Date:         Fri, 8 Apr 2005 21:47:56 -0700
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Subject:      Re: Pull engine and tranny together?
In-Reply-To:  <6.2.1.2.2.20050408195408.022bae90@66.51.205.14>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

On 8 Apr 2005 at 20:03, jbange <hfinn@INGRATES.NET> wrote:

> I'm putting in a rebuilt engine so I need to pull the old one out. I also
> need to replace all the coolant hoses, the AT cooler, the seal between the
> final drive and the auto tranny unit, and regrease the CV joints. Looking
> at all this, it sounds like I have to pretty much unbolt every dang thing
> anyway, so why not pull the whole thing at once? Loosen the front tranny
> mount, lower the engine end onto the dolly,  then move the jack and lower
> the other end. Am I taking the easy way out, or am I going to end up
> wrestling with a five foot long 400 pound monster?

I have a MT, but otherwise similar. I've pulled the trans alone 3 times, and this past
weekend, pulled both together. Aside from the extra time disconnecting stuff, pulling
the two together was *way* easier than trans alone, although a spotter is good to
have because it is hard to see everything as it is lowered. I dropped the engine
partway onto two jackstands on each end of the engine carrier bar, then moved the
floorjack to just behind the bellhousing, and dropped the rest of the way onto my floor
creeper, then lowered the nose cose down, and it balanced on the creeper just fine. I
then separated the two once out from under the van. You need about 22" of
clearance minimum - go as high as you can with the van.

Shawn Wright
http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
'85 Jetta D
'88 Westy 2.1L, soon to be 1.6TD 5 speed
 (see progress at http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels)
'82 Diesel Westy