Engine Hoist Mount

[Vicinity]

Does any "local" part store or place sell a hoist mount? I just borrowed a cherry picker and all the other stuff I need to pull my engine and I just went to Advanced Auto and they said they don't carry anything like that, I'm really trying to get this done tonight, as I don't want to keep the hoist too long, borrowed it from a friend of my Dad's.

If anyone could help, that'd be great.

[wmhjr]

What do you mean by a "hoist mount"?

[Mr. Anderson]

I think he means the thing that bolts to the intake to hook the thing onto.

An easier solution.....go get a piece of chain and some strong bolts. One on the front and one in the back, staggered side to side, through the chain. Hook and lift!

[Vicinity]

Son of a bitch, I went to another Advanced and they had one. The one guy lied to me.

It says "Made in China" on it, I'm thinking I'm going to learn how to weld by finishing the weld on this bad boy. I don't particularly care to have the engine fall to the ground and crack the floor/mess the engine up.

Is the chain method "more safe" or safer to hold an engine "long term" (2 days)?

[Vicinity]

What do you mean by a "hoist mount"?

Oh, I'm sorry, I worded it funny because I didn't know what it was actually called, its the "Engine Lift Plate". The plate thing that bolts to the intake and has a hole for a hook on an engine hoist/cherry picker.

[Mr. Anderson]

I would say that if you are bolting that plate onto an aluminum intake manifold, I wouldn't want it being the only support for a couple straight days. Wouldn't trust the threads on there to hold the weight of the engine. Set the thing down onto a few solid blocks of wood and use the hoist only as insurance to keep the engine upright if you have to.

[Vicinity]

I would say that if you are bolting that plate onto an aluminum intake manifold, I wouldn't want it being the only support for a couple straight days. Wouldn't trust the threads on there to hold the weight of the engine. Set the thing down onto a few solid blocks of wood and use the hoist only as insurance to keep the engine upright if you have to.

Well, I'm pulling the oil pan, so could I pull the pan while it's on the hoist, then put a towel or something down on the wood and set it down on that? Would that work? I'm doing all new gaskets and painting the engine.

[Six_Shooter]

I prefer using the load leveling type chain/hook/mechanism.

[wmhjr]

+1. Lift plates and aluminum intake manifolds to me are bad combinations. I much prefer a load leveler with 4 attaching points using hard bolts into heads. Even then, I don't recommend working on the engine while it's suspended on the cherry picker. Bolt it to an engine stand. I think half of all the cherry pickers I've used have had slow leaks in the hydraulic cylinders.

[Vicinity]

I lost my nerve to do it with the plate, even though I've seen it done.

Going to Autozone to pickup a leveler, and a friend of mine says he might have an engine stand somewhere.

[monteboy84]

Lifting it by the threads in an aluminum intake is really not a big deal, the 4 of them will hold a lot more weight than you'll ever generate by just lifting your motor out.

-matt

[wmhjr]

You do realize that those are only 5/16-18 studs going into soft aluminum, right? I totally agree that a 5/16 hard bolt times 4 is strong enough. I'm just not so certain that there is enough meat on a 5/16 standard aluminum thread pulling straight up. That's the weak point - not the bolt.

To be honest however, I also find it far easier to maneuver the engine in and out supporting it from the front and back of the heads with a leveler to allow you to adjust the tilt where and when necessary. That's real difficult using a intake mounted lift plate. I stopped using a lift plate a couple decades ago.

[Vicinity]

You do realize that those are only 5/16-18 studs going into soft aluminum, right? I totally agree that a 5/16 hard bolt times 4 is strong enough. I'm just not so certain that there is enough meat on a 5/16 standard aluminum thread pulling straight up. That's the weak point - not the bolt.

To be honest however, I also find it far easier to maneuver the engine in and out supporting it from the front and back of the heads with a leveler to allow you to adjust the tilt where and when necessary. That's real difficult using a intake mounted lift plate. I stopped using a lift plate a couple decades ago.

I see exactly where your coming from and the last thing I was is to strip the intake threads or worse, have the engine fall back down onto the car/floor.

I didn't really think much of it until I bought the piece, I was looking at it thinking, this puts a lot of stress on one area made of fairly soft aluminum.

Hopefully the Duralast at Autozone is a good piece.

[Blown73]

The amount of weight you are spreading between the 4 bolts on the intake is far less than the amount they can handle. You would be surprised the amount of strength that it has.

With that said, I have never bought a plate or leveler. You can do it just fine with a chain and some bolts to the front and back staggered (as said above). It does make it nicer to have the leveler, but still, you don't HAVE to have it.

[Six_Shooter]

I have pulled and installed a LOT of engines with just a chain, mostly because levelers were expensive, but now that they are cheap and I even bought mine on sale, I wouldn't do it without one if I had a choice.

The leveler makes it easier for one person to pull and install an engine than just using a chain. In a car that you're not worried about scratching the engine bay paint on, a chain is fine to use if you're by yourself, but the leveler holds the engine more stable and you can set the angle where you need it, this alone makes it worth it, when you don't have two people, that know what they are doing.

[Vicinity]

The Duralast one is 40 bucks, but my Dad is getting the engine stand and he said he has some chains. I guess I'll try it with chains, if I can't do it alone, I'll give someone a call.

Actually, heres the link.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...veler/_/N-265d

[monteboy84]

You do realize that those are only 5/16-18 studs going into soft aluminum, right? I totally agree that a 5/16 hard bolt times 4 is strong enough. I'm just not so certain that there is enough meat on a 5/16 standard aluminum thread pulling straight up. That's the weak point - not the bolt.

Yup, I understand that, I'm a mech draftsman by trade so I have to deal with this stuff on a regular basis. I haven't run the numbers, but by rough estimate you could lift the entire car by those 4 5/16" bolts threaded into aluminum. I realize that it's fairly easy to strip an aluminum bolt hole with a torque wrench, but the shear stress on the threads is pretty severe when over-torquing, versus the the 1000 lbs (rough, high estimate) placed on the four them by an engine/trans combo. Sorry, not meaning to hijack, it's just something I find interesting.

I've always just used a chain diagonally over the intake to bolts in the heads, but I've helped others lift motors in and out with a plate many times without an issue.

-matt

[wmhjr]

You could be right but I will still avoid the lift plates.

[Mr. Anderson]

It probably has to do with being older intakes or existing damage on used parts, but I have seen the aftermath of thread failure on aluminum intakes using a carb plate. I've also witnessed the failure of one of those cheap $40 engine levelers too. It may all work fine on paper and it may work in practice 90% of the time, and I've done it before...but my gut feeling tells me I got lucky, and I wont try it again.

[Vicinity]

My Dad dropped the stuff off at the shop last night, it was a box looking thing for a stand, not really sure how it works but I'll figure it out, and some really thick chains. So I'll navigate it out here shortly. A friend of mine is coming over, I'll have him work the hoist while I guide the engine out.

Should I take the hood off?