Just "dropped" my 225 slant, complete with K-frame and transmission out of the bottom. I'll never do it any other way again. This was a joy it was so easy and I did it all by myself...with the help of a floor jack and cherry picker. Took me about 6-7 hours. I move slow and meticulous...Zen and the Art of Mopar.
I put together a little "recipe" for doing this as I thought through the process and wrote it all down, but lost my notes. Here is a quick overview from what I recall and I'm probably overlooking a few things but hopefully it will help somebody else considering doing this.
-Penetrating oil on all of the typical stubborn bolts a day before you start this endeavor.
-Put car on 4 jack stands, as high as possible. 2 under rear axle, 2 under front subframe. Throw some extra "Oh ****!" safety devices under your car if you feel necessary. I always place the front tires and some spare steel wheels at critical points in case the jack stands give or the car falls off of them under earthquake-like conditions.
-Dix (disconnect) the battery.
-Start draining your radiator while you crawl under the car and start unbolting the following; drive shaft, shifter and kick-down linkage, speedo cable, neutral safety switch. Leave the trans cooler lines on the tranny.
-Dix and label engine bay wiring; alternator, starter, etc.
-Dix steering shaft from steering gear box. Mine is a manual box. More steps required if you have power steering.
-Remove exhaust from manifold if possible. I cut my exhaust loose with a Saws All about 12-14" below the manifold.
-Once radiator is drained, remove hoses and trans cooler lines. Pull radiator.
-Remove alternator and brackets. This provides some extra wiggle room on the passenger side.
Remove the fan (I didn't do this and missed the wiggle room).
===SUSPENSION===
-Relax the torsion bars completely.
-Disconnect brakes at the hard lines.
-Remove shocks.
-Use ball joint separator and and drop assembly from upper control arm. I placed a wheel/tire under mine to rest the brake and lower arm assembly on.
-Remove torsion bars, the easy way. Loosen strut rod bolts and wiggle the lower control arm back and forth to break the TBars loose. Rubber mallet to the front where the TB is to help it. This works so surprisingly well! No special Tbar tool required. Mine popped out.
-Optional: remove lower control arm assembly. Once I had the LCAs dropped and the Tbars out, it was just another 10 minutes to pull the whole lower control arm assembly.
===DROP ENGINE===
The trick here is to use your cherry picker, hooked to your engine and lower engine down to a waiting Mover's Dolly below.
-Hook up your cherry picker to the slant. I put one bolt in the front, one in the back on the transmission with my chain run between.
-Hook another chain between two front bumper bolts.
-Use cherry picker to apply a little lift to the engine.
-Loosen lower motor mount bolts a little so you don't have to struggle with them too much once the engine is out of the car.
-Pull the 4 K frame bolts
-Carefully lower the engine down to your dolly. I used a little piece of 4" x 4" under front of engine to balance it out on the dolly.
-If everything was disconnected properly you should now be ready to lift the car with the cherry picker using the other chain that is bolted to the frame with the bumper bolts.
-Lift car until frame is above the highest point of the engine. The carb in my case.
-Rotate tran tailshaft out first and then pull the whole assembly.
-Open a beer and pat yourself on the back for a fine job.
I put together a little "recipe" for doing this as I thought through the process and wrote it all down, but lost my notes. Here is a quick overview from what I recall and I'm probably overlooking a few things but hopefully it will help somebody else considering doing this.
-Penetrating oil on all of the typical stubborn bolts a day before you start this endeavor.
-Put car on 4 jack stands, as high as possible. 2 under rear axle, 2 under front subframe. Throw some extra "Oh ****!" safety devices under your car if you feel necessary. I always place the front tires and some spare steel wheels at critical points in case the jack stands give or the car falls off of them under earthquake-like conditions.
-Dix (disconnect) the battery.
-Start draining your radiator while you crawl under the car and start unbolting the following; drive shaft, shifter and kick-down linkage, speedo cable, neutral safety switch. Leave the trans cooler lines on the tranny.
-Dix and label engine bay wiring; alternator, starter, etc.
-Dix steering shaft from steering gear box. Mine is a manual box. More steps required if you have power steering.
-Remove exhaust from manifold if possible. I cut my exhaust loose with a Saws All about 12-14" below the manifold.
-Once radiator is drained, remove hoses and trans cooler lines. Pull radiator.
-Remove alternator and brackets. This provides some extra wiggle room on the passenger side.
Remove the fan (I didn't do this and missed the wiggle room).
===SUSPENSION===
-Relax the torsion bars completely.
-Disconnect brakes at the hard lines.
-Remove shocks.
-Use ball joint separator and and drop assembly from upper control arm. I placed a wheel/tire under mine to rest the brake and lower arm assembly on.
-Remove torsion bars, the easy way. Loosen strut rod bolts and wiggle the lower control arm back and forth to break the TBars loose. Rubber mallet to the front where the TB is to help it. This works so surprisingly well! No special Tbar tool required. Mine popped out.
-Optional: remove lower control arm assembly. Once I had the LCAs dropped and the Tbars out, it was just another 10 minutes to pull the whole lower control arm assembly.
===DROP ENGINE===
The trick here is to use your cherry picker, hooked to your engine and lower engine down to a waiting Mover's Dolly below.
-Hook up your cherry picker to the slant. I put one bolt in the front, one in the back on the transmission with my chain run between.
-Hook another chain between two front bumper bolts.
-Use cherry picker to apply a little lift to the engine.
-Loosen lower motor mount bolts a little so you don't have to struggle with them too much once the engine is out of the car.
-Pull the 4 K frame bolts
-Carefully lower the engine down to your dolly. I used a little piece of 4" x 4" under front of engine to balance it out on the dolly.
-If everything was disconnected properly you should now be ready to lift the car with the cherry picker using the other chain that is bolted to the frame with the bumper bolts.
-Lift car until frame is above the highest point of the engine. The carb in my case.
-Rotate tran tailshaft out first and then pull the whole assembly.
-Open a beer and pat yourself on the back for a fine job.
