1987 F250 2wd, 302, 435 new process


Picked up a Ford service manual, it gives instructions to remove the cross member, then instructions to remove the transmission.

The print IS from 1986, maybe things have been learned and made simpler 30 years later?

Already picked up a 2 ton cherry picker, have completely removed the exhaust, and some peripherals to the engine(intake, throttle body, upper manifold, radiator support, radiator)

Have not touched the transmission or clutch inside the cab.

Is a transmission jack worth investing in?(I think so, unless...)

Remove the transmission with motor?

The floor pans will have to be replaced(rusted), would removing the bench and having access over the top help? Is that doable?

 

I pulled a 302 out of an F-150 and found it was less hassle to pull engine and transmission at the same time, then separate them where I could access everything easier. The *process* is simple enough, but my issues with pulling engines has always been working on the ground trying to break free all the rusted mounting bolts. A tranny jack isn't necessary for engine removal, but if you're replacing just the tranny, they are very handy.

If you do wrestle with separating the engine from the tranny under the truck, a strap to hold the front of the tranny up is a must. Don't rely on a block of wood on a jack/jack stand as sometimes things shift and bump unexpectedly coming out or going back in.

I've seen guys pull the grille and cut the top cross bar to pull the engine/transmission pretty much straight forward. I'm not a welder and am leery of cutting structural parts off a vehicle. I was able to tilt the e/t enough and get enough lift with the cherry picker to get everything out without cutting anything up.

Biggest tip I can give though is take pictures with your cell phone of every angle of your engine compartment, then use masking tape and a Sharpie to mark all your hoses and wiring harnesed as well as where they connect on the engine. Just A/A, B/B, etc. will suffice to mate them all back. And when you do reassemble, put them back numerically/alphabetically (however you noted them), so you don't accidentally miss one.

While you're marking stuff, keep bolts in separate iners, small boxes or old soup cans are fine, and use your tape and Sharpie to label what the bolts are for in each separate box, cuz, if you don't do this for a living and you sleep between work sessions, yeah.... What you *think* you'll remember now isn't always what you do remember later.

Final tip: Mark how many of said bolts are in each container. Cuz, accidents happen. Things get knocked off work benches. Bolts seem to find every hiding spot in the garage.

I'd hate for you to get it all back together and find out you are....

one_bolt_short

 

The radiator support and grill is off the truck, so the front is wide open.

As far as marking where stuff went....................

Basically I bought the truck last Fall for $500 with the intent on learning mechanical work.

Now, I am no mechanic, but something went wrong it seems with the gasket that seals the exhaust manifolds to the engine, it seems some kind of black sludge came out of that area and just coated the engine bay with a layer of black gunk.

And the condition of the engine bay saw me pulling hoses out that were connected to nothing.

All the bolts and hardware are sludge covered rust heaps, and I have every intention of replacing everything inside the engine bay that needs it.

Thanks for the info, I will aim to take out the tranny and engine at the same time.

I want to basically strip the engine bay down completely, clean it, paint it, and bring the truck back up to working order with just the bare essentials, it's my first project so I am not going to mod anything, just trying to keep it stock and running.

I am an industrial electrician by trade, it helps a little when trying to figure stuff out, I've built and had to trouble shoot machines with a thousand wires in all kinds of colors, and hopefully my videos and pictures will help, but as I've been tearing into the engine bay, I already know ALOT of it has to be replaced.

 

Yeah, if the engine bay is a mess like that, the less time you spend underneath it trying to break free rusted, gunky, dirty bolts, the happier you will be. [And depending on your propensity to curse like a sailor, the happier your neighbors will be.] So pulling the E/T together is definitely the way to go.

Your electrical knowledge will be a huge asset at getting the whole works back together and running. I'm not an electrician, welder, or vacuum line specialist. All those vacuum lines give me a headache.

Best of luck.

 

I second removing the engine/tranny together. I was able to do it by only removing the hood and keeping the rad in. What I did was run the shortest possible length of chain to opposite corners of the block via stock lifting shackles attached to the heads at the exhaust manifold holes. This made an imbalance the made the combo come up real steep, allowing me to keep the front end on. I recommend putting it on the same way, with a buddy (
or you) underneath lifting up the tail of the tranny to get it over the cross member while the two are lowered.

As for that engine bay, some elbow grease and a large box of shop towels goes a long way.

Also, it was hard enough mating the engine to the tranny outside the truck, I suspect it would be a nightmare to do under the hood in the driveway.

Best of luck!
-Glaser67

 

Two words: Brake Clean.

Lots more words: I've had a '74 F100, '80 F150, '86 or '87 F250, and my current '87 F150. The only one I pulled the engine on was the '80. As far as I recall, the top radiator support was welded in on all. Unfamiliar with "bolt ons" but then again, only mechanic when I have to. Probably could have unbolted the entire front header panel somehow, but, that's extra work :-p

I took the radiator out because I know me, and I would have punched a nice, big hole in it somehow, some way.

