So Close, Yet So Far

This is the center cross-member that supports the transmission and transfer case from underneath. The transmission is now held up by a scissor jack and a block of wood. Not to be different from its nearby parts, it also had copious amounts of old mud on it, which we see me scraping off here in a photo taken by Lydia.

This had to be taken off so that I could get to the nuts that hold the transfer case to the studs on the transmission adapter housing. In other words, that's the separation point where I'm detaching the transfer case. 

There are 6 nuts, 4 of which came off without much drama. Two of them are higher up, and can't be reached with any regular wrench. Believe me, I tried. I tried so hard that I snapped my only U-joint in half in the process. That was the moment when I knew I was done for the evening.

So the next step will be to see if I can borrow an air socket from a parts store, since that will fit in the space and not need to be turned by hand, which there is no room for.