Several. months ago I bought a new radiator - but it didn't fit the mounting holes on the frame well. Turned out I had a common problem, the front cross member had sagged & spread.
Found a new cross member and installed it today. That's when the problems began. After much tweaking and prodding, I got it all back together except the nose on the pan will not slip into the recess on the top of the spring bracket. The engine needs to come forward about 1/8" to slip down into the bracket.
So how do I get this to fit up ?
Loosen rear spring mounting bolts,and use a come along to pull drive train slightly forward. Then retighten rear spring mounts and install front clip and pan arms.
OK has anyone done this before?
Where do you attach the comealong ?
Forward point?
Aft point ?
Bud
you don't say if the holes in the frame are also set back 1/8" where the pan ears rest. If so, assuming you have already attached the drive shaft to the transmission with the four bolts, Jack is right about the spring pulling the engine back, you might take those bolts out and slip the motor into location and then replace and tighten them up.
If the holes in the frame/pan ears are lined up then you have something wrong with the cross member
Chances are,you could loosen the rear spring pearchs,and just bump the rear wheels forward. It should slide together.
Is it the picture, or the threads gone in the bolt hole?
Bud, try turning your front bracket around!
Rear end was just redone and I had a gap of about 3/8" when I went to bolt up the driveshaft bolts. I loosened the rear hangers at that time and was able to reduce the gap to about 1/8", which I then pulled up with the tranny bolts.
Yesterday after pulling off the old front cross member and installing the new, I got the gap in the picture. I tried reversing the bracket, but the gap was the same.
Finally tried the comealong trick with 2 comealongs. I tied a piece of line to the front of each frame member, put a comealong in the middle under the car and the other end went to another piece of line tied to the axle near the outboard end. I then jacked both comealongs evenly. This removed about 1/2 of the gap and left about 1/16". At that point I sat down in despair and tried to think of what to do.
I know this wasn't very smart, but I picked up a 5 lb hand sledge and whacked the front bracket about 10 times. The nose piece slipped in.
God knows what stresses I've put on the engine/tranny/rear end. In a day or two she'll be ready to roll and I'll know whether Liz is pissed at me for whacking her!
Thanks for all the suggestions