So I parked the flattie in the garage and pulled the t-case to reseal it. Then things sort of went south and all work came to a grinding halt.

I'm always in a huge rush when I'm wrenching. This job pays as well as an assistant night manager's position at Taco Bell, so I can only afford a nanny part time. So while she's here I've got to scramble to get all of my wrenching done. Trouble is, when I rush I inevitably wind up hurting myself or the vehicle I'm working on.

Case in point, I'm in the middle of the drivetrain swap on the J2000 pickup. I was ready to swing the engine between the framerails, but the motor mounts I ordered from Daystar were backordered for a couple days.  I figured that would give me a chance to yank the Dana 300 out of the flattie and throw in a new seal and gasket kit I got from Novak for the March '09 issue. I got the t-case out in good time and put it up on the workbench to begin pulling it apart. Naturally, I was going flat out, stopping only to take photos.

I grabbed a brass drift and hammer to remove the intermediate shaft. Tap, tap, tap. Stopped to check that it was coming out fine. Yup. Put the drift back in the bore and smack, smack, smack. "Now why isn't it coming out as easily?" Wham, wham, wham! "Huh, still being stubborn." Blam, blam, blam. "Aw crap. The thrust washer fell down into the bore."

I had completely mangled the thrust washer with the drift because I was rushing so fast I didn't notice it had dropped down out of place. So now I had a mangled thrust washer bent and twisted in the case that prevented the intermediate gear from coming out. I had to monkey with it for a half hour to get it free. Then I had to wait for another thrust washer to put the t-case back together. And in a flash of irony, my Daystar motor mounts arrived that afternoon.

Normally I'd just go ahead and move over to working on the J2000 again while the parts for the flattie arrived, but the orange Jeep was blocking the engine and hoist. I had painted myself into the proverbial corner. Luckily my buddy Jay rebuilds Dana 300s in his spare time and had one extra thrust washer laying around I was able to grab the next day. It cost me a couple beers, but I was able to get the sucker buttoned back up and rolling again.