Engine hoist question

[alini]

So last weekend I had to pull the engine for the rear main seal leak.  I thought it would be simple, remove the hood, hook up my hoist and go up and over everything.....well I was wrong.

 

I have the Harbor Freight hoist, which probably says enough.  But does anyone have a hoist that they have successfully removed the engine without having to remove the bumper, grill, lower valance, bumper brace?  Since I had all that out I pulled the radiator, condenser and support.  This equaled almost 50 extra nuts and bolts on top of the engine removal requirements.

 

Just wondering whats out there.

[RivNut]

Overhead chain hoist.

[JZRIV]

Is the problem that your hoist doesn't have enough reach? I have a HF hoist I bought from craigslist and it has plenty of reach and height for a car.

[alini]

it has enough reach and weight to do the job, getting the engine out of the frame.  I just didnt want to have to remove half the front end.  There has to be a larger crane available but doing a basic search for a few minutes I didnt see one.

 

Ed Ive been debating putting in a crane in my garage, but Ill be limited by overall movement and height.

[RivNut]

The hoist that I have has a hook that's part of the main body so it hangs up really high unless you suspend it as well.  I had a steel plate made that I bolted to the frame of my deck.  That gave me plenty of room to hoist the engine and roll the car out of the way.  I'd then lower it and attach an engine stand to it, then set the engine and stand on the ground.  The only thing that was an inconvenience is that you always had a lot of chain dangling around the engine as you pulled it up and lowered it.

 

The last time I pulled an engine with a crane hoist, I used a lift plate that bolted to the intake, and hooked directly to the arm on the crane.  It gave me enough clearance to pull the engine without removing the grill.  The longer you make the arm on the crane, the more lift you'll get.   

 

Ed

[devildog93]

Maybe it's just me, but i always pull the front off anything if i can. More room to work is always a good thing. It just makes everything else easier when lining things up. Hell, with the newer cars half of them have to have the front end pulled off to do an engine swap while some come out of the bottom after removing front suspension parts and braces. Same with the last one i did. I probably didn't have to remove the front of an f150 to get cleared, but once i got the front off i didn't have to worry about much of anything. I usually keep my hoist set at the one ton position.

[smithbrother]

Years ago I rented a heavy duty collapsible hoist, long reach adjustable, and tall raise height, well I liked it so much I ordered one for myself. It's on a stand that when broken down can be moved around in the shop for less room.

I have yet to find a case where it didn't do its job. I never remove the dog house, NOT saying there aren't cars that require the dog house to be removed, just haven't run into such.

The rollers are large, makes it easy to move front to rear, side to side when jocking engine around.

Dale in Indy

[JZRIV]

Still not sure why the bumper and grille have to come off. What am I missing;

So it won't work if you remove rad and fan. Unbolt transmission bell from engine, trans rear mount, and 3 converter bolts from flywheel, support trans and slide trans back a couple inches so converter hub clears crank pilot. Engine should come right out with minimal forward movement. The oil pan has to clear the frame before it will come forward much anyway.

[Seafoam65]

                 Any professional engine hoist would yank that engine right out without disturbing anything on the front end of the car.

A professional engine hoist has horizontal bottom legs about  8 feet long with big steel wheels at all four corners and a lift boom

on the top with an eight foot reach as well.  Most home hobbyists don't want to buy a hoist like that because storing it is a real problem........it takes up a lot of space.

[RivNut]

My step-son and I bought a fairly large hoist but the legs on it can be folded up ( there's a third wheel on the base that you can raise and lower to roll it around in it "stored" position) and the crane can be shortened and the ram removed so the crane folds down. It stores in a 3 foot square space.  I bought it from a guy who was moving to a bigger shop and was getting rid of equipment that would be duplicates. 

 

If you're in the market - FYI.   I sure do like my new four wheeled engine stand better than the old three wheeled one.  Maybe the three wheeled one would be okay for a 2.0 liter four cylinder with aluminum block and head, but it not good for a completely assembled nailhead. 

 

Ed

[steelman]

You can rent an engine hoist with even longer arms and a higher lift. Had to have one a few years ago to pull the motor in an F250 high rider 4x4. Straight up and out.

[telriv]

On these yr. Riv's, Cat's, etc. The hood stays in place, exhaust manifolds, starter & wiring together dis-connected at terminal block, etc. Remove the P/s pump & put to the side tieing up with a piece of rope & keeping as level as possible so fluid doesn't leak. Remove alt., fan, belts & pulleys. Sometimes the rad. can still stay in place. I would remove it just in case not to damage. Do the normal unbolting of exhaust pipes, converter bolts & push back, remove top bell housing bolts, just "Crack" loose bottom two bell bolts. Remove carb. & install lifting plate. Make sure it's tight to manifold with good bolts, at least grade five with good, thick washers. Shorten chain as much as possible on hoist. Support trans. with block off wood & jack & start to lift engine. Maybe have to jack trans. a little more. Now remove bottom bell bolts. Lift engine off mounts & pull forward an inch or so. Continue jacking & pulling forward & jacking up to clear obstacles & before you know it it's out. Clearances are a little tight going in & out, but with a helper to guide is pretty easy.

