Hi Everyone!
I finally got around to installing the freshly relined brake bands I got relined last year. I am now at the point where I am trying to cinch them up to install the top clevis pins. Apparently the distance between the centers of the top and bottom clevis pins is supposed to be 2 13/16 inches. I used a caliper and set the distance between the pins on the assembly before I went to install them on the bands. I left the jam nut a little loose so that the top clevis pin would have a better chance of sliding through the top eye. I am using a floor jack with a steel bar to push up from the bottom of the assembly. It gets to within about an eighth of an inch but then the whole back of the cat starts to lift up. I even tried to put in about 300lbs of weight in the cargo area but it lifts that too. I had to stop before something broke or someone got hurt
I read a thread years ago by @cloudcap (can't find it now) where he used a 6 foot pry bar and some wood as a fulcrum to lift the bottom of the band up. The back of the cat is too close to the shop wall for me to try this and it has its bogies and tracks off and is sitting on jack stands. If I recall I don't believe he got it to 2 13/16 inches using this method but I could be wrong. I had also read another thread where someone had used ratchet straps to hold down the C4 transaxle while the cat was sitting on a trailer, binding it to the trailer, but I can't do this either because again no bogies and my trailer is for a bigger cat and has the empty center channel so no where to put the jack.
At this point I figured that either I am missing something or there has to be a better way. Apparently if you don't get the distance right at 2 13/16 inches the new bands won't bed correctly. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
~Rodre
I finally got around to installing the freshly relined brake bands I got relined last year. I am now at the point where I am trying to cinch them up to install the top clevis pins. Apparently the distance between the centers of the top and bottom clevis pins is supposed to be 2 13/16 inches. I used a caliper and set the distance between the pins on the assembly before I went to install them on the bands. I left the jam nut a little loose so that the top clevis pin would have a better chance of sliding through the top eye. I am using a floor jack with a steel bar to push up from the bottom of the assembly. It gets to within about an eighth of an inch but then the whole back of the cat starts to lift up. I even tried to put in about 300lbs of weight in the cargo area but it lifts that too. I had to stop before something broke or someone got hurt

I read a thread years ago by @cloudcap (can't find it now) where he used a 6 foot pry bar and some wood as a fulcrum to lift the bottom of the band up. The back of the cat is too close to the shop wall for me to try this and it has its bogies and tracks off and is sitting on jack stands. If I recall I don't believe he got it to 2 13/16 inches using this method but I could be wrong. I had also read another thread where someone had used ratchet straps to hold down the C4 transaxle while the cat was sitting on a trailer, binding it to the trailer, but I can't do this either because again no bogies and my trailer is for a bigger cat and has the empty center channel so no where to put the jack.
At this point I figured that either I am missing something or there has to be a better way. Apparently if you don't get the distance right at 2 13/16 inches the new bands won't bed correctly. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
~Rodre