Whats the best way to pull motor& transmison. From the top or under the car?

Tiny
HAKINGSTON24
  • MEMBER
  • 1999 CHEVROLET LUMINA
  • 3.1L
  • 6 CYL
  • FWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 200,000 MILES
Some say to pull it from the top and some say under the car?
Saturday, June 27th, 2015 AT 6:10 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,752 POSTS
GM front-wheel-drive drive trains are removed by dropping the cross member with the engine and transmission on it as an assembly, then you separate the parts. To do that, remove the three upper mounting plate nuts for each strut, disconnect the exhaust pipe, radiator hoses, transmission cooler hoses, and wiring harness connectors.

Remove the four bolts that hold the cross member to the body, but it's critically important that you mark them in some way so the cross member can be put back in exactly the same place. If you reinstall it shifted to either side by as little as 1/16", you will create the most miserable car to try to control. Shifting the cross member moves the lower control arms and ball joints to one side which tips the spindles and wheels. An inexperienced mechanic will see the resulting incorrect "camber" and try to readjust that, but that doesn't address the underlying unequal "steering axis inclination", (SAI). Basically that's the angle the struts are tilted at. SAI can be corrected during the alignment, but most mechanics don't check it unless they know there is a reason to do so.
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Saturday, June 27th, 2015 AT 8:30 PM

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