I have removed the transmission in my '28 truck a few times and I never took the engine out. The rear axle does not need to be moved away from the transmission. But, you do need to open up the u-joint so the torque tube can get out of the way for sliding the tranny back.

Most of the times, I did this on my own, but when a warm body was available to help at key moments, it was MOST welcome. 😉

Here's the general process I used:

1.Think about how you are going to lower the transmission from the vehicle. My truck was parked in my narrow car port for the tranny removal and installation. I ran a length of steel channel through the open truck windows and secured the ends of the channel to ceiling beams of the car port with hooks and chains. The plan is to lower the tranny down using a come along winch that is hooked up to this dangling channel.  BTW, it worked really well! ;-0

2. Unbolt the stick shift and its housing.

3. When lifting up the rear of the vehicle, make sure you lift the chassis, not the rear axle. This allows the rear axle to hang in the air, thus pulling it back away from the transmission a few inches and facilitates the disassembly of the u-joint.

4. Unbolt the u-joint housing and slide it back as far as you can. This gives you just enough room to unbolt and separate the u-joint.

5. At this point, you can push the torque tube up (holding it up with a jack stand) to get it out of the way for the tranny removal or you can let the torque tube go down to the workspace floor, but you'll have to work around it. ;-(

6. Take out two of the tranny-to-engine bolts (towards the upper right and left corners of the tranny) and replace them will 3/8-16x6" bolts with the heads cut off. You will slide the tranny away from the engine on these guide pins.

7. Disconnect the hand brake mechanism from the tranny case.

8. Take off the brake and clutch pedals.

9. Get the come along cable around the transmission.

10. Unbolt the cross member from the chassis. I'm not sure about this setup for your vehicle, but my '28 has shims in between the cross member and the chassis that must be pushed out. These shims (around 1/8" thick) go around the side bolts and lock the tranny in the middle of the chassis.

11. Take out the rest of the engine-to-tranny bolts, but leave the two long guide pins in.

12. Slide the tranny back and let it down.

Now, take care of the goals of this project.

While the tranny is out, consider the condition (thickness) of the clutch AND consider replacing the throw out bearing with a newer-style ball bearing one.

Another thing to check is the wear of the bronze sleeves in the clutch and brake pedals If there is a lot of slop between the sleeves and the tranny shaft, use some brass shim stock material to tighten up the fit of the pedals to the shaft on the transmission when you put the pedals back on.

Celebrate each step of the progress as a movement forward!  Keep us posted with what you find and how you fixed it.

Cheers, Dean

Thanks Dean but this is a closed top automobile so I cannot use a comealong. Wonder if I can get it balanced good enough for floor jack under it?

My truck also has a closed-top (solid wood) roof.  I slid a long piece of steel channel through the open door windows and secured the channel to the ceiling beams that support my car port's loft area.

Then, I hung the comealong from the channel (inside the cab) and used it to lower the tranny and raise it back up again for re-installation. BTW, I popped the steering wheel off because it was in the way.

See the attached pics.

Cheers, Dean