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IMO pulling the front clip beats laying over a fender all day every day. Especially trying to get to the upper trans bolts.
"This may seem out of sequence but before taking your truck apart.... ALIGN THE BODY PANELS! When you're satisfied with gaps and positioning, drill 1/8-inch alignment holes at hood and door hinges, brackets, and at body panel overlaps and flanges. Or sharpie mark them, the door and hood hinges if you are going to pull them.
For example, this is the cowl to inner fender bracket and it is adjustable vertically and horizontally. Therefore two holes are required. The same applies to the hood hinges. Insert the drill bits to index the part and bolt it down... it is EXACTLY where it was before removal.
If you don't like random holes, the hole(s) can be hidden under the washers. I just dab and wipe a lil black RTV to seal it up. Or before pulling the hood or doors, scribe or sharpie the hood hinge position (all the way around) on the underside of the hood. Pulling the doors, scribe or sharpie the hinge placement on the cab, leave the hinges on the doors."
Pull the front clip. Its really not that hard. Worst part usually the core support mounts. Couple wire connections and maybe 12 bolts. Makes working on everything so much easier
The drill the hole alignment idea is a fellow FTE members idea. And I learned it AFTER I took the front clip off....IMO just leave the front clip: fenders/grill shell/core support all assembled. Mark the hood with a sharpie/scrib or alignment drill holes and pull it. Drill the inner fenderwell to fire wall (like in the pic).
Follow my walk thru and bam its off. 1st off, MAKE SURE YOU OPEN THE DOORS ALL THE WAY AND TAKE THE ONE PER SIDE BOLT OFF THAT IS BETWEEN THE HINGES, BEFORE you put it in a narrow shop where you can't open the doors far enough. LOL
Core support bushings are the only "body mounts" you have to deal with. Can be rusty and need sawzalled in half. Below the core support, on top of the frame. Repop complete front bushing kits are available. Notice how close the passenger side is to that wall? Back outside for that between the hinges bolt.
It's come along way since that front clip pull for the motor swap.
Lol it is not supposed to be like that, but it worked out like that. Once the motor and front clip were in and on I folded it back up and secured it with the 2 top bumper bolts.
I wouldn't do it any other way for pulling everything apart... just the engine is one thing, but for the amount of work you are talking about it sure makes it ten times easier.
I just did this, and yah it was absolutely worth it. Make it easy on yourself... I'm not a youngster anymore, my old *** appreciated it.
Mine didn't have a bumper on... but yah, it comes off, then the grille. The hood would be my next piece of the truck to get picked off.The fenders unbolt after that (don't forget the little support brackets inside the fenders), then basically unbolt/ undo everything from the inner fenders. After that it's just a matter of unbolting the inner fenders and rad core support.
Don't forget to mark hood hinges and front clip to cab alignment. It will save you a lot of time in panel alignment when it comes time to put things back together.
