I am working on a 2003 Forester XS with a blown engine. It has a rebuilt auto with less than 40K on it and the body is rust free, so it is worth bringing back to life. Has anyone ever tried to drop the engine/trans as a unit out thru the bottom of the car? I have a MaxJax and overhead bridge crane in my shop....I just think it might be easier to drop it as opposed to pulling it out thru the top. Thoughts....

Just pull the engine from the top. No need to take trans with it.

Why would you drop the both units when the transmission is fine? It's not hard to unbolt the torque converter in the car and pulling the engine out the top is far easier than dropping the whole assembly out the bottom.

All subaru have a spot to hold the hood vertical, so if you pop the prop rod out of its grommet and find the hole on the strut tower, it'll let you hold the hood vertical so you can get your crane chains in there without risk of damaging anything.

 

if you insist on dropping it out the bottom, it's not too terribly hard, as long as the car is a sufficient distance from the ground. I've done a few tranny swaps and drug and lifted a few transmissions up and into the undercarriage of a car. It's not pleasant. Dropping it all out isn't too difficult. Putting it back in is the hard part.

A few notes for pulling the transmission: 1. If you pull out the rear driveshaft you're going to lose fluid. 2. Make sure you have a proper sized pin punch for the axles, I believe 03 still had the male stubs, female axles with roll pins. 3. Drop the transmission and engine with crossmembers solidly attached. Makes for a much easier removal and gives them cushion if they fall. 4. Good jack stands are an absolute must. Don't want the car or the assembly to come crashing to the ground. 5. Don't drop it all too fast, you probably forgot something and it's going to hang up on it.

 

Hope this has helped. But I still recommend pulling the engine topside and leaving the transmission in place.

 

Twitch

Pull engine and trans together through engine bay. I've done a bunch, even a couple hog 6 cylinders with auto trans

 

Dropping would be annoying with crossmember but isn't impossible