The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 1954 302 with a Hydramatic

Work a severely stuck engine. After soaking the pistons and cylinders for about a week I was able to get five pistons to move, not the sixth.
This engine is coupled to a Hydramatic transmission. In order to remove the transmission I have to remove the 32 bolts connecting the torus to the flywheel. This is difficult without rotating the crank shaft.
Question, can I remove the transmission with the crank shaft attached, or is there a risk of bending something??

How does the hydramatic bolt to the engine? If the bolts to the engine are all accessible, you should be able to pull the crankshaft and transmission together. I did a similar thing with a '58 235 to get the flywheel/clutch assembly out. You'd probably want to have some sort of lifting strap around both the transmission and the crank. You'd have to be careful not to bend the torque converter. torus. (per Jerry's observation of my misstatement.)
Here's a pic of how I got the crank with flywheel/clutch attached out of that 235.

[on edit] I've deleted your duplicate post in the Driveline Forum. Please only ask the same question in one place.

I recall seeing other posts related to stuck engines where the advice was given that the pistons are going to be trash anyway just use a hole saw to destroy the piston crown on the remaining stuck piston. Then you can rotate the engine to remove the bolts and avoid risking damage to the transmission or torque converter.

Jerry (Hotrod Lincoln) has advocated that method, but you'd need a BIG hole saw but unless you cut really deep (past the piston pin) the piston may still be stuck. If you cut down past the rings, you might be able to free up the remaining part of the piston and rod. I had one piston in that 58 235 that was stuck so bad I needed to punch a hole in the crown and use a saw to cut a notch in the rings. BTW, the pistons won't come out the bottom because the main bearing webs are in the way. I used a large drift and a hammer against the piston pin bosses.

I can't see how you could remove transmission without turning the crank. The flywheel bolts to the crankshaft and the torrus cover has the bolts you need to remove to get to those. I agree that breaking the last piston is best option if you can't get it freed up any other way.

Greg may be right about not being able to remove the transmission without turning the crank, although some transmissions could be slid back off of the torque converter if unbolted from the engine. That can't happen with the Hydramatic, as the torus is fastened to the mainshaft with a nut. There might be dowel pins at the engine/transmission joint that would require pulling the transmission back to clear them before lifting the crank/flywheel/transmission assembly out of the block.
You'll likely need to get that last piston freed up somehow so you can turn the crank. If the piston is stuck at TDC, you may be able to disconnect the rod and get the crank to turn enough to get at all the torus bolts, assuming the crank will come free of the rod with the bearing cap off. It may interfere with the side of the cylinder and prevent the crank from rotating.

You can also sacrifice one connecting rod- - - - - -saw or torch it off as close to the wrist pin as possible. That should allow you to rotate the crankshaft enough to access the bolts that hold the torus together. (not a torque converter, BTW) There are alignment dowels between the bell housing and the engine block that will make it impossible to lift the transmission and crankshaft together. A low speed 1/2 inch drill motor or a variable speed one and a big hole saw will be the best choice- - - -pick one about 1/2" smaller that the bore size and cut just past the piston rings to free up the rest of the piston.
Jerry

Couldn't you just unbolt the stuck rod from the crank?