Hi, I have another question for you guys. Ive never pulled an engine before. If I buy a cherry picker/engine hoist where do a bolt the chains to the engine without doing any damage. do I have to somehow bolt the chains to the motor mounts? I plan on getting a load leveler also. Thanks for your help

 

I don't know about yours, but I'm pretty sure my '88 7.3 has "hooks" all ready on the engine block just for pulling the engine. (somebody please correct my if I'm wrong) I would have to look at it to tell you exactly where they are, but they are visible and easily accessable just looking under the hood.

 

Thanks for the reply. Mine is an 88 f250. I didnt see any hooks on the block,although I wouldnt be surprised if i missed them. Ill check it out again tommorrow. Thanks

 

Look on the front left of the engine and the right rear.
They are under intake manifold bolts and have two holes in each one of them.

Caution, the 7.3 weighs 1000 pounds. It is a scary thing to get that much weight high enough to clear the radiator support with the oil pan. Also you have to turn the motor sideways to get the harmonic balancer to clear the radiator support.

A chain hoist is a much safer route if you can do it that way.
I pulled mine once with a professional (BIG) engine hoist. I will never try it again.

 

check my gallery for the wood post frame I had built for lifting the 7.3L diesel out of my trucks.
It easily handled the weight, and was high enough that I had no issues.

It of course was NOT mobile, but I could push and pull vehicles under it.

 

I agree on the chain hoist too. That motor looks scary lifting it that high to clear the truck.

 

I have to agree with what Dave says the IDIs are heavy a ordinary engine hoist won't lift a 7.3 safely. These are no 350 Chevies that only weigh 400lbs you need a engine hoist that is strong enough and one of those engine tilter things is prolly not strong enough either.

When I took the engine in and out of my truck a chain hoist was used it worked the best we just pushed the truck under the engine and dropped it in.

There should be a eyes on the engine you can get chains through mine had them it was a 89 engine I took out and a 93 engine went in.

When your getting ready to remove a engine think of passing a imaginary skip rope down the back side down under and up the front and over top will it get hook on anything you forgot to undo or disconnect.

Oh ya before you rip the hood off mark its position where the hinges sit and have a helper with you.

 

I've pulled the 7.3 in my 91 F350 4.x4 twice with a 2 ton engine hoist from Harbour Freight. I used their leveler but shortened it about 6 inches to match the spacing of the lifting eyes on my 7.3. The hoist was setting level on a concrete shop floor and seemed stable and adequate for the task but I had to remove the bumper to pin the boom in the 1000 lb position and get the hoist in the right postion to lift the engine. If you use this type of hoist resist the temptation to move the hoist once it has the weight of the engine on it. Follow the same procedures listed above and pull the vehicle out from under the engine. It seemed I could safely make minor adustments by moving the hoist, particularly when putting the engine back in, but that 1000 lb pendulum hanging on the tip of the hoist must be handled with caution.

If you have the option use the overhead hoist but my opinion is that you can safely do the task with a floor hoist if you follow the rules. If I ever have to pull this engine a 3rd time and don't have a 2 ton overhead hoist I'll do it the same way.

Note: The front of the vehicle will come up as you lift the engine. The floor hoist I used was tight to the 10' ceiling in my shop before I could clear the radiator mounting bar and pull the truck out from under the engine. I would expect you need 12 ft minimum clearance to use an overhead hoist.

 

Note: You can't pull the tranny and engine as a unit on my 91 model year. You may have to take the engine out the top and the tranny out the bottom.

 

really, i didnt even consider that. I assumed you could take them out as one.Does anyone know if you can pull the engine and tranny out as one on a 1988 f250 4x4. I guess not if you cant on a 91. thanks

 

with the amount of weight and the lack of space, I wouldn't want to pull them together... it isn't all that hard to pull the front clip off, and isn't any too hard to line up again if you keep track of what shims were there. 4 bolts (2 top and 2 on the bottom) hold each fender, and 2 bolts on the bottom of the rad support are all it takes to unbolt it. Then you don't have to lift so high... undo the harnesses and let them go off with the clip. The you could pull motor and trans together if the oil pan will clear...

 

I don't think you could pull them together even if you pulled the front clip off the chassis.

When you pull the motor, you will see.
The engine won't clear the cross member with the oil filter installed on my 86.
It also will not come out with the crankshaft pulley installed.

All the transmission weight on the back of the engine will wind up mashing something on the firewall or breaking something on the engine.

Besides, I like my fingers where they are.
Removing my engine once with a very big proffesional engine hoist was to shakey for me, I would not even consider removing the engine again with the engine hoist.
I also would not consider even thinking about trying to do the engine and transmission together even with a chain hoist.

 

All machines have limitations based on design and capacity. I had modified the boom support bracing mounting position before lifting the engine in order to remove a lot of the boom side play and increase stability, particularly when lifting near maximum height and capacity. I also added a lever to the cylinder relief valve **** when I was installing the new engine so the rate of descent could be feathered.

 

I pulled it last night. With the bumper,exhaust, and the front clip off it wasnt bad at all. I pulled it as one with the tranny and 4x4 transfer case. I had to jack up my cab to get the transfer case to clear the floor. I was by myself with a cheap engine hoist from pep boys in a dirt driveway and it went relatively smooth thanks to all the great replys. Nothing was damaged. If you are in the market for some kind of a cherry picker I highly recomend the one on sale at pep boys right now. thanks for all your help

 

Hopefully I won't be pulling my engine again for another 200,000 miles but I've learned a lot in this exchange. My 7.3 had an aftermarket turbo parked underneath the top of the firewall that I couldn't get the bolts out of, which is the original reason I pulled the engine in the first place. With the old style ATS aftermarket turbo mounted on the engine and the radiator cross bar in place it was really a different problem but the combined weight of engine, transfer case, and tranny would have exceeded the capacity of my 2 ton cherry picker.

It might save someone's fingers to emphasize the first 3 rules of lifting safety. Know the weight of what you are lifting. Pick a hoist or crane to match. Plan the work before you start.