I'm removing an engine from my C5 and have a couple of questions. I have a hoist in my garage so doing it out the bottom is fine but I'd rather not remove the entire rear end if possible. I searched the forum but am having trouble finding any threads that describe removing the engine with only dropping the front cradle.

Heck the car was in a front hit and the Hood, fenders, radiator & core support,bumper, etc are all gone if if there's an easy way to get it out the front without taking off the intake manifold etc thats fine too. It seems like it would be fairly easy to drop the front cradle but I don't know how you'd get it all disconnected from the TTube without dropping the rear cradle. Hopefully there is a way though.

any help would be very much appreciated.

 

At most it takes 2 hours to pull the entire rear cradle/diff/trans/tt out.

And, it makes it tremendously easier to do what you're trying to do.

But, yes, you should be able to pull the engine out by dropping the front cradle.

Auto, or manual trans?

 

Only 2 hours? That's not bad. Maybe I'll break down and just drop all of it then. I just wasn't sure if it was necessary if your only doing engine removal. If it truly is easier than I'll just go that route. It's an auto trans. Now the hunt for a well written post with good instructions. For some reason I'm trouble finding instructions for a C5.

 

Assuming your lift is a 2 post,

Actually, if you have all the disconnects underhood, electrical fuel, coolant, AC, etc, then dropping the drivetrain with the engine is easier. All you need to do is drop the upper A arms, the shocks, remove the wheels, calipers. Undo the shift linkage in the cabin. Make a frame of 2x12's about 12ft long and around 2ft wide making sure you do not block the bolts that hold the cradles to the frame. Then lower the car so the cross members and the weight are resting on the box frame you made. Then you can remove the four bolts that hold the rear cradle to the frame, and the four bolts at the front cradle.

Now the rear brake lines on a C5 will part and you can separate the rear without breaking the system. If I recall there are a couple of small plastic supports that have to be removed, as they hold the rigid brake line to the cradle. They have a christmas tree and just pry up.

Then SLOWLY raise the car and the engine/drivetrain should stay on the box frame.

If you did not remove the brake rotors, then you may have to add some 2x4's to give you more height on the box frame. You can drop it with the rotors on, but usually the parking brake shoes hold the rotors kinda tight.

Once you have the whole engine/drivetrain resting on the box, you can support the torque tube with 2x4 cross members and slide the whole drivetrain away from the engine. Warning!!!: you have to also support the engine pan just behind the cradle. Otherwise the engine will rotate and fall, unless you have hung on a cherry picker.

Then a cherry picker can be used to get the engine to where you want it.

I think 2 hours is a bit ambitious, being an amateur and I've only dropped out 6 engine/drivetrains. Each time it was a day to get it on the box frame, with a helper, and a 12-pack. We always seem to overlook disconnecting something, and that causes a beer break for some thought and observation. Bottom line, don't rush, this is a "measure twice cut once" kind of operation.

After 3 drop-outs, we made a fixture to help lower the engine/drivetrain (See pic). here we were dropping the drivetrain out of a friend's C6Z. If you want the drawings, send me a pm and I will send you the drawings of the parts.

 

I pulled mine out top. Left the torque tube and rear end intact . I did lower the front cradle a couple of inches just to access the bell housing bolts . I did have the radiator and steering rack out.

 

Your comments are very helpful. Thanks for the offer to send me the drawings of the chassis jig you made but hopefully this will be the only time I have to do this. Hopefully I can get by with some jack stands.

 

Hey, post up how it turns out, please. I'm planning to do this myself this winter.