overkill mode. The line workers probably have a length if 2×4 to get it to the original spot. Don't overthink things and go for a drive.
 
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Free Spirit

Free Spirit

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If it is the 1/8" that it looks like then I believe you are in overkill mode. The line workers probably have a length if 2×4 to get it to the original spot. Don't overthink things and go for a drive.
Ha go for a drive. Still don't have the shaft in yet. Gotta loctite the bolts and finish torquing them. (And hope to hell the long extended hex socket with a ball end doesn't snap off at 56 ft lbs). Haven't driven the car in about a month over the dumb driveshaft.
 

Johnny Rockit

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Unless you have harbor freight swivel and socket I would not worry about snapping it.
 
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Free Spirit

Free Spirit

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Unless you have harbor freight swivel and socket I would not worry about snapping it.
It's a harbor freight hex ball socket yes but I went for the icon line since it tends to be a bit stronger (no one else sold what I needed locally and I needed it asap and yes I'm that asshole who is going to return it all when I'm done because I bought like 150$ worth of different hex kits trying to find what worked that I will likely never use again). Also one thing to note, the rear bolts are 46 ft lbs and I used a short non ball style so a standard hex socket and it took noticeably more force than using the ball and doing 54 ft lbs. So less torque but required more force? Wonder if the 54 is truly accurate. It was binding up bad so I had to use one hand to hold the ratchet head to the driveshaft while turning it to prevent it from popping out sideways, gouges up the driveshaft a a tiny bit with the torque wrench head but I doubt it'll affect balance or anything that a rock scratch or ding wouldn't.

Oh and I wiped this off a lot before the photo but I ended up backing the bolts out as much as I could guess (didn't want to risk having them fully come out so I just did as much as I thought was good. And the. I uses a paintbrush (barely but it worked very well so I should i used it) but I got lazy so I just found whatever angle work best and flooded the shit out of it. Think I used 3/4 of the tube if loctite and most of it ended up in my eyes and covering me but I got alot in the bolts. Not all the threads got it since I didn't remove the bolts fully but I bet it holds rock solid. I'm even giving the car 24 hrs to cure before I drive it. It's seen some force form turning thr wheels but that's it. I also hole I didn't make my ebrake too tight. It's very snug with 0 slop when not engaged but I checked the calipers and the part that moves is barely if at all engaged with the handle down so I left it there. I already know it's going to back out on me and I'll be under there removing the exhaust and adding a locknut and double nutting the original nut with it.

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