In the years building transmissions one always finds the need to be creative in making a tool that will ease the building procedure. One of the things that I found hard to do while building early on, was to load the front gear train in a C-3 transmission. The stack up from the sun gear shell to the direct drum have to fit into the case in such a manner that when loading you can not use your hands to hold the setup together while assembling it into the case. In overcoming this we came up with a tool that has carried over to many other applications such as the A4LD, AXOD, and AXODE's. The market has several different tools that work or were designed specifically for a given application. Not only does this call for a large selection of special tools, but to some it is costly. For instance the AXOD, there is a tool that loads the front stack up into the case. This tool cost's approximately $42.00 to $74.00 depending who you purchase it from. The loading tool that is illustrated in this article has a grand total cost of approximately $1.50. A $1.50, this might be an overexaggeration of the cost of the tool. This is a big difference and the tool can be used for many other transmissions.

The parts required to do this are (figure 1): One (1) piece of mechanics wire .058 gauge 10 feet long. Two (2) pieces of 5\16 cooler line tubing 5 inches long. Two (2) pieces of 5\16 cooler line tubing 1 1\2 inches long. One (1) bottle of white out used for marking the wire for bends.

Figure 1

To make this tool first mark the wire in the center (5 foot) and then make two more marks at 2 1\2 inches to either side of the center mark. Scratch off the center mark. Slide one of the 5 inch tubes onto the wire. When centered between the marks, fold the wires tight against the tube and loop back through the tube a second time ending with the wires facing the same direction (figure 2). Now make two more marks on the wire for the other handle. Measure down the two strands of wire 40 inches (3'4") and make another mark with the white out. Slide the two (2) pieces of 5\16 tubing that are 1 1\2 inches long over both strands of wire (figure 3). Once those are in place install the other 5 inch handle. Make tight bends at the two marks on the wire and slide through the tube. Fold the ends over and join at the center of the tube. Twist as to tighten the wires then fold back in separate directions and fold the loose ends into the tube. Use pliers to make sure bends are tight and tape this handle with good tape like electrical tape to ensure that the ends do not pop out of the handle. Now the two center sliders need to be modified so they will slide into any case during assembly of clutch stacks. One at a time lay the tube into a vice and tighten slightly to create an oval shape to the tube, a hammer can be used as well to do this (figure 4). To keep the wires separated the center of the tube needs to be crushed using a dull chisel. Lay the tube over an anvil, making sure that the wires are clearly separated. Use the chisel and smash the center of the tube dividing the two wires. This needs to be done to both sides of the tube to get a good sliding area (figure 5). When using the tool to load stacks into the transmission slide the two sliders down the wires far enough to keep the wires from falling off the drum (figure 6). To remove the wires, use a scribe or a suitable hook and pull the sliders up. Once this is done and the sliders are up close to the handles, the wires can be pulled up around the drum assembly one at a time. Now the assembly is complete.

Good Luck!

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6a

Figure 6b

/Figure 1 Good Luck!