First post so bear with me.

Have a 1948 F5 Fire Truck with a 1949 V8 (88RT) and the engine is seized up. I have followed everything I have read in this forum but now I have to pull the motor out. Having worked on cars and trucks as a hobby for 30 years this is my first engine pull. Radiator is out, lift is in place, engine mounts are easily accessible but now my question. Do I pull the transmission with it, separate it from the bell-housing or something else. How do I actually lift it out?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Welcome aboard.

If you're going to restore the truck the first thing I would suggest is removing the entire front clip as one piece. There are only six bolts holding the entire front clip on, two holding it to the cab and the two under the radiator support. It's very easy to remove it as one piece. You should remove the hood also, it can stay on, it's independent of the front clip but it's easier if it's out of the way. This will do two things for you. One, it'll give you lots of room to pull the engine and transmission out as one piece, that's how I do it. Second, you can flip the clip upside down and be able to get to the rusty bolts holding together a lot easier than crawling under the truck.

Good luck and keep us posted. We also like seeing pictures, lots of pictures.

 

I have always pulled the engine and transmission as a unit. This requires that you take the transmission cross member out so that as you lift the engine the tail of the transmission can rotate down and allow you to pull up and forward together. Just remember to support the tail of transmission until you are ready to attach your hoist to the motor

The principle reason for pulling as a unit is that its a real pain to disconnect and re-connect the transmission from under the vehicle.

Good Luck

T900

 

Be ready to catch the oil as it drains out of the transmission when you rotate it. aaaaaaaaaawithout the driveshaft in the oil will leak out of the tailshaft housing.

 

I'd assume a big firetruck has one of the HD trannies, and they are really heavy. That is on top of a really heavy engine (fully dressed flathead is about 650 lbs). If you have the front clip off as Bob suggests, mating the engine and tranny when you go back in is not that big a deal. I'd pull separately.

BTW there are more than 6 bolts; there are six on the radiator support alone. Then there are bolts at the running boards to fenders, a couple from the inner fenders to the cowl and frame on each side. Then disconnect the wiring. Still a very easy process if you've got a couple friends handy.

 

Hello and Welcome to FTE.

Seems like you've already gotten lots of good advice from the best!

Good luck with the engine pull!

 

for all of the good advice. Pulling the clip will make it easier to paint. Pulling the tranny also makes sense or at least seems easier.

Will send pictures on the next post.