Alright, so I'm well along into my tranny rebuild, replacing syncro rings right now. I got a relatively decent set of snap ring pliers from AutoZone, which are a bit smaller than the Harbor Freight set that I see recommended here on a few threads. I managed to get the snap ring off 1st gear and swap the syncro ring, but I CANNOT get that thing opened enough to reinstall it.
I went and bought the HF set (the $15 special, which is now $10) which didn't get very far......both of the largest pliers in that set were destroyed within minutes of attempting to reinstall the snap ring. My AZ set is holding up admirably well (appears to be of far better construction) but even when opening the ring a lot, I can't even get it started down into where it's supposed to go. It looks to me like the entire ring needs to open up A LOT! What's the trick?!?!?! I've tried starting it at the opening first, which seems to work the best, but I also tried starting at the opposite side of the ring. No success. I'm about to break down and spend $100+ on a fancy giagantenormous professional pair of pliers and just open the ring up like 6+ inches (which seems impossible, but I don't see how else to mount it), but enough people got by with the HF set that I feel I must be doing something wrong.
I feel really stupid right now....I've come so far, and now to get stuck on this.........
Matt
I went and bought the HF set (the $15 special, which is now $10) which didn't get very far......both of the largest pliers in that set were destroyed within minutes of attempting to reinstall the snap ring. My AZ set is holding up admirably well (appears to be of far better construction) but even when opening the ring a lot, I can't even get it started down into where it's supposed to go. It looks to me like the entire ring needs to open up A LOT! What's the trick?!?!?! I've tried starting it at the opening first, which seems to work the best, but I also tried starting at the opposite side of the ring. No success. I'm about to break down and spend $100+ on a fancy giagantenormous professional pair of pliers and just open the ring up like 6+ inches (which seems impossible, but I don't see how else to mount it), but enough people got by with the HF set that I feel I must be doing something wrong.
I feel really stupid right now....I've come so far, and now to get stuck on this.........
Matt