May swap the hydra out in my 4 door this weekend...never pulled one of these. I know about the torus bolts (30 or so) - but my concern is with the mounts - the motor mounts are actually on the transmission...of course according to the shop manual there's some special tool for supporting the back of the engine...since I don't have access to a vintage J-tools depository, are there suggestions for the best way to do this? I'm a pretty mechanical guy and have pulled my share of transmissions, but never one of this vintage...

thanks

 

You can prop the back of the motor with a bottle jack and a wide piece of wood, like a 2-6 across the bottom of the pan! Then you can use another floor jack to remove the trans!

 

when I had remove the transmission in my 57 (before the 455 swap) I used a floor jack and a piece of 4x6. the floor jack has a large surface then the bottle jack for stability.

 

Gorden, I have found that it was as fast to pull the engine and trans together. Plus you can move the car around without the jack being in the way. Besides one almost always needs to do something to the engine when it's out,does your rear main leak? Most do....Tedd

 

Gordon,
pls make sure that you do not losen the tranny without a hydraulic lift underneath the Hydramatic too. IN our garage here in Hamburg, they call the Hydramatic the "iron pig" it is as heavy as it can get and they lift it in with a lift plus two people to get it into position! I do not believe that pulling the engine is so easy! They change the Hydramatic on my car and put a Jetaway in, a few hours work and done! I did not see them supporting the engine when the Hydramatic was pulled.

 

That thing is so heavy I would not think about dropping it without a tranmission jack. I wonder if you could ever get it back in without one. I have never pulled one so I have not opinion on whether to pull the engine or not.

 

I think your in for a shock when you find out really how heavy this thing is.

 

I pulled my motor and transmission as a unit last weekend. It went well but I was surprised at how heavy the tranny was. Most of the front end was already off the car when I did it and I have a hard time imagining doing it with the grille, etc on. I would do the tranny only but I would definitely use a tranny lift.

 

yeah...I'm going to delay this a little while - have a complete engine / trans assy on a cart in the garage and it takes a lot of 'oomph' to move that around. THanks for all the input...