Chris (Catman), and Robert, me too!
@ Conaero, yes I'm working off the ground. If I put this up on a lift, there's no question I would need a few people to do this. I do have jack stands I could lift the car on but I built cradling instead because though they are 3 ton jack stands I knew I would be pulling and pushing under the car and jack stands have a smaller foot print than I feel comfortable with (bad experience at 15 years of age and was pinned under a car and almost crossed the River Jordan early). I went down to the Home Depot, and for $8.97 bought a couple of pieces of 4x4 lumber that was I think 10' long. I cut the lumber and spiked 2 pieces together so they became 4" (high)by 8"(wide) as it sat on the ground. I then stacked the lumber 4 blocks high criss crossing them. I used the jacking areas of the car to set the lumber under. Additionally this is how I store the car off the ground for winter, no tire flat spots, and the suspension hangs as well. It's cheap to build, you have them every season, and if it's bumped (by accident), or pulled/pushed from underneath you feel safe. Moreover, you have all your jack stands for other projects as they arise over the winter.
For the torque tube with the car this distance in the air, you can climb under the car with a creeper and roll underneath it pretty easily. You won't be able to use the creeper for the gear box/torque tube because it's too much weight and you're going to be pushed around on your wheels. But for torque specs, and all the other stuff you'll be fine.
So take a decent sized jack with wheels. Push it right in line where the torque tube will go under the car. Both the front and rear of the torque tube have square flanges for where it bolts to the bell housing/gear box respectively that will sit perfectly on top of a jack. I used one jack stand, and the jack itself. I slid the torque tube under the car from the rear, pulled it all the way forward to where I needed to lift it to the bell housing. I then took the jack, placed it under the rear portion of the torque tube by that square flange. I positioned the jack so as I lifted the torque tube and pushed it forward the wheels would roll both forward and backward in a perfect line. Once that's set up, jack the rear portion of the torque tube about half way if not more to the height that it needs to be to insert the torque to the bell housing. Then go around front put the front portion on the jack stand under the car that's roughly if not slightly higher than what you have the jack set at. Go back to the rear, jack it all the way up to where it needs to be so that it will be in a straight line for when you push the torque tube into the splines of the bell housing center shaft. As long as the distance from the ground is split so it's not at a huge angle it's not going to roll off or drop off the jack. Next, go to the front, push the jack stand back towards the jack so it's there in case you get clumsy. Lift it towards the bell housing. You'll see because you have the square flange on the jack that the holes are already lined up when you stab it. Just shake it up and down, and push it together. If you have already put grease on the splines as recommended by the service manual it goes right together. The jack allows it to roll right into or away from the bell housing. It won't drop off because it's too heavy, though if that is a concern, rope it or join zip ties together and zip tie it to the top of the jack.
Put all your nuts on. I just hand tightened them to begin with until I put the gear box back in so I could wiggle/shake the back half of the torque tube by the gear box as I did the front. Now obviously, your jack is in the way to put the gear box in. Raise that jack stand you already have under there with you to lift it off the jack and sit it on. I have pinned jack stands. I raised it to the height closest to the height of the jack, then put a small piece of wood on the jack stand to get it almost perfect under the torque tube. I then lower the jack push it out of the way, the torque tube keeps the perfect height without stressing it by putting it at an angle that it's not supposed to be at. One of the photos you saw I put the gear box on my creeper to be able to roll it around. I hooked the hydraulic line up while the gear box was out of the car so I could pre-bleed the thrust bearing/ slave cylinder line while keeping an eye on the reservoir to make sure I didn't run low and suck air into the system.
I then positioned the gear box under the car on the jack, and lifted the gear box up and put the front part into the cradle, and moved the gear box forward to mate it to the torque tube. It's heavy but you can do it. When get the gear box at the perfect height, you'll have to wiggle the front part to get the torque tube started. Once you get some threads through the torque tube stud holes, if you're still struggling to get the tube flush because the gear box is a bit heavier to rock, cinch those nuts down across from each other a little at a time. You don't have to worry about it lining up by then, you could never get it that far unless the splines are already lined up. The nuts will draw it right together. I used four on the bottom four holes across from each other. To be careful I didn't over stress the nuts. I would tighten them down a bit, and shake it up and down allowing the torque of the nuts to draw it together. Sorry this seems to be a bit longer than I wanted but that's how I did it. I can get a photo of the cradling if you'd like today. I will be finished torquing everything down today. The car is done for everything I can do without a computer. Now it's time to take it to the dealer to get the PIS set, and self learn. There's also a procedure for breaking in a new clutch in the manual that has to be followed.
