new here and to workin on these year of trucks... the truck is a 97 1500 4x4 with 318... got to pull motor out and put dif one in so i can rebuild the one that came with truck. so heres my question. been told that the tranny has to come out from under truck before engine can be removed? is this the way it has to be done and if so why? thank for any help...

 

I thought you could just pull motor and tranny out together. Only thing i could think would restrict it would maybe be how far back the motors sit in the engine bay. I noticed on my 5.9 that the fan shroud take up 60% of the engine bay opposed to other cars and trucks.

 

The tranny and engine can come out together. If you take out the rad, it will make it A LOT easier.

 

so I was right lol

 

+1 motor and tranny come out together rather nicely with the hood off and radiator removed
just be sure to put a 2x4 and a jack under the tranny to keep it from hitting anything once the motor is loose its going to slant like this \ on its way out and you don't want your transmission to smack the floor

 

Although its easy to take the trans and motor out easy it is also possible to take motor out alone but takes some time to get to the bolts on the bell housing.

 

If you lift the whole assembly about a half-inch and support the transmission in that position with jack stands/wood/whatever before removing the bell housing bolts, you can remove the engine without the trans. To make stabbing the transmission easier, get a couple of bolts with longish shanks that will fit where the bell housing bolts up, cut the heads off of them, and slot them so they can be turned with a screwdriver. Beveling the ends is very nice, but not absolutely necessary. Thread in one on each side at the bottom, and when they line up with the corresponding holes in the bell housing they'll guide the engine into place nicely. Just be careful that you don't put a lot of weight on those guides -- don't want to snap any ears off of the transmission.

Pulling the radiator not only makes it easier, it prevents you from bashing the radiator to death with the engine swinging on the cherry picker.

If you can get your hands on a portable gantry lift, they're a lot easier to deal with than are cherry pickers. You absolutely must remove the hood to use it, but it's so much easier than a cherry picker that it's worth that bother. Especially if you get one with an electric hoist.

 

Why do you want to pull the tranny out?
If it aint broke why bother?

I remove only the rad & shroud & nothing else off the front end.
Move ac compressor to passenger side fender right behind the light (tie it to fender)
I leave the hood on.

Remove the intake & grab the motor with the cherry picker as deep into the lifter valley as possilbe.

 

i dont need to pull tranny... the book said to pull it out under truck befor the engine could come out! that is a lot of work that i didnt think was needed! unregistereduser i like your idea and will do that! sure am glad i dont have to take tranny out too! thanx guys!

 

I'm glad I could help. Don't crush any body parts or be where heavy things land when they fall, okay?