The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Safe set up to remove the tranny and bell housing

Disclaimer: I have a 216 and I'm an amateur. lol. Can some of you guys show me photos of a safe set up on the ground to remove the bell housing and tranny? The engine, complete with the tranny and housing are sitting on three cinder blocks at the moment and I cant get enough space to do any work to remove the bolts inside the bell housing. Apparently I have to remove the flywheel too?? I just want to be safe.

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/engine_dolly.html

This shows bolts for removal of engine with transmission. Your load-leveler will allow you to adjust for your engine.
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1948_51truck/51ctsm0621.htm

I have used the following sequence to do what you are attempting. The transmission has to come off first. If it is a 4 speed, the bottom 2 bolts are inside the bell housing. So it must come off the floor and you need to access the tin cover on the bottom of the bell housing(4 screws) 3 speed transmission is the same I think, it just weighs less. So I use the engine hoist and prop the bell housing mounts with the cinder blocks. Note to the wise, hard points on cinder blocks is a bad idea, a bit of board flat on the cinder block is a good idea.You can let the hoist down and the engine will tip to the front. Allowing you to the tin cover and the 2 bolts on the bottom of the transmission. Lift until it is level and remove the 2 bolts from the top of the transmission to the bell housing.Now you and a buddy can slide the transmission back until it is clear from the bell housing. Careful it is heavy and has an odd shape. It will want to roll and set awkward on the floor. A good stable buddy is recommended.With the transmission out. Set the front of the engine down. Prop on a 4x4 if it will clear the oil pan off the floor. Then, remove the bolts from the presser plate. It will try to mash fingers so be careful. It wants to fall straight down. If it hits the floor before it clears the bell housing you get to lift the engine until it is clear. When that is out you can remove the bolts for the flywheel. Then pry it free from the dowel pins on the crankshaft. It will want to mash fingers as it falls straight down, so take care. When that is free and clear from the bell housing, you can remove the bolts holding the bell housing from the block. Again it is heavy and like fingers. Now you might consider the engine dolly as posted above. Have fun. Save your fingers. Was this helpful?

Thank you for the helpful tips! My only confusion is the removal of the flywheel and how to tell which bolts to remove. I'm not sure what a pressure plate looks like and where exactly are the bolts for the flywheel? I have the engine in the truck which is frozen stuck and went under yesterday to check things out. I can see the inside tranny bolts and I see some bolts on the fly wheel itself. Are those the ones you're talking about?

With the engine locked up, it will be an extra challenge to get to all of the pressure plate bolts. If you pull the head, you might be able to turn the crank shaft. Sometimes a frozen valve stem locks them up.
If the flywheel has the original bolts with the locking plates, you will need to use a punch to flatten the ears so the bolts will come off.
Carl

The bolts on the pressure plate are all the way around on the outside of the of the flywheel. Most likely the bolts you can see. Getting to them will be very difficult if you can't turn the engine. That means....impossible. Find some way to turn the engine before you remove the pressure plate.( just a question, pressure plate or presser plate? I have used both but then I get stuff wrong a lot) With the engine in the truck you can free up stuck valves with care. Even pull the rocker arm but take care not to bend a valve. Removing the head is just work. But the head is heavy so don't get hurt. Turning the crankshaft and oiling the pistons in the bore is easy with the head off and a lever on the teeth of the flywheel, with a "fulcrum" at the edge of the bell housing. If it is still stuck, Don't force it. Pull the side cover and remove the lifters. If one is stuck it can harm the cam. I use a drill to make holes in a long board to keep the push rods and lifters in order to prevent mixing them up. If it still won't turn, pull the pan. Should have come off in the early stages to find why it wont turn. If the crank shaft will move a bit at this point you have a stuck piston. With a light oil such as Kroil, WD-40 and a plastic mallet you can free up most stubborn Pistons.All of this is to let you get to the presser plate bolts. When the pressure plate is off. The fly wheel bolts are in the center of the fly wheel. The dowel pins are under neath in the crankshaft and the fly wheel. You might have to tap the fly wheel with a plastic mallet to loosen the pins. The bell housing to block bolts are behind the fly wheel. Pulling the crank shaft will require removing every thing from the front of the engine. That includes the cover, cam, timing gear, plate, and front mount. Not needed until you are on an engine stand. Don't be afraid. I just included the absolute worst conditions you might find. Take care with the oil pan on a 216. It has troughs to splash oil onto the Rod bearings. There are shims on the main bearings and maybe the rod bearings. So keep them all in order to put back. At some point you will have to decide how much you like this particular engine. It may come free, and turn with out dis-assembly. That would be good. It may take some time. Check out the manual for your truck for more details.

Thank you for the extremely details response Steve. I just pulled the engine because it had two pistons completely frozen. I found another engine, a bit later, like a '51 which I am replacing it with but I would like to use the bell housing off the frozen one. However, I suppose that is nearly impossible because I can't spin the flywheel. I'll trying pulling the pan to see if I can do anything with the crankshaft. Is it possible to disconnect the two piston arms from the crankshaft and then spin the shaft? I'll be tinkering with it for the rest of the evening to figure this out.

Well, I feel like I should share this because I feel a bit accomplished since I've really never touched a motor before.

An update:

I took the oil pan off disconnected the two pistons that were stuck and was able to move the crank shaft a bit. After a few rocks back a forth I too a piece of wood and smacked the two stuck pistons down and Voilà! They moved down! so then I took a prybar and wedged it into the teeth of the flywheel. With a little patience I was able to move all the pistons and the flywheel to remove all the bolts!

The flywheel didn't drop though,or yet, and I ran out of time so that is where I'm at. Thank you all for your help!

Wood is the old school version of a plastic mallet. Good job on getting it loose.