88 GT Rear Cradle Dropout Question (Page 1/2)
MichiganReefer JUL 21, 08:36 PM
I'll be dropping my rear cradle out of my car in the next few weekends, and I've searched through old posts and as many instructional videos as possible to figure the best/safest way to do it. I don't have a lift- just a cherry picker, 2x 3ton jacks, furniture dollies, and a number of jack stands at my disposal. The only thing I haven't totally thought through is lifting the vehicle out of the way; I want to lift by the strut towers with my cherry picker.

For those who have done the swap to a 3800 and lifted via the strut towers- what were your solutions? I've seen spare wrenches, rebar, and square stock hooked with an eyebolt fished under the tower then joined via a chain. Were there any issues or things you'd do differently? I'd prefer whatever solutions don't require any fab work because I don't have any means of doing any right now.

As a second option, a coworker offered to loan his QuickJack to me. Are there any owners of that here that have used it for cradle removal? I figure it might be in the way too much to be useful, but I've never used one myself. Is that recommended at all? It might not be able to reach two jack points in a row, now that I think of it.
fierofool JUL 21, 08:54 PM
The safest way with a cherry picker is to lift it by the rear bumper crash bar. You will need to remove the rear fascia. Never lift by the trunk latch hook. You may have to put the front wheels on ramps of some form to prevent the nose from contacting the ground, depending upon the body style. This would apply to GT's with the aero package. Page 17 of this thread has information and pictures. http://www.gafiero.org/bbs/...x.php?topic=3835.240

You could contact TopNotch for details. He's on this forum.
marc-alan JUL 21, 09:24 PM
We lifted by the strut towers and used eye bolts from lowes in one hole each side

The first time we used the engine cherry picker. The second time I bought a winch and mounted it to the rafters, after some reinforcements were done. This allowed me to raise and lower the car with nothing getting in my way.


I did find that when done we had to gently hammer around the holes that were used to get them back at the right profile.

Next time I may use multiple hole on each side to spread the load.

I had no problems raising and lowering the car with this setup
Wichita JUL 21, 09:49 PM
I dropped the cradle without a cherry picker. I jacked it up forward of the forward cradle point, removed the struts from the knuckles, removed the wheel wells and dropped and pulled the cradle from the side.
sanderson231 JUL 21, 11:26 PM
I remove the weatherstrip and carpet in the trunk. Then use a short chain with a hook on each end in the oblong holes in the front of the trunk compartment. Pick the chain with an engine hoist. I think the deck lid has to be off to do this.

I have also used a wood 4"x6" cross ways ahead of the engine compartment and jacked the car up with a floor jack. You need a good sized floor jack to get the car high enough to roll the engine out on a dolly.

I have a custom built steel dolly but a sturdy furniture dolly will work.

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formerly known as sanderson
1984 Quad 4
1886 SE 2.8L
1988 4.9L Cadillac
1988 3800 Supercharged

cvxjet JUL 22, 01:26 AM
I made a custom pallet that fit the cradle, then, using the engine hoist, I dropped the engine/trany/cradle on to the pallet. Then I used a heavy-duty cargo strap wrapped around the trunk to lift the back of the car up- then rolled the cradle/pallet out using a pallet jack....But, when I was re-installing I did not want to have to bring the pallet jack home from work, so I used some plastic sprinkler pipe to roll the pallet back under the car- that was my father's idea- and worked like a charm!
Patrick JUL 22, 03:08 AM

quote
Originally posted by sanderson231:

I remove the weatherstrip and carpet in the trunk. Then use a short chain with a hook on each end in the oblong holes in the front of the trunk compartment. Pick the chain up with an engine hoist.



That's the method I've used. It's like those holes were put there for that purpose! I don't think I bothered to remove the weatherstrip and carpet in the trunk though. If I recall correctly, I just loosened the weatherstrip in the front of the trunk and pulled the carpet back a bit.
fieroguru JUL 22, 06:56 AM
I lift via the holes in the trunk cross bar that connects the two strut towers. Main reason is I like to leave the struts, knuckles, bearings, rotors, and calipers connected to the strut towers (saves opening up the brake lines and less parts away from the car, which in beneficial with limited garage space).

I used 12" long 2x4s laying flat lengthwise with the car about 12" ahead of the front cradle bolts on the bottom of the chassis and place my jack stands under the boards. Metal on metal slides easily, wood on metal is much harder to slide and often the metal will bite into the wood helping to lock it into place.

Before placing the jack stands, make sure the front wheels are chocked with dedicated wheel chocks.

You don't need a dedicated cradle dolly, just use the legs of the cherry picker. Lower the chassis/cradle down so it is resting on the legs of the cherry picker, remove the last 4 cradle bolts (everything else should be removed and cradle bolts lose before this step). Once everything is loose, raise the body up/over the engine, install the jack stands, 12" 2x4s, front wheel chocks and lower the chassis to the stands. Before releasing the chassis from the cherry picker, give the body a few pushes in all directions. If anything is going to shift/move, you want it to happen while it is connected and you are not under it. Once you are happy with the stability, release the cherry picker and pull it and the cradle/drivetrain out from under the car.
MichiganReefer JUL 22, 04:41 PM
Thanks everybody, sounds like I might be lifting by the trunk holes or rear crash beam instead. I hopefully won't cause any damage or have too much difficulty.
fieroguru JUL 22, 05:32 PM
Here is a picture of where the chain and hooks go to use the cross beam: