I'm preparing to do a clutch R&R on the wife's Golf: maybe another 4 weeks out as I'm waiting for the car to hit 200k miles. I'll be doing this solo, in which case I want to find out what tools/aids work best for managing the transmission in/out.
I have an engine support bar. I think that I've read of folks dropping adjustable straps off it and down to/around the transmission. Would this eliminate the need for a transmission jack (which I don't have- cheap enough though)?
...I think my only issue will be managing the weight of the transmission.
Since I have clutches in both a MkIV and a MkV to do in the very near future, I simply looked on my local craigslist and found a HFT transmission jack that had been used
once (to do a 4Runner transfer case). It's the hydraulic one, but it cost me less than the mechanical one would have cost new from HFT. After I bought the dedicated hydraulic transmission jack, I noticed there are adapters to convert the typical large rolling floor jack with a removable lift cup into a transmission jack. They go for about $40 on ebay. I probably should have gone this route...
I know exactly what you mean about managing the weight. When I was roughly half my current age, I single handedly pulled a Mk1 Scirocco 5spd transmission using the brute force reverse bench press method. I recall that job being one of the most uncontrolled potentially hazardous things I have done under my succession of VW's, and vowed never to repeat that evening. To get the transmission back in, I used a standard rolling floor jack, because I didn't have the brute strength to bench press it up and into place. Reading this thread made me realize, the Mk1 was a cake job compared to the interferences found in the bay of a MkIV or a MkV!! Being older, wiser, and more in tune with my deductible on my health insurance, I determined the less than $100 I spent to purchase a real transmission jack should be money well spent in doing two clutches. If I don't feel the need to keep the jack around after I complete clutch #2, I'm sure I can get my $$$ back out of it on CL.