I'm pulling the OEM 351W (378,000 miles on it!!) out of my '84 Bronco tonight and have a question about the process... Some stuff I've read says to un-bolt the torque converter BEFORE pulling the engine, others just say to pull it off in one unit.

I have a new front pump seal - just in case - but the tranny is only 6 months old, so if i can avoid fiddling around with it that'd be great.

What is the conventional wisdom here?

Thanks!

HG

 

unbolt the tq converter first unless ur dropping the tranny to. but even in that case the tq converter comes first .

 

Unbolt it before removing the engine, much easier to remove engine this way clearance wise, easier for reinstalling too.

 

So, if the torque converter stayed in place, there's no need to replace the front pump seal? (It's only 6 months old).

 

If it's not leaking, don't worry about it.

 

If you do not unbolt the converter from the flexplate, you are asking for a terrible mess! That thing holds quite a bit of fluid, and given the angle of the engine required to remove it, the converter is going to spill most of its contents onto the floor. Not a good way to go. Murphey works along side of you in your garage, and somehow you will find something that you forgot to remove, and will have to splash through all of that fluid to gain access to it, it never fails. The converter will have to be removed anyway, because it will need to come off of the flexplate eventually, then reinstalled in the trans before a new engine gets installed. If the trans is new, then leave that thing in there, and save a bunch of steps. If you decide to change the pump seal after the engine is out, it is easy to remove the converter with the engine out of the way, pop the seal out, and re-install a new one, and install the converter. Oh yeah, make sure you rotate the converter while you install it. You will need to make sure it goes all the way into the pump, and aligns with the drive on the pump. These are the tabs that index into the shaft of the converter. If you decide to leave it alone, then all should be fine......