I got a new oil pan last weekend and need to install it. I do not have a hoist so what is the next easiest way to lift the motor? Can you put a chunk of wood on a jack and put that under the crank pully to lift it or would that break stuff?

thanks

 

Yes you can do it that way, it will work.

 

cool, thanks

 

77fordguy,
The best method is to use an engine lift or a chain hoist, I would not recommend lifting the engine by the harmonic balancer, or crank pully. However, if you just need to lift the engine high enough to remove the oil pan, here is an alternative method you may wish to consider:
First remove the upper fan shroud if there is one on your vehicle. Remove the fan, since you don’t want this to gouge your radiator, while the engine is being lifted. You may also have to remove the upper radiator hose and certain wiring harnesses.
Next, place a large block of wood; such as a 2X8 on your floor jack, then position the jack with the wood block under the bottom of the oil pan, you may be able to use a bottle hydraulic jack in the same manner. The wood block should be as big as possible to cover the entire bottom of the oil pan, this will better distribute the weight and reduce the chance of damaging the oil pan as well as the oil pickup tube which is located approx ½” above the bottom of the pan.
Operate the jack just enough for the block to come in contact with the oil pan. Remove the motor mounting bolts, and then slowly jack the engine up, checking constantly for stretched wires, hoses, or mechanical interference.
Once the engine is approx. 3”above the motor mounts, pace blocks of wood between the motor mounts and the frame to keep the engine in place, then remove the jack. Check that the engine is secure before you put your hands in there to start removing the oil pan.
On older vehicles this procedure should give you enough room to remove the oil pan. Please note that on most new cars, the oil pan cannot be removed unless you pull the engine.
I hope this helps.
Please write back and let me know how it worked.
John24255

 

This is a given here.

Jacking on the harmonic balancer is fine, now if you have bad rubber on the dampner then there might be a problem. Putting a jack with a block of wood on it will not hurt it, my opinion.

 

I'm gonna second the wood under the oil pan idea. That is how we jacked up the engine in my truck when we replaced the rear main seal. Unbolt the motor mounts from the perches and when you have the engine jacked up stuff some block of wood between the mounts and the perches.

 

I did not want to take a chance on deforming my pan so i made a wooden cradle to push up on the oil pan rails where they bolt to the engine. This is simple to do with a few pieces of scrap lumber screwed together. The uprights were 1x4s screwed to an inverted "T" made of 2x4s The bottom 2x4 was long enuf to support the ends of the 1x4s. The whole assy can be lifted with a hydraulic or screw jack.

Make sure you read the threads in the archives on properly supporting a vehicle while you are working under it. They may be difficult to find with the search function at the moment. Hopefully the server replacement will be operational soon.

 

All,
I've used the harmonic balancer to lift motors in cars and trucks alike.
I have bent crankshaft pulleys also. Remove the crank pulley and you should be good to go.
Loosening the tranny crossmember will also give you a bit more freedom when you need that extra inch.
Consider it,
KingFisher

 

I agree with Flyboy & Torque1st, I've jacked under the oil pan with wide block of wood, never had a problem with it. Why take a chance jacking under the balancer?

 

77fordguy,
I have used the block of wood under the oil pan many times on other vehicles as well, such as a Mustang, and a Z-28 Camero, and have had no problems deforming the oil pan. In addition, you originally stated that you intend to replace the oil pan any way
Best of luck,
John24255

 

Keep in mind the space between the bellhousing and transmission tunnel when jacking it up. Some engine/tranny combos don't give you much clearance there. I guess my point is that whichever way you decide to lift it use some care and attention. If something binds then stop and look around, don't force it.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I lifted the engine last night in my driveway and replaced the pan in a about 1.5 hours from start to finish. I only threw 1 wrench and luckilly it missed my wife's car

I unbolted the 2 motor mounts, took off the air cleaner, and put a 4x4 piece of wood on the jack and lifted the engine from the crank pully. It was a lot easier than expected and everything went very easy(except the 1 motor mount bolt was tight - hence the 1 wrench throwing incident). We had to pry a little on the engine to get the mounts to line up when putting the motor back down, but that was pretty easy also. I got the new pan on and added oil and it did not leak and everything ran perfect. thanks for the help guy's

 

77fordguy,
Glade to hear you got it fixed. It always feels great when things work out so nicely.

It has been a long time since I became angry enough to throw a wrench, the darn things cost too much to replace, and the way my luck runs, would probably hit something important, causing me another 6 hours of work. With old vehicles, I kind of expect to lose some knuckle skin every now and then, it comes with the territory.

Best of luck,
John24255

 

thanks, it was pretty funny actually. The wrench slipped off the motor mount bolt, my hand smashed into the frame(which didn't feel real good), and right after that it started to rain. I thought I rounded off the motor mount bolt, but my dad ended up getting it off with his nice Snap-on sockets instead of my junk craftsmen's. All in all, it wasn't that bad.

 

77fordguy,
In May of this year, my son graduated High School. Since he was going to college in the fall, I decided to get him a car so that he could come home every now and then. I wanted to get something nice so I wouldn’t have to spend lots of time working on it. I bought him a 1995 Mustang with low milage. He had the car three weeks before it spun a bearing and started knocking. I understand that this is a big problem for the Ford 3.8 liter engines. This is why mechanics hate them. What a shame, beautiful car design, terrible power supply.

Oh well, instead of paying $1800 to have a used engine installed, and having the threat of the same problem reoccur, I decided to remove the engine and install a crank kit.

Although it took me longer than I thought it would, mostly because of the abundance of bolts with 15mm heads. Don’t you just hate those things? I do because most metric sockets and wrench sets don’t include one. This is most likely why manufacturers use them incisively!!! I am not just talking auto manufacturers; I had the same problem with my John Deere tractor.

Well having been down this road before, I purchased several sockets 6 & 12 pointers in ½” and ¾” drive. In addition, I also purchased a combo 15mm wrench. None of which helps when they use them on the bell housing bolts, and over torque the them so you have to chisel them off!

Anyway, I got through all that without throwing a single wrench! As I was installing the starter, which by the way has—you guessed it, 15mm bolt heads. The only wrench that would fit was the open-end part of the combo wrench. As I torqued them down, the wrench slipped off the nut and my hand slid down the vehicle’s cross-member. Did I tell you how much I appreciate the money Ford saved me by not deburing their under-carriage components? The cross-member had an extremely sharp edge, which quickly sliced the skin off my thumb and two fingers of my right hand, as well as the index finger of my left hand. Blood was everywhere, it look like a Jason movie gone bad!

Anyway, I felt like throughing the wrench; unfortunately, all I could do is scream and put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding.

Thanks to Ford, I was able to put a lot of myself into that car!

Thought the story might make you feel better.

John24255