engine pulling suggestions needed

I am pulling the engine in my 92 cherokee and putting in a 96 engine in it's place. my jeep has the five speed manual tranny. what is a good lift point to pull the engine? i don't have the fancy leveling tool to adjust the angle,I just have a chain to use. I know i can lift the back of the engine with the stud that is in the head,but what about the front hook up for the engine? do I need to pull the harmonic balancer to get the engine to clear the raditator/front crossmember support? there is only about 4 inches of clearance between the balancer and the crossmember. thanks for any ideas!! Ben

Pull your radiator and the entire front of your XJ, it's a tad bit more work, but it frees up a lot of room and takes the worry out of damaging your radiator. I pulled my engine and tranny together so I can't help you on a good leveling point, but I used the front and rear studs for the heads to pull mine.

I agree. You should pull the entire front clip. I would also suggest that you try and borrow an engine leveler if possible. You will have to bring the engine forward a few inches to get the transmisson shaft to clear all the clutch components. I didn't mess with the head studs. I used a bolt in the rear most manifold anchor point as a rear attachment. I used an available bolt hole at the bottom edge of the cylinder head on the opposite side of the engine to as a front attachment. I would post pictures if I could so you could see the set up.

be sure you don't use the weaker of the two rear studs. not sure if that applies to all years but a brife search will clarify that point for you. one stud is open to the water galley and could tear out, the other is threaded all the way into the head and is the safer bet. please check to verify, but I believe the driver's side is the one you want to use

the only studs I have to use are on the driver's side. i was looking for a place on the passenger side in the front to use.i have already removed the front clip. it just doesn't look like there is much room to move the engine forward to clear the clutch components without hitting the radiator support/crossmember. thanks for the ideas so far

I dont know if yours has AC or not, but we took the AC bracket off and used one of those bolt holes.

thanks all,was using the a/c bracket mount,but see my motor mount bolt problem thread for my new reason why the engine won't come out