need to jack up the rear to remove cradle (2 front most bolts are PITA!) will this work?

2x4 would be under trunk...NOT all of weight will be supported by trunk as rear bolts are removed and cradle moves 50% freely... but will trunk crumble?... if this will not work i need a ghetto way to do this, i have HORRIBLE access to tools and no $$.....
LMK!

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Happy Holidays From Thingie!

[This message has been edited by BobadooFunk (edited 12-15-2004).]

I would not use the trunk area to lift with, it is pretty thin and will crumble. If you have 2 floor jacks. then the only other things you need will be 2 small dolleys(can be made with 2 X 4's and casters). Making the dolleys out of wood/casters is not the best thing to make them out of but will work and is the cheapest. Jack up the car on both sides(jacks placed right behind rear cradle bolts on pads), place the dolleys under each side of the cradle, let the jacks down to rest the cradle on the dolleys, then remove the cradle bolts and everything else needed to remove the setup. Then jack the car back up on both side till you have clearance enought to pull motor/cradle out. I have seen this method used and works well, the biggest thing is getting a good set of dolleys that can hold the wait. I have seen furniture moving dolleys used but the wheels go oval and make it hard to roll. This is a start for you and I am sure others will chime in.

[This message has been edited by MstangsBware (edited 12-15-2004).]

I take it you have access to a floor jack and 2 jack stands, right?
If so, jack up the car on the frame just in front of there the front cradle bolts attach and put the jack stands there.

Well i'll try to help u out .. because i didn't have to much money when i slid my engine into my engineless car with my buddy ... but first thing u got to get a skid with some casters !!!

then test it if it can hold the weight .. me 120 lbs ..verus the maybe 450lbs engine ??

then raise or lower the car to get the engine in or out .. to get the car up high enough u must bang the trunk in and then take the suspension out and slid in or out from the side .. and have 6 ton jack stands on there highest with some small pieces of wood ..

As u can see with this one .. the skid can hold the car and engine.....

hope this helps you out man .. good luck on it

matt

well car is on grass w/ ply wood underneath..... will try both ways... we'll see after fri....

Not to hijack, but I noticed something - Is it me, or in alot of pictures does it seem like more than a few people have the rear fascia off of the car when they pull the engine? I can only assume it's a coincidence. Or perhaps does it give you more clearance or whatnot?

Probably coincidence. I see no reason to remove the fascia. I use two floor jacks myself:

JazzMan

quote Originally posted by Blue Shift: Not to hijack, but I noticed something - Is it me, or in alot of pictures does it seem like more than a few people have the rear fascia off of the car when they pull the engine? I can only assume it's a coincidence. Or perhaps does it give you more clearance or whatnot?

Some could have the rear fascia off because the rear cradle bolts dont wanna come out. The plates that holds the threads that the bolts go into some time snap loose and make it impossible to get the bolts out. In this case you have a few choices, one of them is to remove the rear fascia and either weld the plates back or use a long pry bar and hold them till you can take the bolts out. I had this problem on my 88 GT and ended up removing the rear fascia and welding the plates back down.

Actually, you can use one floor jack and a piece of 4x4 cut to the width of the frame. Lifting about 1/3 in front of the rear door seam allows you to raise the rear quite high. You must block the front wheels. Jack stands and a skid as pictured above. You still have to have an overhead hoist to seperate the engine from the tranny. I usually use a 3K come-along to a double rafter for that job. If you seperate the outer CV from the wheel assembly, you won't have to get a rear wheel alignment when you put it back in.

A note on skids: The type pictured by Carswell...Wellscar is the least desireable type, although they work. There is another type that has oak 4x4's in the corners. I would go with one of these as this won't be the only time you use it. Since most biz's tend to throw them away, if you search you can find the stronger pallet, free. Wheels are a Harbor Freight item or a sale locally. If storage is a problem then you keep the wheels & dispose of the skid.

quote Originally posted by Blue Shift: Not to hijack, but I noticed something - Is it me, or in alot of pictures does it seem like more than a few people have the rear fascia off of the car when they pull the engine? I can only assume it's a coincidence. Or perhaps does it give you more clearance or whatnot?

I used a cherry picker, with a chain wrapped around the bumper bar, to lift my car off of the cradle.

I had my car at 41" at the top of the rear wheel arch, and I was able to take the cradle out the side. Of course my engine didn't have the intake on it, so it was lower.

Get the wheel arch up to 48" and IIRC you don't have to ruin your trunk.

