I have the transmission sold and will use the engine in another car. I think I've removed maybe 3 engines before but they were FWD and pretty much came straight up out of the engine bay. I have a standard engine crane along with ramps and jack stands. Looking for any advice on doing this job beyond what is in the WIS. Do I need one of those tilter attachments for the crane? Should the front and/or the rear of the car be raised? What needs to be disconnected beyond the obvious, driveshaft, exhaust pipes, coolant hoses, wiring, etc. Any DIY posted?

The rad cross member needs to be removed, hood stood up in the service position.

You might not need a tilter since the trans will want to pull the back of the engine down.

Where should I place jack stands and how high? If I raise the car with the jack on the rubber lift pads, I obviously can't place the stands there. Also thinking about removing the tranny first from the engine and from underneath. Is that a better idea than trying pull everything from the top at once?

There is a frame section under the drivers feet / firewall area, jack stands will be fine there, just put them on the straight / flat area.

It is OK to jack the car up from the front cross member also.

For the rear I regularly jack the car up from the differential then place jack stands under the lifting pads. I have a set of old time thick pipe stands that I've made a new adjuster for using a 3" diameter washer ( Ford truck radius arm washer ) and pipe. The allows the washer to capture the pad.

I'd go with pulling everything as a unit. When I removed the trans ( 722.6 ) from my 97 C280 is was a tight squeeze to the the bell housing bolts out.

be super delicate with the wiring harness!!! they are made with a "bio-degradable" wire coating that just cracks and falls off the wires. its a total nightmare I had a 95 C220 and had to give up on it because the wiring harness was so damaged

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1969 230 inline 6 dual carb 60,000 Miles 2nd Owner doesn't run right
1982 300 SD 455K - my reliable commuter car
1990 190E needs new crank shaft ran it out of oil
1996 C220 bad wiring harness

The wiring harness for many of these era cars can still be purchased at the MB dealer, and they are not huge money.

a new harness costs $1,000

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1969 230 inline 6 dual carb 60,000 Miles 2nd Owner doesn't run right
1982 300 SD 455K - my reliable commuter car
1990 190E needs new crank shaft ran it out of oil
1996 C220 bad wiring harness

Decided to try and remove just the transmission. The thought of having to lift and tilt the whole thing at a wild angle is not something I'd do if I can avoid it. I got the front of the car on stands, don't see a need to raise the rear. Already removed the exhaust system as one piece as well as the driveshaft assembly. Drained the transmission pan, removed the cooler lines and electrical wires and disconnected the shifter rod. Do I drain the converter or remove the starter? Tomorrow I'll remove the flexplate bolts, and with a transmission jack underneath, go for the transmission attaching bolts. Are they all accessible from under the car?

You will need to lower the rear of the trans and use a 3 ft + extension to remove the bolts. When I did my 97 C280 ( in line 6 ) I may have removed one or two from the top but probably put everything back together from bottom.