Don't drop a transmission on your chest...

[WCB]

A friend was installing my transmission Saturday and was under the truck with the tranny unbolted but still "hanging" on crossmembers. He was doing something and the tranny slipped and fell straight on his chest with the bell housing end...
I was just helping when needed and laying at the front of the truck when it fell. Tony kinda semi went into a fetal position with the weight still on his chest. I freaked and kept talking to him as I ran to the side and went under. By this point he was able to speak and was trying to roll the tranny off and himself out from under it. Turned out OK as it just knocked the wind out of him.
I was paying him to do the job and he didn't want me to help much. He needed the money... Needless to say after that I was a more proactive helper.
And I'll never punch Tony in the chest either.

[blntrey3]

dang it boy! bet that hurt

[helibow]

He's lucky... that could have killed him. I flew a guy once that had the same thing happen, he arrested several times before we got him to the hospital, they opened his chest in the ER and found that a rib had punctured his heart... He did not survive. Safety can be a supreme pain in the butt... but it's worth it in the long run. I have to convince myself several times a year that what i'm doing could kill me and I have to stop and put the right safety measures in place even though i'm 99.9% sure i'll be just fine. Problem is that last 0.1% can be a doozy!

[louieagarcia]

Glad your buddy ended up ok! That could have been ugly

When I was a kid, I helped my dad replace the clutch on his '88 K5 Blazer 4x4 so we had to pull the tranny, promised I would never do transmission work myself ever again...and have stuck with that. Its scary having all that iron hanging over your head. I leave it to the professionals.

[PSD Ryan]

Best to use a transmission Jack. Glad he is alright

[thorshammer]

Dadgum..... Glad to hear he's alright....That's one tough sob.

[Landrover]

Dude.......u r having an eventful year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Was that the tundra being worked on?/

[TheGasMan]

Been there, done that. A couple times. It sucked every time. I used to bench press the transmission into place and have someone start the bellhousing bolts. Didn't always happen. Ahhh to be young and stupid again.

[WCB]

Best to use a transmission Jack. Glad he is alright

He left his jack in Abilene...

Dude.......u r having an eventful year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Was that the tundra being worked on?/

Never had a Tundra. The red 04 F-150

Learned a new trick after the incident. Ratchet strap...

[Dale Moser]

Jason Prosser changed a 700R4 (heavy duty 4 spd auto) by himself one Thursday before heading to a fishing trip at the coast on Saturday. I asked him how he raised and lowered that big ol gear box with transfer case by himself, he said "I just rested it on my chest and took a big ol deep breath when I needed to raise it up!"

Turned out, the truck just needed spark plugs Miss you, big guy!

[Goldeneagle]

Thought I was the only one that stupid crap like this happened too. It hurts!


Dale, when I was in HS I held the back end of my friends F100 up while he changed the back tire. He had lost his jack. All that weight lifting came in handy.

[kwperry]

boy howdy i bet that was painful

[SmTx]

I've probably pulled a few dozen trans and the worst I've ever done was having the trans lowered on my hand resting on the cross member.

[sniper steve]

Had a buddy in high school die that way. Squeezing under and old TransAm, and had a TH350 fall on his chest. Nobody found him till the next morning, he slowly suffocated under the weight. I won't pull a tranny without a lift and a jack these days.

[elkbowhunter]

that was a close call.