First off, how long does it take the average Joe, or Dan in this case, to pull a motor from a 2001 Tracker? I have the manual, and I've spent over two hours just finding all the wires to unplug. Then when I finally find em, I can't get the things to separate . That's not my problem though, I think I have all the wires taken care of, and no I didn't just cut em, thought about it, but didn't. My problem is getting the right axle shaft to let go of the diff housing. The book says:

Using 2 large screwdrivers as levers, pull out right side drive
shaft joint from differential and dismount housing assembly from
vehicle.

Well, I'm not having any luck with that. Is there a trick to this, or am I being punished for not tightening my stuff after a weekend of fun? Anything else I should think about whilst the motor is out? I'm hoping it'll just need a new crank kit, if not it may need a 4.3!

I'm confused.  Why are you pulling the axles?   

"I'm confused.  Why are you pulling the axles?" 


I'm following the book, and glad I downloaded it! I questioned this part also, but it looks as if it has to come out to be able to move the motor far enough forward to get it out. I'm now looking for a steel one to put back in, maybe some of those 5.12's at the same time. I'm also going to do the timing chain while the motor is out. Any thoughts on other stuff I should replace on a 155,000 mile motor? Would it be worth a bore & stroke, port & polish?

I don't recall if I had to remove the diff to get the V6 out, but maybe.  Definitely didn't when removing the L4, although I possibly may have unbolted it and dropped it a bit.



Still, even if you do need to remove it, just drop it all in one piece.  Easy.

I miss working on my 75 Blazer!

Easy, Take a screw driver put it at the 3 oclock position. wedge it in there and get someone to hold it if possible. Take another screw driver at the 6-8 oclock pos and pry. if it does not come out use a chisel. Watch out when you pull it out make sure the C clip is still on the cv axle, and it does not fall out in the diff.

Why are you pulling the front diff to pull the motor. Pull the two side mounts off lock wire the diff to hang to allow oil pan to pull out.

Motor should take 3-6 horus to pull out.

Does that 3-6 hours include beer breaks? It took me that long to get the wires all found and disconnected. I took the diff out like beercheck shows in his pics. The motor is locked pretty solid, can it come out with the torq converter attached? I can turn the motor, but it's extremely hard. Gettin at the bolts to the converter will be hard! I think that other than the converter bolts, it's ready to come out. I'm going to try to pull the oil pan off and get the main & crank bearings out and see if I can turn it over to remove those bolts. I'll be back in a while, after I give up again.

I found the very back-top of the engine wanted to get hung up on the cowl in front of the firewall.  Raising the rear of the truck as high as possible (with the motor hanging from the cherry picker) helped a whole lot in getting everything to clear.  You may not have the same difficulty as you're not bringing it out with the transmission still attached.

can it come out with the torq converter attached?

Don't see why not...




Don't forget the fuel lines.

OK, it's out. I ended up taking the oil pan off and that gave me the room to pry the motor over better. Big slivers in the pan :'(. I think it might be more than a crank. I'm going to tear it all down, way too much metal in there. I'll get some pics in the morning, it's my daughters birthday and I'm not allowed in the garage today!

Congrats, and happy birthday.

Bummer about the metal.  That's some bad luck.

Yes, the metal is a bit upsetting, I'll be tearing it apart after work, scratch that , after the Packer game tonight. I may just buy a 2.7 from Jasper if this motor is shot. By the way, it took me a bit over 8 hours to get the motor out, but that includes a beer runs and a lot of breaks to rest the back. Having four disks taken out has slowed me down a bit, I can't stay bent over for too long or I can't get upright for a while.

I think that a Jasper is going to run you around $3K.

How about good / used from a local wrecking yard or even e-bay? I see a lot of them being offered for less than $1K.You can search locally here using your Zip.
http://car-part.com/

I'm with you though. Replacing rather than fixing is proly the way to go.

Yes, the metal is a bit upsetting, I'll be tearing it apart after work, scratch that , after the Packer game tonight. I may just buy a 2.7 from Jasper if this motor is shot. By the way, it took me a bit over 8 hours to get the motor out, but that includes a beer runs and a lot of breaks to rest the back. Having four disks taken out has slowed me down a bit, I can't stay bent over for too long or I can't get upright for a while.

Just to let you know. The 2.5 and 2.7 have different wiring harness eh, totaly different pin out for one, And if you put a 2.7 on the 2.5 ecu it will lean out very lean A/F. Its also has a different IAC and Different MAF. You can run the 2.7 on the 2.5 but with no no mods and on 89-91. I just even noticed with the mods on my 2.5 when i run 87 oct i drop to 13.9 A/F which is a bit lean. 12.9-13.1 is where you want to be at WOT.

That's good info!

Couldn't one swap out (from the 2.5 donor) the corresponding components (MAF, etc) to marry the 2.7 to the existing ECU / connectors?

Just to let you know. The 2.5 and 2.7 have different wiring harness eh, totaly different pin out for one, And if you put a 2.7 on the 2.5 ecu it will lean out very lean A/F. Its also has a different IAC and Different MAF. You can run the 2.7 on the 2.5 but with no no mods and on 89-91. I just even noticed with the mods on my 2.5 when i run 87 oct i drop to 13.9 A/F which is a bit lean. 12.9-13.1 is where you want to be at WOT.

I seem to recall you mentioning that swapping the intake and injectors from the 2.5 onto the 2.7 did a lot of good.  If that's still the case, let me know what parts I'd be after.

Backwoods:  Depending on a) what JDMCRX says and b) what path you take, I'm strongly interested in some of your potentially leftover bits.