I recently did some work on the 56 Mercury 4 door trans and tilting it sufficiently to maneuver around the welded in cross member was a pain. I reckon it would be so much easier if the cross member was bolt in. I don't plan on pulling it out again in the foreseeable future, but it's bound to happen again one day. So I'm thinking to cut the cross member and create a bolt in arrangement. Or more particularly, get someone with the skills to do it for me.
Any thoughts on if this is wise and how best to go about it? Has anyone done it? And any photos if you have?

Not being familiar with the crossmenber in the Merc so this is a guess.

With a sawsall cut the current crossmenber right where it meets the frame.  Cut it at the same angle as it is mounted if you can..  Make up end plates to be welded to the crossmember.  Check all dimensions and fitment so the crossmember, with plates attached, fits in where it was originally and them weld plates to crossmember..  Drill holes (four per plate).  Mock up crossmember on the frame and mark where the holes should be. and drill frame. 

A varient - when making plates, make a hole big enough that you can fit the crossmemer into the plates.  This will make it stronger.


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I have a 56 Montclair convertible and have wondered the same thing.  There is a welded cross member under the transmission. The transmission has to be removed with the engine as opposed to removing the transmission separately.  Larry

Larry

That same crossmember in the Lincoln's is bolted in.  Makes it easy to R&I the transmission without pulling the motor.  I wonder if one of those would bolt up and work?   They're not very big since all of the Lincoln's, even the sedans, have an x-frame and it sits right in front of it.  

I ran into the same issue with my 56 Victoria with Fordomatic. All I needed to do was to replace the speedometer gear and ended up pulling the engine and trans together. I learned the hard way that the incorrect speedometer gear will make the odometer run in reverse.

That can happen.  There are two different orientations of the "teeth"   and one can run things backwards.  I think it has to do with what side of the trans the cable goes in.  Most use the left side, but some, like my top loader 4 sped, go in on the right.





54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