Pulling the 5.0 from the donor..

JAMMANICA · #1 07-30-2016, 08:03 PM

Who else here has pulled a 5.0 from an explorer/mountaineer? (this one is a 97)

Man this is not for the faint of heart. I believe it is the most difficult pull I have ever attempted.

I will be impressed if anyone has done it alone.

I even had good help, we spent 4 1/2 hours today and between a cordless sawsall a tool box full of tools we managed to get all the tranny bolts out but did not pull the motor yet. Took the console off and removed the access panel... still took one guy on top with an array of ratchets, extensions and a swivel and one guy on the bottom to say "OK pull it back a little. A little more. OK now move it to the right. Tilt it up a little. Now forward, it should be on now"

Took the console off. Boy that sounded easy. Make sure you pull backwards from the back of the console, pulling it from the front binds the 2 tabs in the rear and it will not move. Maybe just on mine LOL.

Everything is in the way.

We are literally 4 flex plate nuts and the one remaining bolt not broken on the drivers motor mount from chaining it out. Yay. Probably about a dozen more brackets/ wire connectors too but you can see that stuff as you pull up.

Swaltonator · #2 07-30-2016, 08:25 PM

Oh geez, I'm getting ready to do this pull! Thanks for the Confidence booster! Haha

win · #3 07-31-2016, 04:09 AM

I've done it a couple times -- didn't see it as that much more difficult than any other pull.

But...I pull with the transmission still bolted to the engine.

Pop off the front accessory brackets and the harmonic ballancer.

Drop the rear transmission cross member.

Dissconnect the "stuff" and pull the upper intake.

Probably the most difficult is the inner right exhaust manifold to down pipe bolt.

Yea, it's tight and pulling the air box off the firewall helps but still, easier than many front wheel drive's I've done.

JAMMANICA · #4 07-31-2016, 04:30 AM

You pull the upper intake?

And I saw 2 transmission crossmembers... a transfer case and two driveshafts. Scared me. I thought since I wasn't going to use the transmission in this build why pull it but you say it is easier? Transmission/transfer case assembly looks much longer than the engine.

It's not out yet I could still throw the 4 bolts you can actually get to back in and get the tranny too. It's a good tranny I could sell it I guess.

pmoss · #5 07-31-2016, 05:53 AM

Dang, I think i'll stay with the 4.0l,....LOL

JAMMANICA · #6 07-31-2016, 10:14 AM

I'm determined to do it even if it takes me 2 weeks labor and I lose a tip of a finger LOL.

jsz20102 · #7 07-31-2016, 01:34 PM

I had the engine out in about 4 hours transmission and t-case still attached, i did kind of obliterate the expo I pulled my motor from

JAMMANICA · #8 08-05-2016, 07:36 PM

It comes out tomorrow, goes on the engine stand. I hope I don't go too crazy fixing things the motor runs just fine.

I'm going to dupe my build thread here I originally started it somewhere else so out of respect I'll post progress there too. This board is a little more "addictive"

Zc15 · #9 08-06-2016, 10:31 AM

What are your goals for the engine? I plan on pulling my 5.0 when I get back from school next Spring, and building throughout the summer. I'm thinking build, while my wallet is thinking just the basics.

JAMMANICA · #10 08-06-2016, 05:55 PM

I don't really have a goal LOL at least not a "focused" one. This is a practice run of the build I really want to do which will involve a little more HP and a 4 wheel drive.

The truck is old, the donor is old, I am old, I just want it to run well enough to drive back and forth to work while giving me a thrill when I step on the throttle.

Motor is out, working on the build thread.

JAMMANICA · #11 08-07-2016, 07:23 AM

The problems I had with pulling the motor seemed to stem from 2 different reasons.

1. The mountaineer was from a city in michigan near lake erie. Extreme salt, extreme rust.

2. Someone had been in there before.

Yes we saw evidence that this thing had been worked on... perhaps an attempted motor pull or a replaced transmission from an unqualified place. Not that I am qualified but I do know hack when I see it.

The bolts holding the motor to the plate that bolts to the mount on the passenger side... were snapped off in the block. Nuts holding the plate to the motor mount were loose but it didn't matter because the motor was not attached anyway.

One bolt was removed in the same area on drivers side. Not snapped but missing. The one remaining bolt was in tact and the only bolt holding the motor in. I drove this thing all the way from northern ohio where the PO agreed to meet me with one motor mount bolt.

One of the nuts holding the flex plate to the torque converter was completely rounded off. The rest were OK so they quit at that point LOL. It took one of those snap on nut removal sockets with what could be described as a reverse easy out to get it off. And a hammer to drive the socket on.

SO I have to flip this motor on the stand and drill out 2 bolts, probably re tap the holes.

Here was the driver side:

Zc15 · #12 08-12-2016, 12:31 PM

Thanks for the updates! Did you pull with trans and t case still attached?