Hi Brian,

You wrote: "I interpret the Haynes book as to saying you can put a block of
wood under the
transmission and jack there..."

Yes, and you can use the same block of wood under the gas tank for the front
end.

For those of you who are humor challenged....  I'M KIDDING!!!

Do not lift the rear of the bus via the transmission.  If you do you are
lifting a lot of weight via rubber mounts on the tranny and engine cross
member.  Not nice.

I raise my Vanagon by using the existing jack points.  You know...  the
places where you would normally plug in the Vanagon jack.  If I want to lift
my Vanagon way high to remove the waterleaker and install a Subaru I would
use a hydraulic jack, lifting in stages, but still using the same jack
points.  Instead of lifting with the round rod of the vanagon jack I just
place the hydraulic jack under that same jack point.

Use a small metal plate or a piece of wood to spread out the load on that
bracket.  I like to have jack stands available to crib up the vanagon as
jack it up.  I place them under the frame rails and extend them a bit after
each lift.  In other words, don't jack up one side two feet and then do the
other side.  Lift each side in stages; say 4~6 inches at a time.

IMHO the Vanagon is designed to be lifted at the jack points.  Don't forget
to block the wheels on the opposite side, or front, or rear...  opposite the
end or side you are lifting.

Safe lifting!

Ron Bloomquist