Yep, my plan is to do exactly that, hang a strap to the frame under the oil pan to keep the engine in place. Would I support the transmission after I take the cross member out? Or is it fine to leave it hanging for a bit?

 

I would have a jack under it...... it's pretty heavy.

 

Don't forget to remove the torque converter bolts. It's going to be oily mess if you pull the trans out and leave the tc to the flexplate.

 

Tried to find a picture, as they say, picture is worth of a thousand words. But didn't find none.
I crawl under the truck, take the strap over and down the framerail and place the hook to something solid like body mount or use some conviently placed hole on a frame. Same to the other side, just keeping the strap under the oilpan. Ratchet placement is crucial, as it needs to have room to get it loose.

 

Oh I use a cheery picker for that. That's a good idea though! Thought you were talking about the transmission not the engine

 

I really can't stress enough how much I wish I had just done this from the beginning

 

When I started to work with these trucks, we had such a small garage, that there really wasn't any room for the cherry picker. So I started to use the ratchet strap when working with transmissions. Now that when the engine is secured with the strap, I can push the truck out from the garage if something else needs to get in. Not to mention the fact that cherry picker is not in a way if some other maintenance or repair needs to be done.

 

You got a point there! Luckily I never had to to fix another vehicle before my truck was done

 

It took awhile but the trans will be coming out today and brought to the transmission shop to be rebuilt, fingers crossed all the parts will go back together lol.