for someone who has never done it?

There's a lot of work I want to do on my engine but it would be much easier to do on a stand. I'm concerned about a few things though, mainly the height of the truck (stock 4x4 with 31s).. but my truck is also sitting on gravel and I'd have to get the engine through grass to the garage.

it's a 400, I have no clue about the weight of these engines and how managable they are. I picked up and carried an old VW engine to a scrap heap with no trouble, but I can tell I wouldn't be doing that with my 400. I'm almost scared of its size.

Just,I dunno if it's worth it..

Intake, exhaust, rear main seal (can live with the *small* leak, barely a drop has reached the ground in 4 months of sitting in the same spot), I'd like to clean, paint and inspect my oil pan (I think it might leak, some wetness over a period of 4 months?) single intake valve is leaking oil and a few exhaust valves, all in the absolute worst locations that I can't get to with a valve spring compressor. Broke a bolt in my water pump (no leaking), engine could use a good cleaning and painting.. plus I'd like to check and see how the crank and oil pump looks.
I might also consider removing the heads and changing gaskets, cleaning ports, etc.

A lot of minor stuff..

just uh, how big of a job am I looking at? I see a lot of people say "Just pull the engine", but they would also say "just pull the heads" to me back when I didn't know what I was doing. Not sure if I should wait until I have something significiant to change or not.. a part of this is also me gaining experience, doing it just for fun.. but I'm worried I might not ever get the truck running again.

 

You'd need a cherry picker. They usually run under $200, but if you ask me, they pay for themselves over and over because there are so many other things you can do with them. If you don't want to buy one, you can probably find a place that will rent you one.

 

Hey the engine isn't so bad on one of these trucks fuel line radiator hose bell housing bolts alterator wires and ignition wires and starter wires then the exhaust which you might snap a few bols off there. Should take you about four hours being your not used to doing this give or take just don't hurry. Yes a cherry picker or engine puller is needed I would not recomend doing this on gravel or grass they have a tendancey to sink in and flex that can cause them to tip over. Oh yes before doing this drain all the fluid for the engine. Sounds like you should just pull this and do an over haul. Good luck I think you can handle this.

 

Other than bell housing I've unbolted or unhooked everything I'd need to probably a half a dozen times. Driver side exhaust manifold hasn't been detached in 30years, but the passenger side came off without a single broken bolt.

is it as simple as wrapping a chain around the engine and cranking upwards with the engine hoist? clearances and everything? I've seen it done before on other vehicles and these people had one hell of atime getting the engine out, busting up stuff inside the engine compartment and whatnot, that's what I'm mostly worried about. Getting the engine into the compartment looked even scarier, one guy underneath moving it aruond to align it with the engine mount holes while screaming at the guy up top lowering it from the hoist.

and also taking the hood off, just worried it wont fit as nicely as it does once it goes back on

 

I have pulled a few engines, and from past experiance here is what I'd do.
Remove the hood. Remove the radiator. Unplug the wiring harness where it comes through the firewall, and remove wiring from where it attaches to the engine, most connnections will unplug. Remove the front clip.(I think there are about 10 bolts and it will lift right off) You will now have room to do most of the things you said you wanted to do except oil pan and seal. It will also make the engine waaayyyy easier to pull, and re-install. Having done it both ways, I wouldn't even think of pulling a engine without removing the front clip.

Don't wrap a chain around your engine!!!! Remove a intake manifold bolt at the rear corner on one side and the front corner on the other side. Take a short piece of chain and bolt it across your engine. (you may need to find a longer bolt to do this) Take a sharpie and mark the hood hinges and they will line back up.

 

There is a certain amount of guiding involved with getting it back in, shouldn't be any problem. Mark or trace your hinges under the hood so you get it back in the same place.

 

Just to be certain as i have not pulled a motor hooked up to an automatic. What if anything should he have to unhook with the torque converter?

 

There are Four bolts (at least thats what was on mine) holding the torque converter to the flex plate. You should be able to pull the two bolts holding the inspection cover to the front lower part of the tranny and then you'll be able to get to the bolts that hold the torque converter to the flex plate. You'll have to take out a bolt and then rotate the engine by hand to get the next one to show up in the opening where you can get to it and so on with the remaining ones. I hope that helps some.

 

jsutton I thought it was a different deal than a clutch would hate to see him mess something up.

 

Maybe you guys all missed sumthing in the beginning of this post, his truck's on gravel and he would have to take it thru grass to the garage............I'm not sure about some of you guys, but I wouldn't want to attempt to try to roll a cherry picker and approx. 1,000 # worth of engine thru grass OR gravel

 

it can be a pain if your truck sits up high, like a 4x4, the engine hoist better have a good arm reach, plus if you fully extend the arm out when ya got the engine all the way out the arm can make some weird sounds like it wants to break, i found this all out on my truck with a 302, i could not imagine a 460 going over the rad support, even normal rwd height can be a pain with the picker, i would take the tranny separate, its really long when ya pull it out, and ya have to almost do a 90 degree to get it out!, before i put the cab and front clip on and after the new mint frame was sandblasted and painted i put the 302 and aod and np205 in before there was truck in the way, that was so easy to install, but i have pulled out the engine through the front, and ya got to take the hood off, and make sure ya got a strong picker, mine seemed strong, i don't know how much bigger i would have needed, but i did not like the creeks and little snaps it made! scary! lol good luck it ain't that bad just have 2 or more people around when ya do it, in case something gos wrong like a engine on your chest!

 

Yeah, I can see it falling over for sure. It would be best to push the truck with engine in it to the garage and pull it there and roll the truck back. It sounds like more work, but it's way more safer.

 

As said above do not use a cherry picker unless you have a hard surface to work on. Support the trans with a floor jack or blocks when you separate it from the engine. You can roll the truck in and out of your garage with the engine removed if you hold up the front of the tranny, just put a 2X4 across the frame rails and tie or bolt it to the bolt holes on the front of the trans. I prefer to use an engine pulling plate that bolts onto the carb mounting bolts, but a short lenth of chain fastened to the intake manifold bolts will do. I agree that removing the front clip would be well worth the effort. When you re-install the engine take care in lining up the torque coverter studs with the holes in the flex plate, it can be a little tricky. Be sure the drain plug in the torque converter is lined up with it's hole in the flex plate. If you get stuck anywhere in the process just ask here, there's plenty of us who've done this more times than we can remember.

 

If your doing this on the cheap a nice sturdy tree and a chain hoist will work just fine.

 

If you don't feel the need of owning a 'Cherry picker' most rental companies will rent you one for x amt. per day............Have at the very least 2 or 3 more husky fellow mates to give you a 'helping hand' as well