Okay folks,

I'm done stalling, my wife is a way for a long weekend beginning Friday, the crazy heat is off at work finally, and I want to do this.

Questions so I may pre plan:

1) Do I need any special tools for pulling half axles/cv joints and reinstalling? I'm leaving the ones in the car on the 95 because there is nothing wrong with them and word on the street is the aftermarket ones have all kinds of nasty vibrations to the point that people go out to wrecking yards to find used OEM ones rather than use aftermarket.

2) do I need to replace the seals where the half axles go into the transmission?

I have never touched a CV in my life.

3)I Know to drain all engine fluids. Was thinking of using my cooling system pressure tester to expel the last bit of coolant out of the block drains. Any reason I shouldn't? PS and brakes can be moved out of the way.

4) my brother-in-law once used an air hammer with a pickle fork attachment to very very very carefully separate the ball joints, which are part of the control arms, from the hubs. Do I bother with this and buy another fun tool or should I just replace the control arms? All the rubber on anything you buy is already dried out because they've been sitting on the shelf for 10 years.

That's about it for now. Any basic words of wisdom are greatly appreciated. Don't know if I will document this as a do this do that thread because it's been done eight million times. It might just be a pictorial of mistakes that ends well.

 

The only tools I can think of that you might need is the large socket to remove the axle nut, derf. I don't know what size it'll be on the SC but suspect either 30 or 32mm. Half inch drive is what they USUALLY come in. I sure wish I lived close enough to give you a hand with that. After helping Sean do that Chevy Sonic last year, I'm strangely wanting to do something like that again! What the hell is wrong with me? Good luck to you, my friend and the few words of wisdom I have are to work safe and TAKE YOUR TIME. Brenda will be amazed when she gets home!

 

Thank you sir. Do wish you were closer.

30 mm half inch socket obtained it last week. I figured I would pull the good engine out first, roll the body out and drive the white car in, pull the motor, put it down and put the black car motor in the white car. Minimum number of moves without engine power.

Even with a lift kept in front of both cars, there is not enough room to get the half axles out on the sides of the vehicles that would be against the garage walls so doing side by side is out.

Now that I decided not to get my garage floor professionally done, I don't know if it's still warm enough at night for me to do a DIY kit and have it set properly. Plus I would have to power wash a bunch of paint off. Then when I get my mid-rise scissors lift, I can scrape the hell out of the floor trying to get the heavier pieces in.

Life happens, you adapt.

 

Hmmm, I can't picture in my head how in the hell you're going to get the engine and transmission out of the car if you can't pull the axles out first. Just another of the comprehensive skills I lost due to the brain surgeries.

 

I will of course pull the half axles out to get the engine and tranny out. Then reinstall them since the knuckle will still be attached to the control arm via the ball joint and the tie rods. I will need to reattach the strut to the knuckle as well to make it sturdy enough when I reinstall the half axle. Then the wheel hub. Then the tire. Haven't decided what to do with the inner ends of a half axles to stabilize them in approximately the correct position to keep everything somewhat aligned. I am thinking that attaching The hub and strut will be sufficient to keep everything in place enough that I can push the car back and steer it into my driveway

 

What are you going to do with the black car? If it is going to be towed to the used car graveyard keep to axles. The car will still roll a short distance with no engine weight.

 

Thank you for the tip, sir. It is a wonderful 2nd gen parts car, esp the interior. No stains, everything works. If it didn't need so much body work to fix the two foot long grooves in the side of it, I probably would have kept it as is and put a new subframe on it. But it has other quirks blah blah blah.

I don't have anywhere to store it and strip it for parts as the HOA will not allow non-registered non-running vehicles in your driveway for more than 72 hours. And no tarps. I will probably make a mild effort to sell it as a parts car. With the old white car engine out, I will finally pull the timing cover and if it is off one tooth I will do a timing kit then put it in the black car body and see how it runs. Will determine if it is a driving vehicle or a parts vehicle.

Damn I need to get some lca's as I will likely wreck the ball joint grease seal during removal. I really need to sit down and plan this out so I am not cursing myself 3 hours in and being stuck

 

You can get generic replacement boots/seals for the black car. Might buy new arms for the white car.

 

Exactly.

Really? The ball joints are integral to the LCA, on s cars.

Of course I have never explored that option so I will.

Seems like there are a lot more companies making replacement some Saturn parts. Moog now offers lca's for these cars. Maybe they already did and RockAuto just didn't carry them, but they usually carry the better stuff so I was surprised to see it. Not that it is good simply because it is labeled moog but you get the idea.

 

Are you pulling from the top or the bottom?

How much room do you have in front of the car?

If pulling from the bottom.
-disconnect all wiring, random lines, reservoirs etc
-get a platform cart and lift the car high enough to slide under the engine/trans.
-remove the mounts sub frame bolts, and struts.
-lift the car some more and roll the entire assembly out the front.

If pulling from the top.
-still disconnect everything.
-pull all engine pullies
- Pull the knuckles out with the axles and slide back under the car and out the front since you dont have side room.
-use a load leveler to pull it. Like $30 at harbor freight if you dont have one. I'll never pull an engine out the top without one again. Lmao
-get it all hooked up and remove mounts.
-happy yanking

If you dont have an impact, id highly suggest a half inch.
Harbor freight Bauer line is decent. I use that at home. And have the Milwaukee line up for work.
I paid roughly around 200 for my Bauer half inch impact, with a battery and charger.
Milwaukee setup was around 700 for the half inch high torque impact, battery, charger. Well worth every penny if you do this every day.
Air impact, Ingersoll. Only air line I'll touch.

Also. Baggy system for all nuts and bolts if you're not able to put them back in the spot where you took an from after removing the part. Unless you want to gwt one of those fancy nut and bolt holders.

Recycle all old fluids.
And yes. Replace all seals while you're in there. Why go through it all again because you didnt replace a $2 seal?
Replacing everything seems expensive. But if you're in there already, why not update the suspension and steering?

Think of it this way.
Get a water pump job on an ecotec. But customer doesn't want the buy the $100 kit and do the timing chain also, just do the $25 water pump.
So customer pays the labor on the tech to remove the timing chain to do the water pump.
no extra labor cost if he puts a new chain on it while hes in there already.
water pump job done.
6 months later timing chain starts to rattle.
Guess what? Paying that labor twice now.

Point is. We're not getting any younger. And were not taking our wallets with us. We work to enjoy the things we have.