Pulling engine and have a question

morkable

morkable

Just Over Broke
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Messages
5,956
When you are pulling the engine on a dodge, do you lift the cab or cut the cross peice in the front. I have heard both ways. What is the consensus?
 
it fits with the head off, otherwise i picked up the cab, it was easy enough need more jacks and stands though..
 
Yeah I have the head off on this one,, but when I put back the other engine it is going to be complete. I have seen it done both ways,, I am kinda liking cutting the cross piece and welding it back together when i am done,, but I am not sure if that is a bad thing or not
 
morkable said:
Yeah I have the head off on this one,, but when I put back the other engine it is going to be complete. I have seen it done both ways,, I am kinda liking cutting the cross piece and welding it back together when i am done,, but I am not sure if that is a bad thing or not
Click to expand...

i would lift the cab on the installation before i would cut the brace
 
ive pulled 25 or so in the last year i take all the cab bolts out and you only have to jack cab up about the width of a 4x4. i put them between the cab and body mount that is under the front floor board. and i pull motor tranny and t-case if it has one. on my 12v conversion on my 01 i removed the motor mounts of the 24v while motor was in truck a real pain and left tranny in and motor came out without lifting cab. but when putting 12v in i had to lift cab about one 2x4 for some reason. and a 2wd truck is alot worse as the cross member under the motor is alot wider so the oil pan gets into it alot faster.
 
Assuming your talking about the 3rd gen, un-bolt the cab leaving the rear bolts in but loose. Stick a 2x4 under the 2nd mount behind the front wheel) and have at it.

You can unbolt the upper and lower rad support, use a port-a-power to spread the lower apart far enough to get it out.

The engine with head and valve cover on will not physically fit between the frame cross member and cowl if you don't life the cab.
 
cut the cross piece just inside (toward middle of truck) of where the intercooler sits. Lots of guys have left them out without any problems.
 
jlibert said:
cut the cross piece just inside (toward middle of truck) of where the intercooler sits. Lots of guys have left them out without any problems.
Click to expand...

X2. Never lifted the cab. Cutting the cross piece is just too quick and easy for me to resist.
 
See,, LOL, this is what I have been running into,, thoughts both ways. My thoughts were exactly that, cut that cross piece and then weld it back up when done.. the only bad part about that I can see in my case is, I wont be running an intercooler to hide it if I do a bad job welding,, LOL
 
morkable said:
See,, LOL, this is what I have been running into,, thoughts both ways. My thoughts were exactly that, cut that cross piece and then weld it back up when done.. the only bad part about that I can see in my case is, I wont be running an intercooler to hide it if I do a bad job welding,, LOL
Click to expand...

LOL Then just leave it out like jilbert said. I've personally seen pullers run without them and haven't had any ill effects. Or you could put it back in and do a crappy weld job then blame it on someone else and bad mouth their (your) lack of skill. Not that I've ever done stuff like that. LOL
 
You dont think that it is a fairly important part of the rigidity of the truck?
 
Not really, No. Although that is pure speculation and I have no facts to back it up, just opinion and seeing others remove it and not have any issues.
 
You can leave the cab and crossmember in place, when you go to drop the new motor in you can leave the rocker arms off.
 
morkable said:
You dont think that it is a fairly important part of the rigidity of the truck?
Click to expand...

it has more to do with the sheet metal on the truck, the rigidity of 3rd gens is all in the high strength hydro formed frame , if you unbolt the rad support from the frame you might be able to pull it apart enough to get it out with out cutting the support.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top