Torque tube UPDATE

After nearly a year of debate, I finally convinced my buddy to bring his Marlin out to my place and replace the broken bellhousing. I lent him my trailer and off we went.
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...kool-me-on-torque-tubes.html#Post2682486

I took Orange_Crush's approach and bought an extra stand and put them on a dolly. I used my tranny jack to support the front and rolled everything back. Only thing in the way was the muffler.

He also bought a clutch disc and pressure plate. He had talked about clutch being a [censored] size but we didn't realize that it also works backwards of a normal clutch. The pedal is cable actuated with a huge extension spring to keep tension on the clutch fork and pressure plate fingers for engagement.
I did manage to coax the engine back to life for a few minutes but it had a coolant leak in the exhaust manifold area so no test drive at this time.

Wow, an AMC torque tube! I read through the old thread from last year. Very cool - learn something new every day!

In case anyone thought torque tube technology is outdated, our Aston Martin uses a cast aluminum torque tube around a carbon fiber driveshaft, rigid from engine to transaxle.... fun stuff.

- Art

I imagine the Aston has an independent rear suspension, which doesn't add to the unsprung weight.