On a 69 XKE coupe I am going to remove the engine for clutch replacement. Instead of disconnecting the upper A-arm ball joint and the tie rod end ball joint to relieve tension on the torsion bar, can I disconnect the lower A-arm ball joint and lower the lower A-arm with a floor jack to relieve the torsion bar tension? Or is the swing of the A-arm too great.
John Watertor
I guess you could, never tried it and no one seems to do it that way. The problem is that the upper arm with attached vertical, hub, rotor, caliper is a fairly heavy affair. How would you propose to hold it up out of the way? If you have a fixing point on the ceiling you could probably tie it up.
You can lower the bottom control arm using a jack, so long as it’s either a very low profile jack, and/or the car itself is high enough on jack stands. You can get an idea of how far the arm will drop by measuring down 17 13/16 (I think that’s it) from the upper shock bolt. That’s where the lower bolt will end up when it’s done dropping.
Re-connecting the lower lower ball-joint with the top one connected is near impossible. I tried it once, and gave up. You have to jack up the arm, and with the jack in the way and all that torsion bar tension fighting you, getting things lined up is extremely difficult. Not sure what you think that saves…
Regards,
Ray L.
I have disconnected and reconnected the lower ball joint with all else in place but that was just because I was replacing the gaiters one at a time.
But I’ll agree with the above that the usual method seems easier to manage and the only extra step may be separating the tie-rod ends which is a rather trivial task.
To come back to my point about having the car itself high. The last time my engine came out I put the rear wheels on ramps, and raise the front jack stands all the way. It not only made working underneath easier, it made lifting the car up over the engine much easier. The first time it came out 20 years ago, the rear wheels were on the ground and it wasn’t as simple
I agree - the only reason to have the car sitting on the floor is if you plan to remove the torque reaction plate with the torsion bars still under tension - that way you can leave the wheels on and move the car around while the engine is out.
But if the ball-joints are to be undone then get some height to make everything easier.
The late Jerry M. recommended doing it this way and I used it on two occasions with success.
What I did is put a bar across on top of frame and supported A arms with ratchet straps.
I found it to be easier.
Glenn
Where did you get that red floor jack, or what make is it?
Michael Caro
You still want to have the front end in the air when you do that, to reduce the torsion bar tension when you remove the bolts and put in the pins to hold the torsion bars in place.
When we put the engine back in John Carey’s car it was nice to put the front end pretty much on the ground, so the engine only needed to be lifted very slightly to get the mounts bolted on. But that does require disconnecting the torsion bars to get it low enough.
Regards,
Ray L.
Looks like the cheap H-F transmission jack. The one I have is a real POS…
Regards,
Ray L.
Yes, it is the HF transmission jack. Have used it for years - especially handy for lowering the IRS and wheeling it about.
The first time I was involved in an E-Type engine removal we pinned the torsion bar fittings with the car on the ground and everything under full tension. This allowed the car to be moved around during the months the engine was in Georgia.
Worked fine but we had an very experienced overseer to guide us. Working (solo) on my own car I took the easy way out and did it at full droop. Still pinned it though.
