I'm pulling the engine in my 91 F350 crew cab with air conditioning and the books give conflicting information. One book calls only for the removal of the radiator and specifies the air conditioning hoses are to stay attached which implies the condenser stays in. The other book explicitly calls for the removal of the grill, the upper grill support bracket, the condenser, and the condenser mounting bracket.

1. With the fan and fan clutch removed is there enough clearance in front of the engine to separate the engine from the transmition without removing the condenser?

2. If so, with the fan and fan clutch removed will the engine lift out the top of the engine compartment without removing the grill, support brackets, condenser, etc.?

Thanks! Don

 

I do not remember how the 91 is compared to my 86.
I removed the
hood
radiator
remove fan and fan clutch
remove pulley from crankshaft (this will get you much needed room as it comes out)
remove power steering pump and tie to inner fender well as far back as hoses will allow
unhooked batteries
remove alternator
unpluged or removed all wires to the engine
unhooked heater hoses
unhooked throttle cable
remove oil filter (will not clear the cross member to clear the transmission input shaft)
unhook fuel line from transfer pump
drop exhaust loose from the manifolds
wire clutch slave cylinder back so the piston does not fall out of cylinder
evac and remove AC compressor (hoses are so short it is always in the way)
hook up hoist chain to motor and tighten lightly
unbolt motor mounts
unbolt bell housing
From this point it was a three person job to get the engine out of the engine bay.
One on top shaking motor side to side while pulling forward
One under the truck pushing, prying and watching the transmission is supported.
The other ran the chain hoist raising and lowering as required.
When the input shaft of the transmission clears the clutch you can start raising the engine carefully, but it will not just pull forward and straight up and out.
When the water pump shaft is up to the top of the radiator support you have to turn the motor about 45 degrees so it will clear the radiator support shell ( I did this once with the crankshaft pulley in place, wish I would have removed it first)
Once it clears the radiator shell you have it done.

All the twisting and turning and tugging to get the engine out and in make this a much safer process if you use a chain hoist or come a long. If you use and engine hoist it is real scarry with a 1000 pound motor as high as it has to be to clear the front of the truck. Also it is real touch and go with all the twisting and turning that must be done so it will clear everything.

I have done this three times on my 86 in the last year.
The first time I used a huge old professional engine hoist, biggest one I have ever seen to remove the engine. Scared me to death several times before the engine was out. Used a chain hoist to put it back in and a chain hoist for both ways the next two times. Felt much safer with the hoist for me and the engine.

I had a reman motor sitting there, it took three good mechanics 12 hours to do the swap not counting lunch break. We had a well equiped garage to do it in.

Three people are needed to set the motor back in place, a fourth to pass tools and such around would not be a bad thing.
Be extra careful with the input shaft and the clutch pressure plate during the reinstall, don't ask why I am telling you this information though.

Be safe and have fun.

 

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'll post again when it's out.

 

I took my radiator and support out and pulled tranny with the motor.

Dave

 

