Accidentally double posted.

I would jack the engine up from under the front harmonic balancer and stick some 2 x 4's between the mounts and the cross member.

I’ll give it a try! Thanks!

I found these specs for the main and rod bearing cap bolts from the Chrysler Manual:Connecting Rod Cap Bolts: 61 N«m (45 ft. lbs.)

Crank shaft main bearing cap bolt: 115 N®m (85 ft. lbs.)

Can someone share the proper rod bearing clearance for the 5.9 L?

I found this for the 5.2:

Bearing Clearance (#1 Journal) - 0.0005 - 0.0015 in.

Bearing Clearance (#2-5 Journals) - 0.0005 - 0.002 in.

This info is taken straight from the Chrysler service info for the '96 5.2L.

Info for the 5.9 should be in the manual as well. Do you have one, or did you find that out on the web somewhere? You can download the manual for the correct year truck from here..... engines will be exactly the same.

Awesome, found it! Thanks!CONNECTING ROD BEARINGS
Fit all rods on a bank until completed. DO NOT al*ternate from one bank to another, because connecting rods and pistons are not interchangeable from one bank to another.

The bearing caps are not interchangeable and should be marked at removal to ensure correct as*sembly.

Each bearing cap has a small V-groove across the parting face. When installing the lower bearing shell, make certain that the V-groove in the shell is in line with the V-groove in the cap. This provides lubrica* tion of the cylinder wall in the opposite bank.

The bearing shells must be installed so that the tangs are in the machined grooves in the rods and caps.


Connecting Rods Bearing Clearance

0.0127 - 0.0559 mm (0.0005 - 0.0022 in)

Ok, I got the oil pan out and picked up the new bearings. Harmonic balancer tip was great. Thanks again. Wasn't too hard to lift engine, but had a hard time finding supports. Did get some wood between the mounts and crossmember. One of my mounts completely fell apart... rusted. Getting new ones.

The 1st rod bearing I pulled was definitely scored, but didn't look terrible.

Got three of the bearings changed. They all looked the same. Torqued everything to about 45 lbs. A little wear. Will finish the job tomorrow.

Oil pan was a bit of a challenge, needing a lot of wiggling again the transmission, but if you get in there and look, you'll see the bolts sticking out that you need to navigate around. Oil pump is two 16mm (IIRC) bolts. Easy peasy. The pick up tube screen was clean from the outside. I got a high volume pump to replace the one in there.

Didn't have the right wrench to rotate the engine, so will get that tomorrow to allow me to access the rest of the bear cap bolts. 1 1/2 inch wrench sound right?

You are putting some lube on the bearings as you install them, aren't you?

.Sounds like your project is moving forward in a positive direction. My son has my van so I cannot give you the socket size. If you have the splash shield off the flywheel, you may be able to rotate the motor that way. Keep us up to speed on your progress, thanks.

Yup, oiling bearings after I take the plastigauge reading. Hoping all goes well today!