engine/transmission removal

I am having the engine in my 1950 Chrysler Town and Country rebuilt. The fellow who is doing the remove and replacment phase would like to know if it is possible to unbolt the transmission and remove the engine separately. The engine is very heavy and he would like to reduce the weight of the lift by taking the engine out first without the transmission attached.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Bill McLin

Bill:

Not only can you remove the engine and transmission separately, you have to.

Drop the driveshaft, and disconnect all the linkages, speedometer cable, and parking brake cable from the transmission. The transmission gearbox detaches from the bell housing with four bolts and two studs. You'll have to get at the upper-right bolt through the transmission inspection hole on the passenger's side floorboard along with detaching the transmission wiring through it.

The transmission will pull rearward out of the clutch and Fluid Drive unit (torque converter, in inaccuate but simple words) just like a manual transmission.

Pull the bell housing and torque converter along with the engine, and put them back in the car the same way because the rear engine mounts on are either side of the bell housing. When putting it back in the car, leave the lower bell housing off until everything is bolted up permenently so you can make sure the throw-out bearing isn't riding on the clutch levers all the time and wearing itself out.

Tell your mechanic to take a 5/8" box wrench with a long handle and shave the box-end much flatter and thinner than it normally is so he can pull the eight nuts that hold the Fluid Drive unit to the rear crankshaft flange after he removes the bell housing. When putting it back together, tell him to make sure those nuts are good and tight. One of the studs on the Fluid Drive unit is off-set so it can only go on one way.

Be sure the mechanic has a tilt bar on his engine hoist because he'll have to tilt the engine quite a bit to get it out.

Please write if you have any questions. I check this message board often, but I'll be traveling in my 1950 DeSoto for the last three weeks in October.

JON