My work shop is about half of my woodshop floor with all the woodworking tools crowded over to one side. The crew cab fit in with about 2 1/2 feet clearance on each side between workbench and the woodworking tool stack and had about 6 feet to the front workbench with about 18" so I could walk behind it. I wasn't able to hang my chain hoist because of the low headroom and have enough lift to get the engine out of the compartment on the tall 4X4 so I did the job with a 2 ton engine hoist that I moved in ahead of the truck. The radiator mounting beam on my truck appears welded so that even after removing the side brackets it appeared it wouldn't come off without removing the whole front of the truck.
I also wasn't able to evac the air conditioning so I removed the condenser and folded the condenser onto the windsheild with the compressor moved to the rear of the compartment. It took longer to figure out how to do it than to do the work but since I was working by myself the engine removal was really helped by having a clear view of the engine mounts and #1 cross frame. Because of the stuck turbo inlet the turbine had to come out with the engine and when you talk about clearances there were times I was wishing for another 1/4". With the turbo still attached I couldn't quite tilt the engine enough to get the tranny shaft to clear the clutch plate as I raised the engine over the cross beam. How much clearance would be gained going back in if I pulled the oil pan?
The trick about removing the drive shaft pulley was worth it's weight in gold. It didn't look like the engine would have come out otherwise.
The 2 ton engine hoist worked good but I gleaned a lot of caution from Dave's advice and took a lot of time to think about every move. I can see the potential to could get into a lot of trouble in a hurry and would recomend the chain fall if it's possible to use one. I also had to remove the bumper to get the hoist close enough to raise the engine and clear the radiator mounting beam. Now that the engine is out I have to transfer it from the engine hoist to the chain fall so I can mount it on the engine stand. Some things just never go easy. The 1000 lb. engine stand would have fit right into the 2 ton hoist frame for the transfer but I lack a foot of making the transfer onto the 2000 lb engine stand. It will be more work to transfer to the 2000lb stand but the 1000 lb. stand looked awfully wimpy for mounting that big engine.
It took about 16 hours working alone to get to where I'm at. I could cut several hours if I was doing it again and it would have been a lot faster if I could have removed the turbo before lifting the engine out.
"one man working alone takes 3 times as long as 2 men working together."

 

I pulled a 7.3 out of a '92 back in the spring and it was hard enough getting that big shouldered behemoth out with the radiator support removed, I shudder to think of pulling one otherwise. I just stuffed a 5.9 Cummins in my '93 F350 and there was no way it would have went in with the radiator support in place. It doesn't take that long to remove the radiator support.
DannyP

 

the cummins is hard to pull out of anything or put in to anything. if you ac works good I'd leave it alone if it don't go ahead and pull it.

 

tdford, I guess this is another place that the two inch body lift made it easier to do something. I had enough room to jack the tranny up so the input shaft would go in the clutch disk, but it was tight clearing the oil pan. That is how I damaged the pressure plate fingers. You really need another person when it goes back in to prevent this from happening to you. The lift also gave me room so the turbo was not a problem with clearance.

As far as removing the oil pan, I do not think I would do that. It only has a silicone gasket (blue glue gasket), I would be worried about oil leaks if the silicone got dislocated or wiped off during the reinstall.
They say the oil pan can be removed by unbolting the motor mounts and raising the engine, but I can not see that happening. When you have to remove the oil filter to clear the cross member I can not see how you could possibly get the oil pan in there.
I did an oil cooler change once, that was hard enough to get out and back up in there.

 

DannyP, what's the secret to removing the radiator support? I removed both end brackets before noticing the spot welds to the headlight mounting plates. I considered cutting the support and splicing it back with a bolted connection if the engine got stuck but with the crank pulley removed and then turning the engine to the left as it was being lifted it came out with a couple of inches to spare. The disadvantage is that you have to lift it considerably higher.
I'm comfortable putting the engine back in with the hoist though I'm going to add a lever arm to the jack release **** for more precise control but with the radiator support out I could use the chainfall. I'd have to open the shop door and have the truck half in and half out to attach the chainfall to the girder truss anchor point and I'd have to wait for the winter weather to cooperate. It would be a real trick to get the truck perfectly aligned with the chainfall anchor point for the installation so I'd probably opt to use the hoist anyway but removing the radiator support cross member would make that easier and safer too.

Dave, thanks for the added information.

Don

 

The trucks I pulled the radiator support on were a 92 and a 93 and neither of those had any spot welds. The 91 support is slightly different but I doubt it came from the factory spot welded in. Take a closer look at it. It took me about a half an hour to locate and remove all the hidden bolts and screws hehind the headlights holding the grill, headlight bezels and such together. The large bolt on each side where the support is mounted to the frame was the hardest part. The whole thing turned and I had to clamp a pipe wrench on it.
DannyP