05 AC 4.7 torque converter to flex plate struggle

Long story short I am in the middle of swapping the 4.7 in my 05 AC and after dropping the new engine in and connecting the transmission realized that the torque converter got pushed down / back into the bell housing and now the bolts won’t reach. Anyone have this issue and were you able to “pull” the TC back up / forward to reach the flex plate and get connected? With the dust cover being so small and clearance so tight under the truck I can’t figure out how to get the darn thing close enough. Tried using a longer similar bolt to grab it but the dang thing won’t budge.

 

Usually people have the opposite problem and don’t turn and fully seat the torque converter. If fully seated and bell housing properly aligned and tightened it should pull up flush. Try using temporarily a longer bolt and then putting in the OEM bolts.

 

Tried that. The bell housing is connected flush all bolted up. Is there a tool that can reach through the block where the starter mounts to help pull it forward?

 

Not that I’m aware of

 

If you are only using one longer bolt to pull the TC to the flex plate you'll most likely put things in a bind. Can you rotate the crank and use 3-4 equally spaced bolts? Even then you may longer bolts fouling when turning the crank.

 

Flipped the flex plate around and now the crank won’t turn when the transmission is bolted up. Turns fine without the transmission attached. Is this normal or do we need to flip the flex plate again?

 

What’s the purpose of flipping the flex plate?

 

The thought was that we had it on backwards, that the indentations on the plate were keeping us too far from the TC for the bolts to reach.