I have a friend that says the motor mounts alway tear if the motor isn't braced when the tranny isn'y helping support it, whether it be after the tranny is pulled are installing an angine without the tranny in. Is this something to be concerned about? I'll pulling my tranny tomorrow and the motor next weekend and have fairly new motor mounts and I don't want to screw them up.

Any suggestions? Also any tips for the order of removal of items, such as exhaust, driveline linkage? Do you pull the cross-member before unbolting from the block?

My son just R&R his trans. He put a strap on the back of the motor to help support it while the trans was out. Just for insurance.

I like to place a block of wood under the oil pan and support the engine with a floor jack when pulling the tranny. It just doesn't seem like a good idea to let it fall back.

I've done lots of them both ways on the engine support. I've done a lot more pickups than cars. Chevy cars you have to watch that you don't bust your distributor cap.

On the crossmember yes I pull them before bellhousing bolts, but I get a jack under it before I do the crossmember. Idunno if the jack is necessary at this point but a long time ago I pulled a tranny that had a cracked bellhousing and didn't have a jack under it when I started undoing stuff...next thing I knew the damthing was in the floor. So since then I get a jack under em pretty early, it hurt enough that I don't seem to forget that lesson.

You need to support your tranny if you do your engine first, I know that the hard way too:D. Must have not hurt too bad the first time I learned it cuz I had to re-learn this about 10 or 15 years ago and then again a couple years ago. I hope I don't forget again.

My son just R&R his trans. He put a strap on the back of the motor to help support it while the trans was out. Just for insurance.
X2 on the ratchet strap, loop it around the frame horns and behind the flexplate. Works great.

I have a friend that says the motor mounts alway tear if the motor isn't braced when the tranny isn'y helping support it, whether it be after the tranny is pulled are installing an angine without the tranny in. Is this something to be concerned about? I'll pulling my tranny tomorrow and the motor next weekend and have fairly new motor mounts and I don't want to screw them up.

Any suggestions? Also any tips for the order of removal of items, such as exhaust, driveline linkage? Do you pull the cross-member before unbolting from the block?

Why don't you just pull them together?

I have removed many 4 -speeds in the past. Most of the time the motor will only drop as much as the exhaust system will allow. It's usually so little that the distributor cap doesn't even come into danger.

This is just my experience, your's may differ.