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Getting in Over My Head...

1K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Ryan Angela 
#1 · (Edited)
I have decided to pull my Dana 30 and take it to a welder to install the Currie Johnny Joint kit for the axle UCA bushings. I am also replacing the inner oil seals, installing a Spartan locker and alloy shafts. I am not re-gearing right now, nor am I pulling my yoke, pinion, seals, races, bearings, etc - just the carrier for the locker install.

While the axle is out (after the Currie kit install but before I return the locker-laden carrier) I plan on wire-wheeling the whole thing, priming, and finally - painting the axle body.

Sometime soon I want to install my new Brown Dog replacement motor mounts and the Super Engine Brackets.

Should I do the MM and brackets while the axle is off and the TJ is up on my 6 ton stands? Is it safe to do this with no axle installed, or should I wait until the lift is done, the axle is completed and everything is reinstalled? I have never done motor mounts, but it seems to me that all that open space would make the block bracket removal and install with the new mounts a LOT easier.

If I end up doing it this way, how do I support the engine, and where? A Harbor Freight tranny jack is affordable. Do I brace it against the oil pan, the tranny body? I have no idea, here...

HELP!
 
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#4 ·
I think so long as the vehicle is adequately supported and stable, this is a great opportunity. Like mentioned in the write up above, make sure you remove the nuts from your trans mount, and remember to put then back when you're done! (I briefly forgot mine.) Position a jack stand under the trans to add some support, then position your jack under the oil pan. I put a piece of 2x10 on the jack platform to distribute the load across the pan better. Another area to keep an eye on as you jack things up is the wire harness at risk of being crunched between the back of the valve cover and the firewall. Make sure you have an assortment of drive extensions, and don't torque anything down fully until both sides are installed and the motor is sitting squarely. Good luck!
 
#8 ·
I am concerned that since my axle is off there are no springs. Any jacking to support the motor will be with zero spring lift. I mean that if you push up you will be raising the weight of the vehicle with no cushion, no stretch. I am afraid of damaging my oil pan.

So I will get a transmission jack from HF for my SYE install, and will use that under the lip of the tranny. I will support the oil pan with a floor jack and something that will deform a bit if needed, like a pine block of 2"x10" about a foot square or a large phone book. Of course, my local phone book is like a quarter inch thick. Small towns... <rolls eyes>

The Brown Dog gear has excellent instructions that I have read through several times now. They concur with the one side at a time thing, which is good, solid common sense.

However, I need to have the skid plate installed with the four tranny bolts off, yes? If I remove the skid then there will be nothing keeping the engine, tranny and TC in the jeep except for the single mount bolt and the balancing act of the two jacks. Hmm... sounds like an insane proposition to a non-Jeep person, I bet. I will keep the skid in place for the install with the bolts off the tranny, will have a wide tranny jack under the tranny and a suitably padded/covered floor jack under the oil pan (hard but deformable, wide enough to spread the weight over the entire bottom of the pan and not all in one small spot.

Sound about right?

Do the engine block bracket bolts tend to snap off? I am worried about that. I know the Brown Dog brackets use like six or seven bolts each, but I still want to use *all* of the Jeep-engineered attachment points no matter how many extra ones are present.
 
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