Hey guys, getting ready to pull the engine from my 95 Tracker to replace with the one I just rebuilt. I'm at the point of finding and disconnecting all the wiring and having trouble with the main harness that runs under the intake. Anyone done this before and have any tips on how to get it out? Any other engine removal tips or tricks would also be greatly appreciated.

When I've done it I pull out the alt and the intake support brace. Then unplug all the wiring from everything, reach under the intake and unwrap the harness clamps and pull the complete harness out the back and lay it up by the battery tray until the new motor is in. Pain in the butt but my meathooks are too big to do it any other way. Good luck Mike

Thanks Biker, that sounds like a good plan. Mine ( "meat hooks" )  aren't exactly little either. You know what they say " Big hands , big      gloves. 
I plan on pulling the tcase off and bringing out the engine and auto trans together, seems to be the way to do it. Someday we'll have to get together and compare turbos.

I'm going to Moab in the spring, meet ya there

Going to the EJS ? If you are I can tell you where the term "meat hook" came from.....


                Ed

obd1 or 2?

what are you doing with the old lump?

OBD 1, but I have all the parts for the OBD2, oil pan, sensor etc. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it. Sure would make a Sammy run nice    It needs valve guide seals, has a rear main seal leak and disty housing leak, but still runs great, complete with intake and fuel injection.   
Gotta get everything finished up and ready for Rousch. I've been working on it a little bit each day when I have time and my hands aren't killing me too much. It's real close to coming out, got the turbo system out, cleaned up and addressed some small issues. Rad, fan shroud, alt, starter, ac and intake brace all out. Fluids all drained, wiring harness disconnected and outa the way. Got a few small things left,  drain and disconnect tcase, shift linkage and cable, fuel lines, heater hoses and that's about it. The new engine is finished and painted up real purdy sitting on the stand waiting to join the trans once I fix a couple of leaks in it. Did I say I HATE OIL LEAKS!?
Still got to convince one of my buddies to help me when it's tome to actually pull it, that and try and find a engine hoist on craigs list. Inquired about renting one and they want $40 a day! I've seen 'em for sale on CL for as cheap as $75, so figured I'd try and buy one and sell it when I''m finished with it.
 Looking forward to getting the old engine out and cleaning the engine bay of all the leaked oil and accumulated dried mud.
I'm going to replace the starter while I'm in there, as well as all the hoses, especially the heater hoses. They're such a bitch to get to. I'm sure I'll forget something that will jump up to bite me later 

So last night I finished pulling the intake and the remainder of the wiring and hoses and found my " transmission leak " is actually oil running down the engine and dripping on the front of the trans. The distributor housing is leaking like a sieve,and the back of the valve cover doing the same thing. Turns out the trans only needs a seal at the shift shaft which is completely accessable from underneath and outside without pulling anything.
If I can leave the trans in pulling and replacing the engine will be a much easier job. Anybody ever pull an engine out of one of these leaving the auto trans in the truck? I know aligning the torque converter will be harder but not having to drain and pull the tcase and remove everything associated with it and the trans will save me a bunch of time and effort. I've also got a hold of a chain hoist which I can support from my shop rafters and lift the engine almost straight up. My buddy has used it to pull various V8's out of his collection of hot rods easily using the same method. He never pulls the trans too unless it's going to be serviced. I know Sky mentioned not pulling the trans too, anybody else?

Lining up the splines on the torque conv is no different than lining up the splines on a clutch, easier even.


I also thought my rear seal was shot, but like your engine, it was the dist housing.

It is quite easy to leave the trans behind. Undo the 3 bolts holding the tc to flexplate and push tc towards trans until it stops, take out top 2 bell bolts and starter etc. Lift engine up until bell touches firewall then block up trans with jack or blocks. Undo last 2 bell bolts and wiggle motor forward and out. Motor mounts may hang up a little if they are still on. To install just reverse procedure and when you have bell bolted up then just slide tc forward and line up the 3 bolts. Note, don't tighten these 3 until you have them all in.  Good luck Mike

Why thank you both gentlemen, and I use that term loosely    No, really thanks, I just needed the confidence booster to go ahead and do it.  So far everything is going along pretty smoothly, even with the occasional oil spillage. Decided to go ahead and rig up a temporary scaffold with a chain fall, outside the garage, to make sure I have enough height. I don't think a cherry picker type lift would even work in my garage it has such a low threshold, especially with the door up. Gettin real close. 

Discovered another little issue last night when I went to push the Tracker out of the way to clean up the kitty litter from spilled fluids: Trans wouldn't shift. I though ok, must be it needs power to the ignition safety switch but when I hooked up the battery still no shift out of park. I figure since I've disconnected ALL the wiring, including the three connectors to the trans it's not getting a signal from the ignition. So I'm gonna try plugging them back in, or I just may disconnect both drive shafts.   

Thanks Biker, that sounds like a good plan. Mine ( "meat hooks" )  aren't exactly little either. You know what they say " Big hands , big      gloves. 
I plan on pulling the tcase off and bringing out the engine and auto trans together, seems to be the way to do it. Someday we'll have to get together and compare turbos.

all big meathooks means is that your hooked meat is big also....

Discovered another little issue last night when I went to push the Tracker out of the way to clean up the kitty litter from spilled fluids: Trans wouldn't shift. I though ok, must be it needs power to the ignition safety switch but when I hooked up the battery still no shift out of park. I figure since I've disconnected ALL the wiring, including the three connectors to the trans it's not getting a signal from the ignition. So I'm gonna try plugging them back in, or I just may disconnect both drive shafts.   

I think there's a brake and ignition switch interlock.

I just reconnected them loosely and no problem, shifted fine with ignition on. Thanks for the tip ranger.
Finally got the engine out yesterday with the help of a buddy. To pull it I purchased a a lightweight 1 Ton chain fall from the local Harbor Freight and suspended it in my garage rafters using a scrap piece of 4x4" angle iron crossing 3 rafters perpendicularly. Worked great and is light enough to move around the garage easily.
Tip for pulling engine and leaving trans in: SUPPORT BOTH ENDS OF TRANSMISSION. Not fun trying to jack up a fallen trans/tcase combo and line up all the mounting holes! Luckily it didn't mess up any linkage.
Once we got the old engine out it was quite obvious where all the oil had been coming from, the rear main seal was SHOT. It must have been leaking badly for quite a while and everything back there was SOAKED in oil and oil/mud mixture. The inside of the flywheel had a 1/4" thick layer of puddy like substance glued to it's entire circumference. Had to scrape it off with a gasket scraper and it came off like sections of wheel weights. But, the good news was that's all that was leaking, trans is fine aside from the aformentioned shift shaft seal. I took the opportunity to soak the entire engine compartment and trans with Simple Green and pressure washed it removing accumulated oil and grease, as well as dried mud I've been carrying around for years. Having clean parts and a clean engine bay should make everything go back together easier.