stick to auto swap,'69 3/4 GMC

Ah, the pains of being old... Looked into knee replacement? That may be a better solution if you have medical insurance.

I, myself, like automatics in trucks. They last, work well, and generally are easier to drive. (I too am old, and have had both many times over) Automatics don't fail any more frequently than manual transmissions. An automatic is not a sissy solution--many big rigs now are automatic, and all will be within the next ten or so years. Big rig drivers have also gotten tired of shifting and shifting and shifting, and...

How hard? Find a similar truck with an automatic and it is easy, you can get the parts needed off it. OTherwise find an engine (with automatic) that is similar to your engine and get parts from it. You may have to work on the tail shaft (I am guessing it is not 4x4...) and rear crossmember.

Not a trivial swap, but probably doable.

X-No-archive:yes Thanks for the reply. I'm not that old,just high mileage on the knee and some pretty stiff clutches throughout the years.I still may try to lube all the linkage points and reduce the spring tension and also I noticed there are two positions for the clutch rod-to fork matchup.If I move it out I can get better leverage on the fork.Sure don't want to do a conversion to auto,but this is really getting painful! Brian O.

Thanks Jessie.I found a shop that will do the swap for "about $1200-1600". Very reputable shop,some extra work on trans (shift kit,etc.).They will fab new cooler lines and mounts as needed. I'll tell the guy about that bolt you mentioned. Thanks again....Brian Orion