Take this all with a grain of salt........
FWIW...
over the many years of working on K5's,,I have found that the best way to remove and install transmissions and transfer cases are to pull them both as a unit unless there just a need to pull the transfer case by itself.
Remove the unit with a transmission jack.
Ratchet strap or chain the unit to the jack base plate tight.....let me say that again. TIGHT.
Let the jack do the work as it was designed to do...500 lbs sliding around loose above my head is not my idea of a good time...
most good transmission jacks have tie down points and adjustment points to tilt the transmission forward or backward or side to side....
I have pulled and stabbed countless transmissions and learned the hard way....balancing transmissions on floor jacks and blocks of wood etc,, prior to owning my own transmission jack....If your not into buying one....rent one.
After the trans is secured to the jack,,,lift the trans unit just enough to take the weight off the cross member....remove all the stuff attached to the transmission and transfer case....
Pull the inspection cover and remove the starter.
Pull the T/C bolts from the flywheel and push the converter into the front of the transmission.
Take a ratchet strap and sling the sump of the oil pan on the engine from frame rail to frame rail...pull it up tight,,,this will support the engine as you remove the transmission...you can also take a few small pieces of 2x4 and wedge them between the block and the firewall....this also works good.
Remove the crossmember and then slightly drop the transmission down a few inches....working from the bottom, pull the bellhousing bolts...
The top two bolts are the hardest to get to,,,dropping the trans down a little gives you better access to them...
an 18" - 24" extension with a swivel socket makes it easy to get to the top two bolts...
once the bolts are all out, slowly drop the weight of the transmission until the engine is supported by the strap or the wood blocks...
At this point you should be able to rock the trans back and forth and it should separate from the engine block....from here,,, it's just a matter of slowly dropping the unit and rocking it and pulling it back an inch or two as you let it down.
If the trans is too high (once the jack is all the way down) to pull it out from under the truck...use a floor jack and wood blocks to lift one side of your rig and roll it out on the jack....
maybe its just me.....but making my tools work for me is a lot easier than fighting, straining and battling when removing and installing a transmission and possibly hurting myself or damaging something....
Chief.....If I were you, I would tell the trans shop how hard the trans came out....they may find the input shaft/ front pump/input bearing was bent or damaged upon removal... it also looks like a bunch of scrape marks on the converter and the hub looks dinged up on the end....not good signs...
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