mikey2183

Just purchased a 5.2 motor to swap out in my 1994 GC 5.2. Took out old motor and set new motor in. We cannot get it to motor & auto tranny to go completely together. We have jacked, pulled, twisted, cussed and threw things but cannot get them to pull the last 1/2" together. When we get the motor and engine almost pulled together, the engine binds and cannot turn it. Any suggestions? We spent 5 hours today wrestling this thing. Anything special to get the motor and the tranny spline to line up and go together. Hope someone has an idea. Hate to pull the motor completely out of the GC again. Thanks...

OverlandZJ

Could be a few things, you'll have to drop it back down to check too.

First of all, leave the transfer case off as it'll be easier to handle the trans without it.

Are you using the same flywheel/flexplate that was on the old engine? Some have a different offset for the torque convertor to bolt up. If they arent lined up correctly you wont get it in.

Also. When you removed the trans, did the torque convertor come out with it? Or did you unbolt it after the trans was down? If it's the later you need to make 100% certain the torque convertor is inserted into the trans fully. This is done by turning as you push it in. It'll drop further 3 times or better.

Take your time and dont force anything.

mikey2183

We did not remove the tranny when swapping the engines. We unbolted the outer flexplate on the back of the block from the torque convertor and left the convertor in the tranny. We removed the outer flexplate that the crank sensor reads from the old motor and bolted in on the new motor and put the motor in the GC. We cannot get the tranny and the motor to pull up tight together. We can close them to within 1/2" of each other but then, the motor binds and will not turn over by hand. We can loosen the bellhousing bolts up again and the motor will turn. Not sure if the tranny spline is seating fully into the motor. I am afraid to try and force the motor and the tranny together for fear of warping the outer flexplate. It is lightweight stamped steel anyways. At this point, I am completey stumped and do not know what to do. I have never changed out a Chrysler motor before but it should not have been much different than a Chevy as far as mating the tranny to the block. We have raised and lowered the engine and tranny trying to get them to line up and go together. If we get the block and the tranny mating surfaces with within 1/2" of each other, it seems that they should pull on up tight but that is not the case. The new 5.2 block is the same as the one I took out; we used the original outer flexplate from the old engine. Could there be a problem because we did not remove the tranny? Any help would be greatly appreciated....

OverlandZJ

Two things come to mind here.

The torque convertor is not fully seated into the pump. You need to check that. Can you reach your fingers around and behind the convertor where it is? If yes i believe it may not be in far enough.

When your 1/2" from mating up. Does ALL the bolts for the convertor aling to the holes in flexplate to bolt it up? It will only bolt on one way as one of the bolts is offset from the rest. If it's off one of the raised bosses on the convertor may be pressing against the flexplate and locking it up vs setting in it's proper detent.

What i would do is this. Hoist the motor back out. Take the convertor out of the trans, physically bolt the conv to trans and mark both to where they mate up. Then set the conv back in making sure it's fully seated.