Pulling engine 2004, up or down?

[razerface]

2004 DS with kawasaki engine.

I have an oil leak between engine cases on clutch side. After cussing a while, and resigning myself to the fact i have to split the engine, i decided to look at pulling the engine out.

Is it easier to pull it out the top, or drop it out the bottom? I have it on a car hoist.

Looks like that big engine bracket is fastened with 6 bolts to the rear end. Drop that whole assy out the bottom?

Leave starter in buggy?

[CP241]

4 bolts underneath the engine. And there are 6 in the back but only the middle 2 hold the motor in. The other 4 hold the cradle to the rear end.

Unbolt the exhaust and starter/generator. Shouldnt have to disconnect any of the wiring. Just unbolt it and set it off to the side. Obviously disconnect the battery first!

Replacing the gasket is easy. I'd replace the crank seal while you're there. Mine was easier than a regular cart because I have a carryall... flip up the bed and everything is right there. But I could do mine start to finish in an evening. Rwally not a hard job at all :)

[razerface]

Looks like a lot of work to remove body?

[Fairtax4me]

Far more work than it's worth to remove the body IMO.
I drop the whole engine/axle out and roll it out from under the cart. Those nuts that hold the engine to the cradle are a bear to get to with it in the cart.

While you have all that out, put new bushings in the leaf springs if you haven't already.

[CP241]

Fairtax would know better than me. Like I said, mine is a carryall so if I just tilt the bed up, i'm looking at the complete engine, with easy access to everything. I can pull the motor out and have it on the work bench in about 20 minutes. But on a cart with a full body, I don't know how much access you have to be able to reach parts.

[Fairtax4me]

Yeah the Carryalls with the tilt bed are way easier to work on. Did the same job on the Carryall we have about two years ago and it was doable to pull the engine out without dropping the cradle. But on the DS there just isn't much room to get to everything, and the engine motor has to be almost stripped before it will fit out through the seat opening.
I unbolt the axle from the springs, put the rear wheels on the ground, then put a jack under the tongue of the cradle and just roll the whole lump out from under the cart. Then you can stretch out with a beer or three and work comfortably!

[razerface]

I pulled it thru the top. Easy peasy. 30 minutes and it was out. I was surprised,,,,

Getting the clutch off was another matter! Finally did the hydraulic method after ruining 2 bolts and had to retap the threads in the clutch. The engine jumped an inch off of the table when it finally let go. It took almost 4 hours to get the clutch off.