So there may already be a thread some where I just havnt found since I'm definitely new here but I have a 99 f250 SD 4x4 that is my daily driver and the other day I checked the oil and found some chocolate milk on my dipstick well long story short I have another 7.3 engine and tranny that I'm planning on trying to just swap it out and get back on the road and worry about what's going on with the motor that's in it now with chocolate milk in the oil pan and all throughout the valve covers and basically everywhere because I'm very limited on funds and arent making anything with it down so I hear you have to pull the cab or the turbo off the top of the engine..... is there enough slack in everything that I can just jack the cab up and put like a 4x4 post across the frame to hold it up enough to get them swapped out or would that even be enough room to get it out and then back in there? All help and ideas advice tips are greatly appreciated...... thanks

 

People will be along shortly to guide you through this.

 

Just pull the turbo off. On a automatic you don't have to jack the front of cab up. You can leave it bolted in place and can get it out with a engine hoist fine. With manual trans you have to lift front of cab up a few inches to get input shaft out of clutch. Don't need to pull cab for either.

 

I'd recommend pulling the radiator core support along with all the coolers. If you don't want to open the ac system you can unbolt the compressor and lay it in the passenger battery tray. Then the condenser can rest on top. It's not ideal but it is safer than lifting a 1000# engine high enough to clear all that stuff with a cherry picker.

 

I also agree with this. Make it a much easier job and not much more work at all to remove the coolers.

 

Ok well the old one is out now time to go in with its replacement....I'm swapping torque converters also but not trannys and didnt mark either of them when pulling them off and replacing them.....is that a very bad thing? And how full should I fill TC with atf before dropping the motor in & stabbing it I'm not sure how much leaked out when I was switching them both out either

 

Why swap TC? You run a risk of contaminating your transmission if the other TC is loaded with trash, and there's no way of knowing without cutting it apart. Possibly you could flush it if it is one with a drain plug in it, but I honestly don't know if it would work. Unless you know yours is toast or that the other is new and the transmission it was on is also new, which if so why not install the whole trans, then I'm not sure the juice is worth the squeeze there.

 

My tranny is fine the one in the truck i got the motor out of is toast i believe or needs to be flushed really well and filter changed since it got wrecked then went on a weekend adventure at the offroad park and got something in it not sure what but the tranny fluid looks REAL thin almost like brake fluid and had lost most of its reddish color to it not sure what happened at offroad park I wasnt there but I'm saving it for a rainy day right now I'm just trying to get my truck back up and on the road ASAP and like I said funds are VERY limited at the moment especially since it was down all last week meaning $0 income the whole week unfortunately but it's getting alot closer to being back up and going hopefully by the end of today if I dont run into any unseen challenges along the way..... thanks for yalls help...... I'm just learning as I go and kind of refuse to goto any diesel shop around here since last year I was got for 6000 when I had to put my old 6.0 in a shop they ROYALLY screwed me out of 6000.... the shop couldnt show me ANYTHING that they "supposedly " replaced to start with and the truck ran alright for about 2 days and went downhill from there then about 2 months later the starter was being held on by afew threads in 1 bolt the other had done fallen out and bolts loose everywhere throughout the engine just a VERY VERY bad ordeal so I'm just learning how to do everything myself since basically....... always been told the only way to learn anything is to ask questions..... so here I am hahaha.....thank yall again.....

 

I feel your pain on letting a shop have a go at it. I got a sob story and sore *** of my own. It taught me the most important lesson I've ever learned about these trucks. "Don't let anyone anywhere near your truck with a wrench." I wouldn't let Jesus Christ work on my truck. He was a carpenter what's he know about diesel engines.

 

If my Lord comes back while I'm still alive and offers to fix my PSD...I'm taking Him up on the offer, cuz He's taking me up to a much greater place.

 

So I have a tranny cooler off my old 6.0 which was a pile of 💩 so as I'm reassembling my front end I was going to switch them out but which line goes on which side is what I really need to know or does it matter which I'm sure it probably does..... that's why I'm on here asking alot of questions kinda cuz like you said dont let ANYONE ANYWHERE near my truck with a wrench which that is definitely the #1 lesson learned the hard way so trying to learn it myself...... thank all yall again.....

 

Meanwhile how many people in this 7.3 section are mechanics? Most of us are skilled in completely different trades than diesel repair, maybe even a few carpenters in here. We're just more invested in the outcome of the work done.

A mechanic is only invested in your vehicle outcome while he's clocked in. After yours it's on to the next paying sucker until the time clock says beer 30

I'd let him fix anything of mine, "carpenter" or not

 

Coolers are typically plumbed where the hot goes in at the top and the cool comes out the bottom.

 

You'll have to make the 3/8" to 1/2" line transition, so pick up a couple barb fittings and hose clamps for this. With your truck being a 99, it may not have the oil to water cooler in the bottom of the radiator. If it does or you have access to one you'll probably need these Dorman 624-224 fittings for the radiator too...picture below. Then it's just some additional hose to route. When I replaced the radiator in both trucks with an all aluminum, all welded up units, I ran my F350 lines like this...3/8" rubber hose from metal hard line into passenger radiator otw cooler, 3/8" rubber hose from driver side otw cooler into 3/8" to 1/2" transition, 1/2" rubber hose up around driver side power steering cooler up into 6.0L ota cooler, 1/2" rubber hose out of passenger side ota cooler down around passenger side frame rail end into another 1/2" to 3/8" transition (good place to disconnect for flushing the transmission on a fluid change), then 3/8" hose into the metal return line.

From what you're saying about the transmission of the donor truck, I would not use that convertor and just leave the one you have in there...

 

So is there a special socket or wrench for the ipr valve on the back side of the hpop?