i did my own clutch by myself. i also installed and removed my own T-5 without assistance. it helped a ton that i used to work on F-15's installing components weighing about the same (on my own).
You did that T-5 without a jack, man you are tough! I set my friends T-5 on my chest about 9 years ago. Wont do that again. Didnt even try to lift if further because every bolt felt as though it were tearing skin.
I put my t-5 in setting the trans on my chest. It wouldn't have been so bad if someone would have been in the car to push the clutch in when I couldn't get the trans in that last inch or so.
Can't count how many trannies I've wrestled out of place, and then the big struggle - how in the heck to get the dang thing off your chest so you can get out from under the car!! Still have a picture of me in college in the married housing parking lot under my wife's 1967 Datsun RL411 - me stuck under the car with the borgwarner automatic on my chest, my legs sticking out from under the car, and no way to move. Had to keep hollering for my wife to get one of my buddies to come down and 'rescue' me!! I now wonder how I possibly could have even removed the tranny by myself when my head was obviously so far up my butt.
I find the easiest way is to jack it up using a common hydraulic jack, then put the input shaft partway in, then bench it up, remove jack, and wrestle it in that way, much easier than trying to get the jack lined up just perfect.
those damn tremecs are SOOOOOOO heavy though, and after benching it for almost 20 minutes (wouldn't go in that last inch) I came out shaking. It would be nice to have a real trans jack setup
I thought I was the only one who benches the tranny in. Well it's resting on my knees while i lift the back up and push it in. My friends laughed at me last time I did it.