You can get to the engine mount nuts from the top with a long extension, which was nice and easy.

The engine bay hoist works perfect situated a little forward in line with the front engine loop. Easy to lift the engine a few inches.


Take both axles out. I only took the steering ball joint out, which was pretty easy with a few taps from a sledge. For the other control arms I just undid the bolts at the subframe instead of trying to mess with the ball joint ends at the knuckle. Again pretty easy. The entire thing is pretty heavy with the axle and control arms attached, so for the driver side be ready to give some effort to pull it out and rest on the ground.

The passenger side was detached in the same way, but instead of pulling it completely out, I just pulled it away enough for the axle shaft to clear the front differential and then supported it with a jack stand an some wood against the strut tower.

I undid the two bolts holding the steering rack, and the six subframe bolts and was able to drop the subframe a substantial amount, supported with a longer piece of 2x4 spanning across the two sides of the subframe, with a floor jack. At that point the diff was begging to come out and just needed some wiggling and side movement of the subframe.


It’s a time consuming job due to the amount of things that need unbolting, but easy enough skill-wise.

We’ll see how the reassembly goes. I have attached some pics below.

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2004 4.8is Sapphire Black Metallic, cream/anthracite two-tone interior.