Debating to pull my first motor

[Sweet T]

I need to get the motor out of my car to get it freshened up and some leaky seals replaced.  I was thinking about pulling the motor with a few friends that have done it before.  Now if I pull the motor am I better to pull the motor and tranny together or separate them.  And if I should pull them together am I going to need to put the car on stands for clearance?  (I'd be pulling a 440 with a manual tranny)

[RD]

this is what I do, though others may decide differently.

I:

1) lift the car up on jackstands around 10-12" in height
2) disconnect all shift linkage, driveshaft, tranny cooler lines, and support the tailshaft of the tranny with a small floor jack
3) then remove the tranny mount bolt, and three of the four tranny cross member bolts and let the 4th one loose (the cross member can slide down and away a this time.
4) remove the motor mount bolts or nuts dependent on your year of Charger
5) have all wiring, shift linkage, kickdown linkage, exhaust piping, disconnect from the motor
6) bring engine hoist in front and have the chaing or engine leveler adjusted so it gives the motor trans a 45 to 60 degree angle when being lifted from the vehicle
7) remove small floor jack from under the trans, (you will see the trans fall down but it will not hurt anything
8. commence to lift the motor up and when you get high enough safely, remove the jackstands from your car and have someone either help with the trans over the front radiator support or fender ( I recommend front radiator support).
9) either pull motor away or push car away from motor and tada!

simple, but that is pretty much it in a nutshell

[Sweet T]

Thanks for the reply.  Now do I need to get the whole car up off the ground or just the front? Do I lift each side a bit at a time or the whole 10 - 12 inches at once.  I would hate to see my car twist.  I am doing this on a 1969 and was told that you could take the rad support off and may be able to do it without jacking it up.  I haven't been able to confirm this myself because the car is sitting in the air at the body shop still. 

[RD]

have the front of the car on jack stands 10-12" high before you begin to pull the motor and trans.

after you have lifted the motor/trans up where the top of the motor is about 2 feet above the radiator support, then remove the jack stands from under your car and then go ahead and do steps 8 and 9

[Troy]

Thanks for the reply. Now do I need to get the whole car up off the ground or just the front? Do I lift each side a bit at a time or the whole 10 - 12 inches at once. I would hate to see my car twist. I am doing this on a 1969 and was told that you could take the rad support off and may be able to do it without jacking it up. I haven't been able to confirm this myself because the car is sitting in the air at the body shop still.

Uh, the radiator support is welded on so the only way to take it off is to cut it. Unfortunately, a lot of people have tried this approach and left their cars without the top part of the support frame. This happens to be the part that holds the identification numbers and actually does have a job in keeping the car in the same shape it's supposed to be (without warping). You're better off tilting the engine and going straight up and over but that means you'll either have to unbolt the trans from the engine (not hard) or lift the car up a bit so the tailshaft can drop farther down. A floor jack will lift it and you'll need a hoist either way so it's not a big deal. Of course, the factory stuck the things in there from the bottom but you'll definitely need to lift the car a long way to make that work.

Troy

[General_01]

I agree with what has been said. I would add that removing the radiator and the fan would help greatly in providing clearance.

[Chryco Psycho]

also the water pump & pullys for needed clearance

[Sweet T]

Thanks guys, I was still wondering do I jack one side all the way up and then move over to the other side and jack it up, or do I jack on side up a few inches and then move over to the other side and jack it up a bit?  Or is there a centre jacking point to use to lift the whole front up at once?

Also, if I disconnect the transmission from the engine and just pull the motor do I need to have the transmission out of the car or is there enough clearance for the motor to come forward and out?

Thanks again.

[General_01]

You can jack the car up with a hydralic jack in the center of the k-member.

[Sweet T]

Thanks guys.  I imagine this is just the first of many little projects I'll need some help with.