Just my thoughts & experiences.

 

 

Tom T.

[1965rivgs]

On these yr. Riv's, Cat's, etc. The hood stays in place, exhaust manifolds, starter & wiring together dis-connected at terminal block, etc. Remove the P/s pump & put to the side tieing up with a piece of rope & keeping as level as possible so fluid doesn't leak. Remove alt., fan, belts & pulleys. Sometimes the rad. can still stay in place. I would remove it just in case not to damage. Do the normal unbolting of exhaust pipes, converter bolts & push back, remove top bell housing bolts, just "Crack" loose bottom two bell bolts. Remove carb. & install lifting plate. Make sure it's tight to manifold with good bolts, at least grade five with good, thick washers. Shorten chain as much as possible on hoist. Support trans. with block off wood & jack & start to lift engine. Maybe have to jack trans. a little more. Now remove bottom bell bolts. Lift engine off mounts & pull forward an inch or so. Continue jacking & pulling forward & jacking up to clear obstacles & before you know it it's out. Clearances are a little tight going in & out, but with a helper to guide is pretty easy.

Just my thoughts & experiences.

 

 

Tom T.

X2

Tom

[alini]

When we pushed the hoist up to the car to hook it up the bottom of the hydraulic ram hit the bumper and we were about 6-8 inches shy of being over the carb/intake.  I removed the bumper and then the grill and lower valance were in the way.  Then the lower bumper support was in the way, we decided at that point to just gut the front end

 

The HF stand just doesnt have the long reach to do the job.   It handled the weight just fine and pulling the engine with all the stuff out of the way made it really simple, slid it forward to clear the alignment pins and up we went, the torque converter actually sticks out past the edge of the transmission, so we went up almost immediately.   I just didnt like having to remove so much stuff to get the short reach of the hoist in.  That was 45 bolts I didnt want to mess with and the headlight motor has to be adjusted again.

 

I pulled the engine with all accessories installed on their brackets and the exhaust in place.

Edited March 2, 2016 by alini (see edit history)

[1965rivgs]

"right tool for the job" comes to mind....people cry about the cost to repair a car or take cheap shots at "professionals" but dont realize most long term techs have $25K to as much as $75K invested in a large tool box filled with just hand tools. that`s before investing in larger and more expensive pieces of equipment. Take a look at a Snap On catalogue and you`ll quickly understand why. I cant imagine what it would cost in today`s dollars to set up a full service shop with quality equipment....never mind, I know, it is a major investment, especially considering some "professionals" open a store front and hang out a shingle to get started.

  Tom Mooney

[telriv]

A good shop start-up cost today with QUALITY tools & equipment that will last for yrs. is approaching 250-350K or more. This doesn't count the constant updates/new scanners on a periodic basis.

[devildog93]

You aren't kidding one bit. Things are getting more and more specialized. I run out of a shop where i was lucky enough that the owner had 40 years of acquiring tools and such and we still don't have all we need for things you might think are common. Between he and i we cover a lot of things, but the amount of specialty tools newer cars require is getting goofy. Things like a harmonic balance puller - you might think 3 would cover it but no, there are surely two more you need to get some oddball jobs, and that is just on domestics. I try to avoid buying things i will only use a handful of times, but sometimes i just don't know how common it is going to get.

 

The good thing is if it is something i personally need i can get it for the home shop and have it if i ever needed it at work. This little discussion has made me think about getting or building an a-frame again. I have an engine hoist, but a buddy of ours has an a-frame and, well, there is no comparison if you have room for one. An a-frame and a car rotisserie would be sweet. Then again, so would having the extra space to have those things.

[telriv]

I consider myself one of the more fortunate ones. I've been in this business as both a business & a hobby for many yrs. now & have gotten to know alot of GREAT people. Many times on something specialty I can borrow what's needed, even from dealers. I just make SURE it's as clean, normally cleaner, than when I borrowed it. On the RARE occasion I messed up I replaced it NO MATTER what the cost.0

[flh73]

Maybe dumb question but the HF CHERRY PICKER does HAVE A slid out boom to reach farther out correct?

[rapom]

I'm sure it does.  I had the same problem and what I did was drill an extra hole at the end so I could reach the engine.  I know this is dangerous but I only was pulling the engine and everything worked out fine.