FJ40 Engine and 4 Speed

[RicardoJM]

Engine is in

I didn't get much of anything done last week and yesterday due to a bunch of other committments. Today, we put the new engine in. I was hoping to get the transmission stabbed before calling it a day but broke a clutch bolt that retains the pressure plate to the flywheel. A real bummer. I used brand new OEM bolts for the bell housing to engine and flywheel, but was reusing the old pressure plate bolts and it was just too much for one of them.

TheBoomBoom gave me a hand today and I was very glad to have the extra set of hands. The engine went in a bunch smoother that what I was expecting. We took our time and used the leveler to slowly work the load back and into place. We also removed the rear brackets from the side of the bell housing and put them on after clearing the steering box and brake line. This one adjustment to the process made a huge difference in ease. As needed, we used a floor jack for slight adjustments from below. The picture didn't come out so great, but here is the new engine in its new home.

I managed to ruin a pilot bearing during install. After a quick trip to NAPA we had sourced a new bearing, sealed on both sides. I like it better than the OEM issue bearing. In short order the new pilot bearing was installed. With a new rear main seal and pilot bearing, things are starting to look good.

The flywheel was put on with new OEM bolts and lock plates. Each bolt was coated with ultra black so it should not leak. The ends of the lock plates were bent up.

Next, we got the clutch up and in position and started to attach the bolts. I got all six threaded in by hand and then was working them in a couple of turns at a time when one of them snapped. So, down came the clutch and pressure plate. I'm hoping to lay my hands on a right angle drill so that tomorrow afternoon I can get at it with a left hand drill bit or extractor. I'm pretty sure it will come right out. I'm trying to avoid having to drop the flywheel, but if it comes to that - down it will have to come.

Once the clutch is done, the tranny should slide right in. The t-case will not slide right on because of interference from a frame cross member. This should not be too big of a problem as we will remove the engine mount bolts and angle the back down to install the t-case. With the hoist, the leveler and a jack underneath it should go pretty smooth.

 

[RicardoJM]

I was hoping to get the transmission stabbed before calling it a day but broke a clutch bolt that retains the pressure plate to the flywheel. A real bummer.


I'm hoping to lay my hands on a right angle drill so that tomorrow afternoon I can get at it with a left hand drill bit or extractor. I'm pretty sure it will come right out. I'm trying to avoid having to drop the flywheel, but if it comes to that - down it will have to come.

I found a right angle drill, but there was not enough clearance to get a straight on shot at the bolt. I pulled the fly wheel off and had the broken bolt out in 10 minutes.

Got the clutch installed and called it for the evening and will get back to it tomorrow.

 

[corsair23]

You go dude

Keep up the great work Ricardo...I like wrenching vicariously through you

 

[ZIronPig]

Got the clutch installed and called it for the evening and will get back to it tomorrow.

Pullin' for you Ricardo! We need you on the "Retro Run" in less than 2 weeks!

 

[RicardoJM]

FYI, the bracketry on the clutch slave is for the 3-on-the-tree linkage. It looks like you are missing the plate that the return spring attaches to.

Oh - on the engine stand missing the mounting legs, I have a spare stand already set up for F/2Fs. You are welcome to borrow the whole stand or just the mounting legs if you'd like.

You are correct, the photo from your engine swap really helped clear this up for me. Now that I have the new engine in the truck, I got the old engine up on the stand. Regarding the engine stand without mounting legs, it was Daniel M.'s originally and is currently with Tom R. It will need mounting legs before it can be used for an F/2F engine.

Lookin' good Ricardo.

You go dude

Keep up the great work Ricardo...I like wrenching vicariously through you

Pullin' for you Ricardo! We need you on the "Retro Run" in less than 2 weeks!

Thanks for encouragement. I've always been a slower working wrench, and most of my projects take me a long time to get done. Looking back on this thread, I pulled the truck out of service at the beginning of the month. Getting the drive train back in and engine accessories on should be done by the end of the weekend - but I will still need to get the exhaust and some fab work on lengthening the hi-low shift rod done before it gets back into daily services. I'd like to drive it to the June meeting, but may not get it all done by then.

 

[RicardoJM]

Transmission is in

Again this evening TheBoomBoom gave me a hand, it is really nice having help around. Rick, I really appreciate the extra hand. After dinner, we set about installing the transmission. Compared to the Bronco, the FJ40 transmission is smaller and lighter; but still not something that you can just bench press up. We used the transmission jack to get it up in the neighborhood and through the clutch disk. Then we realized the transmission was in neutral as we tried to rotate the shaft to align the grooves. So we got it put into 3rd and in short order the input shaft was through the disk.

It is about this point that the alignment needs to be spot on and we were just a tad off. Between us we didn't have enough muscle to get it all aligned so we put the rear of the tranny on the engine hoist and put a floor jack at the front of the tranny. With these in place at each end we were able to raise/lower as needed to slowly and gently work the shaft through the pilot bearing. The adjustments we made were very small and subtle, it is amazing how being just a few mm off can make such a big difference.

Compared to the Bronco, this went much faster. It took us about an hour and a half from start to finish. We still had time to start on the t-case install, but it occured to me that I had not checked the pre-load at the parking brake yet, nor had I replaced the output seal . I spent the balance of the evening listening to the baseball game on the radio, checking the pre-load and buttoning up parking brake with a new output seal and gasket. The t-case is all ready to go on the transmission tomorrow, hopefully my helper is available as well.

 

[treerootCO]

Looking good!

On the '79 and later 40s, the t-case and transmission need to be installed as an assembled unit.

 

[Jacket]

Still lookin' good Ricardo. Very impressive. Thanks for all the documentation and pics.

 

[RicardoJM]

Enough room to pull the whole thing as a unit...

This evening our objective was to install the t-case. We would remove the engine mounts, tilt the engine back using the hoist on top and a jack underneath to deal with the clearance issue. Then we'd slide the t-case on, rotate the whole thing up and be done.

Everything started out just fine. It took some good huffing and puffing and my arms are going to be hurting tomorrow, but the t-case went on according to plan. We then proceeded to have some difficulty with getting the engine mounts back in place. The details and sequence are all a blur now, but I'll be thinking about it more when my head hits the pillow. Long story short, I now know there is enough room in my garage to pull the engine, tranny and t-case as a unit. I am glad that we didn't press on until something broke or someone was hurt; we had the good sense to pull everything out when we tilted the leveler too far to be turned the other way.

Despite the set back, I'm still confident in getting the job done. That said, I could use some input on a couple of subjects;

1) Engine hoist rigging - We are struggling with getting the location of the hooks, leveler and chain to the point where the unit rises close to level and the leveler is still in the middle. The unit is heavy on the rear end.
2) Dealing with the passenger side twist - because of the transfer case the entire unit is a bit heavier passenger side and therefore has twists a bit to that side when in the air.​

Both of the above were not an issue when we were installing just the engine, but now with the added components they are perplexing me. While I'll figure it out eventually (I smell the cheese somewhere), I would appreciate all insight on the subject, the above photo shows the current set up.

 

[corsair23]

I've never used an engine hoist before but can you adjust where the leveler sits to bias it more toward the front of the engine?

Where it is now assumes the CG of the entire setup is still in the middle of the engine...That was probably true as you state with just the engine. Your CG in relation to the engine has shifted way forward now though due to the tranny and t-case hanging off the back of the engine.

My thought is if you were to move the leveler 3 or 4 chain links toward the front of the engine that might be the trick

If you need some help this weekend give me a ring...It'll be hit and miss all weekend due to a soccer tournament but the stars and moon might align that I can swing by

 

[subzali]

corsair, you gotta stop thinking in the middle of the night, all bleary eyed...

CG shifted BACK because of the weight of the tcase and tranny...I've not used an engine hoist much, so can't help you with rigging it (especially to prevent the torquing issue due to the t-case). Only thing I would think is to just let it be with the butt end down a little bit. Get the rear motor mounts lined up and get some bolts in them, then use a jack under the t-case to lift the rear up until you can get the front motor mounts aligned and bolted. Or, is the engine block heavy enough so that if the rear motor mounts were bolted you could lower the engine hoist and the front will settle on its own? I would think so...

 

[Air Randy]

1-Slide your crankshaft pulley back on the front of the motor, it's enough weight extended out there that it will help some to offset the weight of the t case

2-If you cant deal with the pass side lean by having someone just lift on it, try moving your rear hoisting point to the pass side of the motor. That way both chain attach point will be on the pass side. I cant remember if there are any threaded holes on the side cover side big enough to handle the weight of the motor. If not, pop your valve cover off and put the hoisting hook under the rear head bolt on that side. That may give you enough of an off center lift to offset the extra weight on that side.

3-Move your leveler further back or get rid of it completely. Some times they are more trouble than they are worth. Do a trial and error lift with the hoist hook in diff spots of the chain towards the rear of the motor. Once you find the perfect balance point, put a bolt through the chain on both sides of the hoist hook to lock it into place. Properly balanced, you should be able to tilt the motor enough by hand to get it to drop in.

