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Well that was an adventure. Got it pulled out by myself with some struggles and things learned along the way.

1.) the lift will be much easier. I will fabricate up a bar to pull from next time, or when I put this engine back in. The cherry picker is a lot of work and a little sketchy.

2.) two people would be easier

3.) I had to put a floor jack under the transmission cross member support to life the tail end of the transmission off the frame. It was getting stuck down there

4.) I should have pulled the block drain beforehand. Apparently there was still some coolant in the block and it leaked all over my floor with the engine tipped

5.) use a better load leveler next time. This one from harbor freight was barely up to the task

Tis the season for winter projects!

You probably worked faster than I did.

3.) Yes and, don't worry, as you will need to do the exact same thing to get it re-attached.

4.) Yes that does happen. And on mine I forgot to remove the transmission fluid, as you can see...

5.) At least yours is a fair amount better than when I pulled my engine. For some reason neither of us saw the problem in lifting from the front of the intake manifold before it was too late.

BigKev - took me about an hour to get it out, including disconnecting the past few things. It would've been much faster with another person. And now that I've done it once (first time pulling an engine) the next time will be much better.

HPH - Yeah, once the engine is moving up you're committed. That was my biggest fear. If I couldn't get the engine out by myself, then what? I didn't want to leave it hanging from the picker. And I had no one available to help me wrestle it back into place. Thankfully it's out though and I learned a few good things.



Looking at disconnecting the transmission tonight. Anything special I should know? Remove the bolts and disconnect the lines. Should just pull right off the engine?

Only thing you need to know is how to lift 200 lbs. 💪 Remove the 10 bell housing screws and pull it off the converter.

The converter will be stuck on since you can't spin the engine over. Probably it will have to come off as a unit with the crankshaft.

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That's my plan, just remove the converter with the crankshaft. Need to get the trans off first, then start stripping parts and accessories off the engine. I'll need to figure out how to mount it to the stand. The mounting plate is super thick and the position of the side mounting holes on the block may be a problem with the spindle on the mounting plate. We'll see. Now that the engine is out I can do some measurements.

Worst case scenario I can find a way to flip the engine over, pull the crankshaft and converter, remove the bellhousing, then mount the rear of the engine to the stand. It should be strong enough to hold the length and weight.

-Kevin

Mission success. That was easy. I had taken off the torque converter inspection housing earlier, so I only had to remove the upper 6 bolts. Then a little bit of prybar to get it started. After that I was able to just slide the engine forward and the trans is free. I'm going to pick up a furniture dolly to set the trans on so I can easily move it around as needed.

A couple of days ago, the 1000lb furniture dolly's at HF were on sale for $13.

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That's the one I'm probably going to get. Just need to measure the trans and find a time to drive 45 minutes to HF. Maybe this weekend if I'm lucky.

A twin ultra is exactly 32" long between the mating surfaces of the front and rear flanges plus 2x gasket thickness. Think the original type was a bit shorter.