what is this?
 

What's this cable that criss-crosses under my tranny/driveshaft and connects to the trailing arms? One end of it actually comes through into the firewall. I thought it was the e-brake, but I don't see how it'd be connected to the e-brake.

Is it necessary?

http://www.shifty.org/pics/68chevy/e...swap%20020.jpg

That is definitly your E-brake cable! :)

I second the E-brake cable

yup sure is the ebrake.should go across the trailing arms and into the backing plate for the rear drums

So, I take it this thing isn't safe to cut...

I need to cut out the middle of my manual tranny xmember, but the cable passes right through the area I wanna cut. ARGGHHH.

I have been fighting with this thing for almost 8 hours over about 4 days (started 2 weeks ago). I bought an angle grinder, air hammer, cutoff tool, all kinds of crap and I just can't seem to cut it off or bust the rivets out. It's buried right underneath the tranny hump (really far forward) so I can't get the top rivets out without taking off the cab or cutting the xmember in half.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

pull the transmission out just unbolt it from the bellhousing and get it out of your way. things will be a ton easier with the tranny outta the way and work from there. shouldnt take but 20 minutes or so to have the tranny on the ground

I am not sure I follow, but are you saying that after you cut the cross member the cable will still be in the way?? Or is it just in the way to make the cut? You can disconnect it with th adjustment nut in your pic and then just reinstall it when your done.

trying to make the cut.

cableguy0, tranny is out. i'm talking about the tranny xmember. This is what I'm looking at right now:

http://www.satellitehead.com/images/...nup1%20(3).jpg

Sorry for the large picture -

So, you see, the rear rivets up top are under the cab/tranny hump with ~1" or less of clearance to get to them. The front top two rivets have abou 2-3" clearance, although it looks like more in the picture.

If you look closely you can see the start of the e-brake cable X on either side of the xmember.

I hate to cut this thing in half, it's in great shape, but it is impossible to get out, so it's gotta go. I need to get the LS1 in there and I am not going to have a stupid piece of metal stand in my way!

I took a sawzaw to mine when I swapped to auto. Cut both bottom parts even with frame, cut whole xmember in half, then used a jack to raise boht parts up far enough to get the sawzaw in to cut the other sides. You will need all the room u can so cut it as close to frame as you can.

Even after torching and beating out all the rivets.. with the cab off.. I still had trouble getting the xmember to come out of the frame. Since i didnt think I'd ever need a 3spd xmember, I cut the thing in 2 and threw it in the scrap heap.

I'm ready to toss mine in. I'm going to finish cutting it even with the frame tomorrow. I think I'm just gonna leave the pieces in there until I get the truck to the point I can start doing a frame-off.

i found a shortcut tonight in my frustration. using an air hammer with a chisel bit, no matter how sharp, totally sucks, you just peel the rivet back slowly and i've only got an 11gallon tank, so i pound for 15 seconds and the tank has to refill. sucks ass.

here's the shortcut - i got it out in less than 90 minutes.

take a sawzall, cut the center of the xmember out. then cut the top and bottom of the xmember within an inch of the framerails (you'll need that overhang later). after that is done, sawzall the rivet heads off the top and bottom of the framerail (it's 100 times faster than grinding them).

Once you got the rivet heads off, beat the last pieces of the xmember out with a BFH and it will pull the rivet with it.

Here are some pictures of the damage I caused tonight. Got a couple of minor nicks in the frame, but nothing that I can't fix later when I do a frame-off.

http://satellitehead.com/images/68ch...r_summary1.jpg

http://satellitehead.com/images/68ch...r_summary2.jpg

http://satellitehead.com/images/68ch...r_summary3.jpg

http://satellitehead.com/images/68ch...r_summary4.jpg

Sawzalls are Great!! Arent they! :metal:

Best tool ever invented

Guess you gotta work with the tools you got. My suggestion is get an oxy-acetylene torch, 3 pound hammer, set of punches, and a cold chisel. When you get good with the smoke wrench you can cut the heads of the rivets off without hurting the frame, then heat around the rivet hole to expand the metal for easy removal with the punches and chisel.

Takes way less effort/time and you don't have the carnage and trashed frame parts you see here. Plus the skoke wrench works wonders on all kinds of rusted and hard to remove fasteners. Once you've used heat you won't go back. Sawz-alls are good for quick amputations of rusted sheetmetal as seen here. ;)