4-One more trick to consider: Remove your front tires & wheels and lower the front end on to 2 of those 6x6 timbers, one under each side of the axle tube. This will let the front end "kneel" quite a bit and you may not have to tilt the engine/tranny/tcase setup much if at all. You also don't have to lift it as high so its easier to man handle.

Let me know when you're attacking it again and I'll come give you a hand.

 

[Uncle Ben]

The engine gear box assembly needs to be low at the t-case when inserting. Use a floor jack under the t-case (in parallel with the vehicle) to lift the rear along with the leveler to even the assembly once it's against the firewall.

 

[farnhamstj]

I'd use Randy's #4 for sure. Pull the front wheels. Then you don't have to hoist as high to clear the front bumper/crossbars. Also, Why have you not removed front fenders? It'll give you more room to work.

 

[Rzeppa]

I was hoping to get the transmission stabbed before calling it a day but broke a clutch bolt that retains the pressure plate to the flywheel. A real bummer. I used brand new OEM bolts for the bell housing to engine and flywheel, but was reusing the old pressure plate bolts and it was just too much for one of them.

Next, we got the clutch up and in position and started to attach the bolts. I got all six threaded in by hand and then was working them in a couple of turns at a time when one of them snapped. So, down came the clutch and pressure plate. I'm hoping to lay my hands on a right angle drill so that tomorrow afternoon I can get at it with a left hand drill bit or extractor. I'm pretty sure it will come right out. I'm trying to avoid having to drop the flywheel, but if it comes to that - down it will have to come.

Exact same happened to me once. There was enough of the broken bolt sticking out that I was able to cut a groove in it with the thin wheel on a Dremel and use a flat blade screwdriver to back it out.

 

[corsair23]

corsair, you gotta stop thinking in the middle of the night, all bleary eyed...

- You're right...I bet no one invites me over to help level out their engine, or help build a plane for that matter

 

[RicardoJM]

And enough room to put the whole thing as a unit...

:The engine, tranny and t-case are all now in the truck. TheBoomBoom and I went out this evening and in short order we had everything up in the air and over the front frame rail.

From there it was a slow process of lower, lift, check clearance with an occasional push/pull, move the floor jack and "hows it looking, how do we get it to move where we want it" orchestration until we had the drivers front engine mount in place. Next, the drivers rear engine mount was in place followed by the passenger rear. Finally we got the passenger front mount in. Each mount was initially put in loose and then once they were all in place, we tightened them up. Having them loose allowed the little movement needed to get all the holes to line up.

No pictures tonight, perhaps I'll get some posted up over the weekend. I am really happy to have the big stuff in place. Now it is a matter of engine accessories, drive shafts, fluids and electrical, all things I've done before. I've got an appointment Tuesday for the new exhaust.

The input from others that we got on the thread was really helpful for getting the whole unit in. The biggest single factor change from a couple of nights ago was getting the leveler to where the whole unit lifted level. This is done by moving the leveler to the rear, most of the way to the end. While I don't have a picture of this, Jeff Z's Engine Refresh and Timm B's 73 Build Up thread have great pictures that show just how far back the leveler needs to be.

We also removed the top arm of the hi-low shifter from the t-case. Going in, this part really wanted to catch on the floor pan. With it removed it was much easier to slide the works back. We are going to need to dimple a floor brace to get the top arm back installed, but this is needed for clearance of the shifter anyway.

We also removed the engine mounts from the bell housing and front passenger side of the engine. Each mount was re-installed as we got the engine in position for each corner.

The hi-lift beam came in handy to leverage the weight around when needed. Floor jacks came in very handy to deal with the twist from the works being passenger side heavy. Finally a ratchet strap was employed to align the engine mount hole for the final mount.

All in all, it went pretty good, it took us about 2.5 hours from start to finish. I did manage to scape the valve cover a bunch because it kept rubbing on the vacuum switch on the firewall. No big deal, unlike Meanie my FJ40 is just fine with rattle can paint.

 

[Old40Dog]

Ricardo,

BTW, I have the shifter boot from Justin for you. I didn't make it to breakfast today, but will have it at the meeting Wednesday.

 

[Air Randy]

: No big deal, unlike Meanie my FJ40 is just fine with rattle can paint.

I'm gonna tell Dee that you're making fun of her...

 

[Hulk]

Way to go, Ricardo and Rick!