sprinthead Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Hey all !! Gotta love having 2 Pathys ! My old 93 XE seems to have way less powertrain issues than my 94 SE I just scooped on the cheap, so I'm thinking since I know nothing about how beat on the 94's powertrain is, I'm thinking I would be well advised to just swap out the whole shebang from one truck to the other. The clutch is almost gone in the 94 ( but mint in the 93 ... ), the engine in the 93 has 316,000 kms and the 94 has 271,000 kms, but the 94 engine has a noise in the topend that leaves me afraid to rely on it, plus numerous oil leaks .... SO !! The question of the day is this ..... Can you pull the engine, trans and transfer case all in one shot ??? Can you actually remove the rad cradle to make this easier, or is it all unibody type construction ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 (edited) if you cut out the front end I did it in a wrecked 95...but seriously I think you could do it if you had the truck about 3' off the ground and an engine hoist that is tall enough to lift it out but for me the tailstock was hitting the ground so i pulled out the sawsall hacked it some and then it was so ass heavy and my hoist wasnt tall enough i dropped it down and unbolted the tranny...not worth the hassle I dont believe... if its all by yourself i'd def separate them and inspect everything...b/c if you're doing it you may as well do it correctly b/c if not the RMS will start pissing just as soon as you button it all back up...if its up for a TB change i'd knock it out while the engine was out of the truck along with changing out all the heater hoses and anything else that can be a PITA in the truck Edited July 8, 2008 by unccpathfinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 i'm with uncc on this one........ one piece shot is a pita. disconnect the trans & t case from the engine........ then give it hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mws Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 If 4wd models, the front pumpkin and suspension makes pulling the engine a bit of a pain. I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to just swap bodies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 (edited) I was thinking htat too but I couldn't remember if the fenderwell's would fit over the engine or not... I would guess yes b/c I bet they build up the chassis and body separately and drop them together and make the final connections b/c I know when I was working with Freightliner we built the truck/bus chassis' there at the shop in Gaffney SC and they got trucked 200 miles up to High Point NC to get bodied (at least for the bus chassis') the RV chassis' went even further I think Edited July 9, 2008 by unccpathfinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprinthead Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 (edited) Thanks for the input on this all !! I think I have decided that at worst I will just swap out the engine. Changing the body over would defeat the purpose of buying the 94 that has a better frame ( and the diff with the LSD and disc brakes ... ) even tho a body lift could be done at the same time. The engine in the 94 has an odd rattly farty noise that appears to be coming from the drivers side front of the engine that leaves me suspicious as to what it is, although I have yet to spend any amount of time trying to diagnose what it is. That is kinda todays job !! Edited July 10, 2008 by sprinthead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Thanks for the input on this all !! I think I have decided that at worst I will just swap out the engine. Changing the body over would defeat the purpose of buying the 94 that has a better frame ( and the diff with the LSD and disc brakes ... ) even tho a body lift could be done at the same time. The engine in the 94 has an odd rattly farty noise that appears to be coming from the drivers side front of the engine that leaves me suspicious as to what it is, although I have yet to spend any amount of time trying to diagnose what it is. That is kinda todays job !! It might just be the manifold leak.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottzilla Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 You can pull the entire engine, tranny and transfer case all in one piece; I just got done doing just that. The tricky bit is that it is all very long so you need something like a hoist hung on something high up to do it. Remove the front differential, the exhaust pipe that runs across underneath, and that one cross-member that stuff is bolted to so that you can tip the whole thing up and out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mws Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 You may also have to remove at least one of the torsion bars to get the front diff out. I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 You can pull the entire engine, tranny and transfer case all in one piece; I just got done doing just that. The tricky bit is that it is all very long so you need something like a hoist hung on something high up to do it. Remove the front differential, the exhaust pipe that runs across underneath, and that one cross-member that stuff is bolted to so that you can tip the whole thing up and out. cool...I just don't think I would feel comfortable with 800lbs+ hanging over me 7-8' off the ground..A 75lbs did a # on my hand from just about 8-10" off the ground... Did you do the reinstall the same way? I think that would be a touch more tricky/risky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottzilla Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 mws: I know what you mean about the torsion bars. I was this close to pulling one of mine but I found just the right combination of wiggling things around to get the diff out without removing them. unccpathfinder: I'm going to (hopefully) do the reinstall this weekend the same way. The guy I'm working with has pulled and reinstalled an engine/tranny before and that's how he did it. I guess you just have to lower everything a few inches, jack up the back a bit, and keep repeating that until everything is back in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Yea thats how I assumed it would go...I just think for me theres too much risk of injury/death for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Yea thats how I assumed it would go...I just think for me theres too much risk of injury/death for me i agree. doesn't sound very safe to me. but whatever floats yer boat. it's your rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottzilla Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 (edited) Well, I got the engine, transmission and transfer case back in my Pathfinder in one piece. Having a tractor, a hoist and a really beefy swing set helps. Hopefully next weekend after I finish hooking everything up it will run. I put up a few pictures on Flickr. Here's one I took right about when I was thinking "Please don't drop. Please don't drop." Edited July 24, 2008 by Scottzilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 good job...so is the engine just going to hang from the swingset until then? i've seen that happen for weeks at at time in NC but they were always hanging from oak trees....don't kill yourself putting it back in... may I suggest separating the transmission anyways to replace the RMS... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottzilla Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 good job...so is the engine just going to hang from the swingset until then? i've seen that happen for weeks at at time in NC but they were always hanging from oak trees....don't kill yourself putting it back in...may I suggest separating the transmission anyways to replace the RMS... Heh, it's already back in. No swinging engine any more. I just need to finish hooking everything up. I did separate the transmission so that I could bolt up the new engine, but I did it outside the vehicle. Didn't touch the RMS tho... Well I'm not pulling it back out, that's for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 Having a tractor, a hoist and a really beefy swing set helps. Hopefully next weekend after I finish hooking everything up it will run. Yeah, I'd say you have more tools than most... I'm glad you got it worked out and hopefully it will be running soon. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammyb33 Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 oh man. we have a tractor with a bucket, but would have never thought of using it....great idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 I guess it depends on how smooth you can operate it...I've seen some bad things happen with fork trucks being used to pull engines and it not being able to be lifted smoothly like 1" at a time b/c by the time you bumped the vertical lift it went like 3"s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottzilla Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 I guess it depends on how smooth you can operate it...I've seen some bad things happen with fork trucks being used to pull engines and it not being able to be lifted smoothly like 1" at a time b/c by the time you bumped the vertical lift it went like 3"s Yeah, that's why we used the chain hoist for getting it in and out of the rig. The tractor is fine for lifting engines and carrying them across the yard but if you need any kind of precision it probably isn't the best way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now