Greedynessnish

Is there anyway to do this on the ground?

xxtheshockerxx

maybe this is why I am getting KR

LeadfootDuramax

iTrader: (6)

Yes. It can be done on the ground. Jack the front end up, put it on jackstands. You will need a couple floor or bottle jacks. Remove wheel, tire, brakes, etc on passenger front. Put jacks under cradle. Remove cradle bolts on passenger side and loosen cradle bolts on drivers side a decent amount (maybe an inch iirc?) I ended up having to remove my alternator because it was contacting the shock tower when the engine dropped. I believe I pulled my battery too.

Then drop the cradle (more on the passenger side than the drivers side. You will know when you have enough room to pull the harmonic balancer.

When dropping the cradle, stop and check every little bit to make sure nothing it catching, binding, or stretching.

All in I think it took me 4 hours and I did some other things while I was that deep into it. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. Just be cautious and don't rush.

A problem I ran into. Make sure the cradle is aligned when reinstalling it. There are holes on the passenger side of the cradle that line up with holes in the body. You are likely to need a 4 wheel alignment anyhow, but having the cradle lined up ensures they can get the alignment right and everything is in the right place.

I did buy the tools to hold the flywheel/crank still for torquing the balancer, but had a neighbor stop by willing to hold a prybar on the flywheel. This was faster/easier so I went that route.

If I think of anything else, I will post up.

91parkave

iTrader: (4)

Use a half inch extention in the alignment holes those tightening the subframe, you will be dead nuts accurate everytime

BackInBlack02

iTrader: (4)

Leadfoot, thanks for the info, I need to replace the one on mine too. How much more is there to drop the cradle entirely? is it the same as dropping the engine on a Fbody?

Wondering if its just an hour or two more of extra time to drop the engine and swap cam and delete DOD.

bignosecaveman

i need to replace mine as the wobble caused the belt to cut my ps line. Question for you though, with lowering the cradle on the passenger side will the steering shaft need to be removed from the steering rack?

'pacheMarshal

the steering rack sit's behind the engine so you shouldn't need to move it. just lower the cradle/engine assembly enough to get access to the harmonic balancer, which is maybe an inch or 2.