Buick Regal 95' engine cradle replacement

I have a question about my buick regal,as the subject line said. I have recently did a bit of damage to the engine cradle of the car (bent it) by slilding the front end into a curb in a turn on some ice. Terrible incident I know. I already spun the wheel onto a new rim but I want to know if anyone has personally chenged one out and could maybe give me a bit of advice. I would really appreciate it.

- Joe -

Reply to
jrw1989
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The cradle is very replaceable, but it's going to be quite a bit of work. Get underneath it and you will see how it unbolts. Drop your struts, unbolt the cradle, steering, electrical connections, etc. and lift the car off the cradle. Your problem is really not so bad once you get into it. In fact the engines in many cars like yours are often pulled by dropping the cradle and lifting the car. It's work, but it's pretty obvious work when you take a look under there.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

You've got that right. Let me see if I can think of how it's done.

Remove the entire left and right strut assemblies. Remove the right axle, might as well remove the left axle too. Remove the sway bar. Support engine from above. Unbolt left and right transmission mounts. Unbolt cradle.

I'm sure you can get away without remove the strut assemblies and axles, but that's the easiest way I could think of getting to the trans mounts, especially the one on the right.

Come to think of it, doesn't sound like that much work. I'm going to have a harder time replacing the rear springs on my 12 year old Jeep.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Mackie

It's not hard, but you need to have a good safe way to support the engine and trans. You don't want to pull the engine and trans with the cradle...that's "way" too much work. If you support the engine and trans from above, you only have to remove the nuts from the engine and trans mounts, disconnect the lower ball joints from the spindle (no need to remove things like axles, struts, etc, they stay up with the body), remove the bolts the hold the rack and pinion to the cradle (leave the rack and pinion hanging from the tie rod ends, probably a good idea to disconnect the intermediate shaft from the rack...newbies tend to end up wrecking that shaft if they are not careful, but leaving the rack in place means you do not have to disconnect ps lines), make sure that any ps return lines that may be bolted to the cradle are free, remove the four corner bolts and lower the cradle. At this point, you can transfer over the control arms, sway bar...etc. Do "not" tighten the control arm bolts to cradle fully. The vehicle will need an alignment, and those bolts should be tightened when the vehicle is back together and sitting at it's normal ride height. Probably easiest to book an appointment for an alignment, and let the tech know what you've done and ask him/her to tighten those bolts while it's on the rack.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

work.You've got that right. Let me see if I can think of how it's done.

I have another one. I know the transmission and the axle's would be a pain so is it completly neccecary to take those off also? Thanks for the help so far guys keep it coming. I have it in my garage and getting some jack stands and other various odd's and ends for it tommorow...

Reply to
jrw1989

Oh, that's right, the sway bar is fully mounted to the cradle. Not sure what I was thinking. However, thinking of the trans mount at the differential, how do you unbolt it without removing the right axle?

...and I completely forgot about the rack.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Mackie

Working from memory here Steve, but I believe it's quite possible. Long extension and reach in from behind the right front wheel. Am I understanding your question correctly?

Reply to
Mike Marlow

I'm not sure what you are describing. I don't recall having to actually remove any of the mounts....just unbolt them from the cradle and leave them with the engine or trans.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

I'm thinking my memory is fading, you're making me question the picture of that mount I have in my mind. By what you're saying to me I'm going to assume the picture I have is wrong. It's ..... shit..... just popped into my head of what it looks like, now I remember. Ya, no need remove the right axle. Gees.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Mackie

It's sooooo good to see someone else afflicted in this manner...

Reply to
Mike Marlow

Thanks a ton guys this has been a big help. Today is the first day I'm gonna get my hands dirty so wish me luck. Thanks for being so helpful

Oh, and for further detail its a 1995 Buick Regal Custom with a 3.8L. Its also going to be sold soon and the money is going to be used on a down payment for a Nissan 300ZX (Post 1991).

Reply to
jrw1989

My memory has been fading for a while. Often I can't remember what I worked on last week, let alone some car from the 90's.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

What is the "last week" stuff?

Reply to
Mike Marlow

Just an update on the situation. I took at the cradle and put the new one in but one of the tards at the junk yard decided to give us a drivers side control arm instead of a passenger side ( the one that took the impact ). I also discovered some of the things I did to it. I sucessfully made a bolts hole into a slot on the passenger side and screwed both control arm brackets. Surprisingly enough there are no bends in the tie rods and no seals broken on anything.

Thanks for the help guys and BTW no axels needed to be removed :P

Thanks a ton,

Joe W

Reply to
jrw1989

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