Pulling engine with minimal disassembly

[ron917]

I didn't think to use the breaker bar! I should have tried it (I own several), though it sure didn't seem like I could get much of anything in there. Had I known it would have taken 3 hours, I would have pulled the drive axle and made life much easier. I've had problems with that before too, such as trying to get the pin out of the axle shaft and getting the nut off the lower ball joint and breaking it loose.

 

I used a 6 point 14mm shallow socket (12 point likes to strip things), a 3/8" swivel joint, and three 8" extensions to the ratchet from below. This worked for the second disassembly on the driver side, but not the first time. The first time, I had to put a 6 point basic wrench on the bolt, stand a pipe up on the other end up through the engine bay, and whack it loose with a 5lb sledge hammer to break it loose. Once it was loose, it came off rather easily from below with the extensions and socket. For the passenger side, I just used a ratcheting 14mm wrench from above. I couldn't see the nut, but I could easily get my hand down there to feel it and get the wrench on.

 

The key is to use a 3/8 in breaker bar (flex handle is what the tool manufacturers call it). A 1/2 in bar, which most people have, won't fit. The nut on my car came off fairly easily, guess I was lucky.

 

On the passenger side, I reached down from the top, like you did.

 

One thing for everyone to be aware of: starting in 1999, there are 8 fasteners (6 bolts and two nuts on studs) joining the engine and tranny. One of the bolts is shared with the starter, not sure if that's the case with older Subies. Some Haynes manuals, and lots of post here regarding pre-1999 cars, only mention 4 fasteners.