Just a quick question before I start back to working on my car tomorrow...
I got the motor mounts unbolted and the bolts joining the tranny to the motor out. The motor on the driver's side dropped down some, and I got it supported by jacks. I can't seem to split the motor from the tranny, though. I tried a crowbar in the hole you check the timing with, but couldn't do much. Anyone got any advice?

 

Leave the tranny on the motor and take it all out from the top with a lift. You'll find this to be the easiest, and this is how they say to do it in the manual. Either way, did you remove the axles from the tranny and the short shaft on the back of the motor? You will need to do this which ever approach you take.

 

definitely take it all out i think it was ten times easier that way. if you really want to take out one the engine make sure you remove the starter bolts and i think there is one hidden near the back mount that i missed the first time

 

yup take it all out together. You will prolly have to taket he tranny out anyway to get it back on.

 

Why's it so much easier to take it all out through the top?

I can't get ahold of a motor hoist till this next week, so I'm just gonna go ahead and drop the old motor out through the bottom...unless it's really that hard.

I just heard that if you pull it off of the tranny and drop it down, it'd come right out and you could still drop the new one in through the top.

 

It is really that hard. And if your gonna drop the new one through the top, why not just pull the old one out the top?

As for a lift, rent one, they are only like $30 for a day at most any rental shop. And believe us when we tell you it will be much easier getting that tranny back on the motor sitting on your garage floor.

 

wait, so i should bolt it all up underneath the car, then lift it through the top?

 

If you haven't actually pulled the tranny off the motor, then I would put the bolts back in the tranny, and snug them back up to the motor, and pull the whole thing out that way.

Do you have a manual? I mean that tells you step by step how to do this. They miss a couple little things, and tell you a couple things you really don't need to disconnect, but for the most part, it's all there. 47 steps, and step 47 is: Reinstall the motor in reverse order. I always kind of liked that one

 

I just had my motor out and when I was looking to rent a engine hoist it was going to cost $140/week. I bought one new for $170 at CAP.

I think it would be near impossible to drop the motor out the bottom. I can't imagine how there would be enough room. I mean look at all the **** you would have to get by to drop it out the bottom.

 

Whoa...sephro...I almost called you out for stealing my picture

Ok ok different angle...but it made me double-take.

And yes, I pulled mine out from the top. Just buy the darn hoist for $200 and then rent it to your buddies for $30/day later.

 

Hey that looks like my garage/driveway too! except for all that A/C crap

definatly pull the motor through the top....... its pretty damn easy I thought, so scratch the bottom pull..... unless you like dropping stuff on your toes

 

I'm pulling my motor out too. I actually pulled the head out first as that was all that I was planning on doing, now I'm pulling the block. Any tips on removing the axles? Am I able to back them out of the transmission w/out having to completely remove them like the book says? trying to keep work to a minimum here.

 

I followed the helms' procedure for engine removal - the axles are still attached to my hub assys, but i had to take the suspension apart somewhat. it's not that hard, had to rent a ball joint separator from autozone is all.

I used a dead-blow hammer to knock the axles out of the tranny - worked great.

 

u can get a ball joint tool for 10 bucks....... no need to rent it

 

that's $10 more expensive than "renting" it from autozone.....they give you all your money back when you return it.

 

ok penny-pincher.......if u wanna be cheap.........

 

Are you *really* wanting to argue with me here on whether I should've borrowed a tool for free or bought it?

Geez. Who cares.

 

You dont even need a ball joint seperator.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Cottonwoodz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You dont even need a ball joint seperator. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes! There is no reason for taking the ball joints out since it is going to be a bitch to get them back in since 99% of the time they are. Also you risk damaging the boot. All you have to do is unbolt everything and you can swing it out of the way. Takes like 10 mins.

 

just dropped the axles out of my transmission in order to pull the remainder of the engine out. for the driver side you have to unbolt the bracket on the rear of the engine block, then remove the upper bolt on the lower control arm (not the ball joint) and remove the sway bar bolt from the lower arm too. then just work like a **** to pull it out.
**DON'T try to pull it out by the end or you will end up separating the axle joint (like I did). Now I'll be rebuilding that
Passenger side is easier, just undo the same bolt on the lower control arm & the sway bar & you can use a pry bar to pry out the axle.