There are 3 shafts that go into the torque converter.  The smallest one
goes all the way through the final drive and trans to the oil pump at the
very far end of the trans.  It needs to be seated in the pump.  there is a
picture in Bentley about how it should and should not look.  It make take
some fiddling to be sure it is seated in that pump.  The part in the TC
that it engages is fixed, at the very back.  the next larger shaft is the
one that actually provides drive from the engine into the transmission.  It
also needs to be seated properly in the trans, but is less likely to get
loose or pull out on that end.  In the TC, it engages in a part that is
sort of loose in the TC.  This may be where you are having trouble.  The
largest shaft is fixed to the final drive housing and engages a part in the
TC that is also sort of loose.  I'm trying to remember how I put mine
together.  I know I had the whole trans assembly turned up vertically with
the final drive pointing up, to put the final drive together with the
trans.  I can't remember if I put the TC on at that time.  It would surely
be easier in that orientation.  But I can't imagine that you can't do it
with it horizontal.  You are certainly not the first person to have this
happen.  I expect you will just need to do a bit of playing with it.  You
might try getting it in place and giving it a quick 90-180 degree turn to
try to get those moveable parts to fall into place.  And turning the thing
back and forth also to get the various splines lined up. There are no
special tools involved.  I wired my TC in place once I got it mounted so it
wouldn't slide off.  After I got the trans snugged up to the engine I
removed the wire.  Also note there is a tricky seal involved where the TC
meets the final drive housing.  Apparently it is easily damaged.  Good luck
to you and let us know how it goes.

Edward

At 11:32 PM 8/24/2003, you wrote:
>I am putting a new engine in my '84 Vanagon with automatic
>transmission.  When I went to see how easy it would be to turn the torque
>converter for aligning it with the torque plate, the torque converter
>assembly slipped off the spindles.
>
>How hard is it to get the torque converter assembly back on
>correctly?  Can I do this without special tools, etc.
>
>John Lauterbach
>Macon, GA
>'84 7-passenger