I did have to remove one strut from the cradle, but I expect that I'll be messing with the suspension anyway, so an alignment is already in my future.

Ed

well i already have engine down to mostly block+tranny.... and will be redoing suspension too... so it might not be so bad..

quote
Originally posted by Blue Shift:
Not to hijack, but I noticed something - Is it me, or in alot of pictures does it seem like more than a few people have the rear fascia off of the car when they pull the engine? I can only assume it's a coincidence. Or perhaps does it give you more clearance or whatnot?

quote Originally posted by Raydar: I used a cherry picker, with a chain wrapped around the bumper bar, to lift my car off of the cradle.

Actually i took it off out of curiousity .. i was wondering what it looked like under the bumper so i took it off like weeks before i even sliding the engine under and just my luck it was great because i too used my engine hoist to lift the car up higher with the bumper bar and lower it back over the engine too ... it seemed kinda odd at something i did for the hell of it was ment to happen anyways .. and it also helped that it was out of the way because the car was just high enough to scrap under the trunk (actually the trunk was dented for some reason which helped alot) ....ya wasn't that hard but gotta work with waht you got

matt

[This message has been edited by Carswell...Wellscar (edited 12-17-2004).]

Thanks Jazzman, that looks so clear and simple! I have been working on my Duke and I still dig it. If it's still one of the slower cars on the road after the port/polish and new camshaft I am there with a 3.4L by late summer. Your pic is right on! Seems like the nose might touch, does it?

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White 84 SE with the Duke, Holley TBI, MSD Coil, Hi Flow Catalytic Convertor

[This message has been edited by Anwar (edited 12-19-2004).]

Here is V-8 Archie's directions on SAFE lifting and engine removal.
http://www.v8archie.com/arch8.htm

And the Ogre;--see safe jacking
http://home.comcast.net/~fierocave/

quote Originally posted by Anwar: Thanks Jazzman, that looks so clear and simple! I have been working on my Duke and I still dig it. If it's still one of the slower cars on the road after the port/polish and new camshaft I am there with a 3.4L by late summer. Your pic is right on! Seems like the nose might touch, does it?

I don't remember if the nose touched or not, I don't think it did. The GT nose might be a different story, though. In any case, I would take the nose off of a GT first, it's so easy to do. The first time I tried pulling a motor in my shop I used the shop crane approach. I bent the trunk latch loop, so I took off the rear bumper cover and tied off to the bumper. Once I got the car up in the air with the engine on the legs of the shop crane I had to figure out a way to hold the car up without the crane. Then I had to figure out how to get the cradle off the legs of the shop crane so that I could use it to lift the engine and trans off the cradle. All and all it was cumbersome and complicated. The next time I used two floor jacks and it was a piece of cake. Someday I'll get an assymetric two post lift and then it'll be really easy.

JazzMan

[This message has been edited by JazzMan (edited 12-19-2004).]

Most important thing to remember is SAFETY! Don't assume that what you have rigged or are using is going to be safe.

Floor jacks fail, jack stands not used correctly can fall over.

I do a lot of rigging and lifting with cranes and heavy equipment. 20,000 lbs cooling towers, chillers, and turbines. The first thing we teach the apprentices that work with us is NEVER get yourself in a precarious position. It is not fun to see a three ton cooling tower fall on someones fingers. I've seen it, and it was not pretty.

Just remember to be smart, be safe, and don't take any chances.

quote Originally posted by JazzMan: Probably coincidence. I see no reason to remove the fascia. I use two floor jacks myself: JazzMan

so JazzMan...do you have the front tires blocked...and if I raise the front tires onto railroad ties will it lessen the angle at which i need the rear up for engine clearance...Shinerdc have two engines to get to an 84/4 and an 87/6...

In my case the floor is flat and level, so there's nowhere for the car to go. I didn't block the front wheels, they're just sitting on the ground. I think that raising the front will reduce the angle, but it will increase the overall height that you have to lift the car. I took the struts off with the drivetrain because it was easiest and meant I wouldn't have to get an alignment when I was done, but the struts increased the height that I had to raise the back end.

JazzMan

Most home garages have that support beam. Looks pretty strong to me. That would be just a major tragedy if one brought down the garage and was crushed under a Fiero. There seems no reason to get under the Fiero after it's jacked up off the engine cradle. Oh, probably to align it back for installation. O.K....

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White 84 SE with the Duke, Holley TBI, MSD Coil, Hi Flow Catalytic Convertor