My technique was using a single chain from front lift ring, through the hook, and to the back lift ring. Left it long enough to slide in the hook. The lift points are balanced for engine only, not for a tranny weighing down the back (I think. Don't hate on me if I'm wrong). So as I raised up the picker arm, I slowly eased the balance to get the transmission tail into the bell housing bulge, then eased the rigging back the other way to level it out and clear the subfender (you should only have to clear the bumper).

I took off the driver's side fender both to ease access to the engine compartment while disconnecting things and to extract the E/T with less risk of damaging anything.

 

@Glaser67

Came out nice, did you bring back the bare essentials? Cut out a lot of junk under the hood? Looks a lot cleaner.

My radiator support was completely rusted at the mounts, removing the support had to happen.

I haven't even looked at removing fenders/body panels, maybe I'll take a look at that tomorrow, trying not to get too deep into this, and start buying tools for body work...

Sorry for being such a NOOB.... what do you mean by 'front lift ring, back lift ring'? These are on the actual motor?

My picker came with just a hook on it.

"stock lifting shackles attached to the heads at the exhaust manifold holes." Can you throw up a link for some of these? I did a Google search, I am seeing clevis', which I use for overhead cranes at work......

 

Part of that is directed at what I said.

I brought my E/T up, half way over the front header (radiator mount) and then turned it 90 degrees in the air and then over my driver side fender. This was due to my work area. You shouldn't need to do this. Removal of the hood is enough. I removed a fender just cuz I was tired of crawling over everything and didn't want to scratch it up. Leaving it on is fine and saves lots of headaches with body panel alignment later.

The lift rings I refer to are probably the same as the shackles Gassed refers to. They do not come with the engine or the lift. In fact, I don't even remember if I bought them or borrowed them. 14 years have passed.

All they are are flat pieces of metal with holes to mount them to the block (using the bolts you took out, I believe mine were set up to bolt where the exhaust manifolds had been) and a large hole (loop) for your strap/chain to go through/hook onto.

I've seen rigging using four lift rings, one on each corner, and four short chains hooked to a leveler bar. Or just using chains without a leveler. My setup had one on the back of the passenger side, one on the front of the driver side, and a single long chain going through the hook so I could tilt and rotate as the E/T came out. Probably not the optimal method and maybe a lot of luck with the balance, but it worked for me.

You can also just bolt a link of the chain to the block with a manifold bolt at each corner if you can't locate lift rings. I did that once with a car engine.

I suggest rigging to all four corners since you are able to come straight out the front. A leveler bar isn't necessary since the tranny will weigh down the back end anyway.

If you work around cranes, you know this already, but keep your weight as low as possible as you roll the lift back and having someone help lift the trans tail and keep the load from swinging is a huge plus.

Hopefully that clarified those points.

 

Apparently, doing a quick Google search, these are identified as "engine lift brackets."

 

Ok, planning on finally hauling out the motor this weekend.

Question... where do I break the connection coming from the back of the transmission?

The u joint or the piece closer to the transmission?

 

I would start by removing the bolts from the mount under the tail of the tranny. Make sure your trans is drained! Next use a ratchet strap across the frame rails to set the drive shaft on when you pull the engine/tranny out, you could set it on the ground and remove it, but I prefer to have it hanging there out of the way. The yoke out of the back of the tranny should slide right out.

Also, the engine brackets came stock on my 302, you can see them in my picture above (before pic) at the front of the head on the driver side.

As for what I removed all together from my build: Removed all EGR componants, all smog stuff (left the pump in place) but kept the solenoids connected to the harness, deleted the coffee can, A/C, and cruise control. This was all done for aesthetics. Only vacuum lines are brake booster, FPR, PCV, and HVAC controller.

 

@glaser67, great info.

Yes, I do have this lifting mounts, I removed them when I took out the manifolds, I'll just bolt them back on, that's great!

Ok, so I'm going to put a strap across the frame, and the yoke that goes into the transmission just comes out?

Interesting..... I gotta ask, it simply slides back in when reinstalling and it's good to go?

 

Use a marker. Paint, grease pen, something, ANYTHING, and draw matchmarks on your drive shaft yoke and tranny tail so they are lined up the same way when you put it back together.

Last tranny pull I did was on a GMC Suburban last year. That manual talked about different splines and keyed splines blah, blah, blah. I don't know what Fords have, tbh.

Thing is that if the same tranny is going back in, it doesn't matter so long as you put it in the same as it came out. If it's keyed, no worries, if it's not, you might throw off the drive shaft balance. So, better safe than sorry and mark the parts so they go back together oriented the same way just in case.

 

@one_bolt_short,

good info, I was just reviewing all the information and didn't realize your great chaining directions from a few posts ago.

really good answers, much appreciated.