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$25 Engine Cart
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A simple engine cart
The $25 is derived from a furniture dolly for $20, a ratchet strap for $4 and about a $1 worth of wood. If you want to get a heavy duty furniture dolly, it'll cost you more. The one major advantage of doing that I can think of is they usually come with bigger wheels. Also, if you want to lug around the engine and transmission, you may want to go this way. Typically a basic furniture dolly can hold 1000 lbs with no problem and even a typical 4 cylinder with a trans should stay within that range.<br /><br />The idea for mounting the engine to the dolly is to create a nice sturdy base for the engine to sit on and then strap it down to be able to move it around. It's quick and simple and works really well. A few tips to remember:<ul><li>Watch the height of the oil pan so it doesn't scrape on the ground.</li><li>This can typically be remedied by adding an extra piece of wood to sit the engine up higher on the dolly.</li><li>Don't sit the engine on the deep part of the oil pan, it's not strong enough and will bend.</li><li>You can set it on the shallow part of the oil pan without much concern because that area is stronger.</li><li>The straps will eventually stretch over time, so tighten them down once and a while.</li><li>Try not to move the engine by wrenching on the engine, try to move it by pulling on the dolly itself so the engine won't twist in its seat.</li><li>We used a strap to pull it along kinda like a pull rope on a wagon and that worked great for moving them from place to place.</li></ul>Just remember that every situation is different and if you use good judgment and common sense this will work fine for you. |
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Engine Lift - Part 1
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Getting the chain length right - Part I
The goal here is to move 4 engines to the basement to work on. We had already moved one down using this method, but on the first one (which I forgot to film) the engine chain was too short and we ended up having to using the come-along to inch it down the last 6 or so inches. That worked and was safe, but was tedious because you could only drop it down about 3/4 or an inch for each travel of the lever and ratchet. So this time I bought a longer chain length. It took several times of trial and error to get this right, but in the end it worked out well. The trick was to take into account the travel of the lift, and the length of chain. Too long and we would be able to pick up the engine, too short and it would reach the ground. It helped a lot to have a place to set it (across the supports) between each adjustment. This way we didn't have to move the lift back and forth each time. |
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Engine Lift - Part 2
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Getting the chain length right - Part II
On the last drop the engine was solid on the ground, but the tension wasn't off the chain. So to save some time I simply removed one of the lift bolts to remove the chain. Then we simply rolled it in through the basement door. |
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Engine Lift - Part 3
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The Next Lift
On this lift we were able to do it in one step. However, even though we lengthened the chain a bit and the engine was fully on the ground, we still needed to remove a bolt to release the tension on the chain. Again, we were being conservative so as not to loose the travel length of the lift and it still worked out great. Not to mention the fact we have one more left to get it just right. |
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Engine Lift - Part 4
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The Last Lift
We treated ourselves to 2 satisfying accomplishments here. First we finally got all of the engines out of my garage and out of MT's garage and into the basement to work on them. Second we added a few links to the chain length and got the chain length just right. We celebrated with a manly grunt/laugh because although it was a bit of work, we did it safely and quickly. So on this one you get the whole process from start to finish. |
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