Hoisting an engine

[PaulS]

Please forgive a newbie question, but...  What is the accepted technique for hoisting an L134 engine?  I really don't like the idea of using slings under it.

Thanks,

-Paul

[scoutpilot]

I use a load leveler with four attaching plates. Remove the four corner head nuts or bolts and place the attach plates there. The load leveler allows you to remove just the engine or motor/tranny/TC together and change the angle as necessary to clear everything.

[bwtufts]

I've got a piece of chain that I welded tabs on both ends and drilled them out to the head bolt/stud size. I then attach the chain to the head in the front right and left rear corners. Never used a leveler, the engine is light enough (without the trans attached) for me to maneuver it by hand. Taking the radiator out beforehand makes it much easier and leaves you with less of a chance of messing it up.

[1955CJ-5]

I did mine with the chains and tabs, but a leveler would have been nice too...the rental place where I got the hoist had one.

You can see its a little tight. I unfortunately did not allow for the height of the engine and the low ceiling with the garage door open, so the hoist nearly hit the door above before I cleared the grill ....it was tight but it worked






And measure the distance between the front tires and make sure that whatever hoist you use will fit in between them..the one I rented just fit with a little Windex for lube!

[PaulS]

So just lifting by a couple of the head studs/nuts is enough?  Sounds easy enough.

Princess Auto seemed to be out of stock when I was there on Sunday, so I'll head back over later.  (Or it looks like Canadian Tire has one on sale this week, so I might go there instead...)

I don't need to worry about clearance.  The engine is the last piece of equipment remaining sitting above the height of the frame.  It only needs to go up a few inches to clear the frame rails.

So next question:  Anyone use one of those engine stands?  Do they just bolt on where the bell housing goes?

Thanks,

-Paul

[1oldracer]

Hi Paul, A regular engine stand should bolt up to the back of the engine.� It just depends on what you want to work on.� You might need a cradle if you are working on the flywheel and things.� I made one out of some old angle iron and a furniture dolly.

[PaulS]

That looks like a nice way of holding the engine!� Learning to weld is on my to-do list.� And I suspect it will get to the top of the list around the time I start trying to fit a repro tub to my frame...� (A local tech college has a 24 hour evening program on autobody MIG welding--I will probably sign up for the next session, in the fall.)

The stand I bought won't hold the engine with the flywheel attached, unfortunately.� Which means either not using it, or removing the flywheel.� I need to decide what work I'm going to be doing on the engine before I proceed.� I'll post a separate question about that, later.

Is the oil pan strong enough to support the weight of the engine if I sat it on the floor?� (Knowing that I would have to support to prevent it from tipping over, of course.)

-Paul

[macrisel]

You could set it on the oil pan for a little while, but I'm a big fan of engine stands as they let you rotate the engine around.  Very handy if you have to replace the bearings or pull the crank..

The flywheel is not hard to pull off.  Six nuts and its off.  If you have never had it off, soak the nuts with some sort of penetrating oil (I like PB Blaster), wait a day and give it a shot.

Once your motor work is done and you are getting ready to put the motor back in, then you can install the flywheel/clutch while you have the motor suspended.

[Matto]

As Macrisel said, the flywheel comes of pretty easy but you should be able to put some spacers between the stand and the block if you wanted to leave the flywheel on.