Shop Crane With Engine Stand

[Gary Lewis]

Some of you will remember my problems trying to move an engine from the engine stand to the shop crane, or vice versa. For those that don't, the legs hit each other and it is a HUGE pain to make the transfer.

Today I got the new Summit catalog and found the combo unit shown below. So before I go chop up my engine stand to fit on the shop crane's legs, please tell me why I shouldn't.

Yes, I realize that it'll be much more awkward/bigger. But it may well be worth it.

[grumpin]

Looks like a good idea!

[kramttocs]

Clever!

[85lebaront2]

Well since (a) my shop crane folds and (b) my antique Lakewood engine stand will fit between the legs with the flywheel end away from the crane, I can't see an advantage for me, your mileage may vary though.

[Gary Lewis]

Looking at their combo vs my engine stand it looks like I'd just have to make the "H" that theirs sits on and bolt my upright to it.

I can see that their "H" is adjustable width-wise to allow placing it at various places down the legs, which would somewhat be determined by how long the engine is as well as how far you have the boom out. And I see that the "C's" that fit down over the legs of the shop crane are canted to account for the angle of the legs. Plus, the rear "C's" have a pin on their skirts to hold them to the legs.

What am I missing? What improvements do you see?

[Gary Lewis]

Well since (a) my shop crane folds and (b) my antique Lakewood engine stand will fit between the legs with the flywheel end away from the crane, I can't see an advantage for me, your mileage may vary though.

Yeah, the legs of my crane are too close together. Neither of my engine stands will fit between them. And I designed the crane as well as the engine stand I built.

So, I could rebuild either the crane or the engine stand, neither of which would be fun, or build the new "H". I think that would be easier, and if I don't like it I'll go back to the existing base.

[85lebaront2]

Looking at their combo vs my engine stand it looks like I'd just have to make the "H" that theirs sits on and bolt my upright to it.

I can see that their "H" is adjustable width-wise to allow placing it at various places down the legs, which would somewhat be determined by how long the engine is as well as how far you have the boom out. And I see that the "C's" that fit down over the legs of the shop crane are canted to account for the angle of the legs. Plus, the rear "C's" have a pin on their skirts to hold them to the legs.

What am I missing? What improvements do you see?

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, the pins are so the engine stand portion can't tilt with the engine on it. BTW, one of the features I like on the Lakewood stand, the pivot for the engine is a hefty piece of pipe (stand is rated for 1500 lbs) and is infinitely adjustable with a hefty Allen head bolt to lock it. I grease the inner pipe when I have the stand empty so it can actually be rotated fairly easily even with a 460 on it.

Mine isn't rated as I designed and built it. But it is actually copied from a heavy duty stand a neighbor had which had metric-sized material. I used inch-sized material so upped everything to the next size and it became rather beefy.

It has grease fitting for the head also, which allows rotating even a 460 fairly easily - if you center the mass. But if you don't get it centered it can be a bear to rotate.

[FuzzFace2]

Mine isn't rated as I designed and built it. But it is actually copied from a heavy duty stand a neighbor had which had metric-sized material. I used inch-sized material so upped everything to the next size and it became rather beefy.

It has grease fitting for the head also, which allows rotating even a 460 fairly easily - if you center the mass. But if you don't get it centered it can be a bear to rotate.

The stand part the H where it rest on the crane are angled a little.

Now you pull the motor with the fly wheel away from the crane & stand so now you have to set the motor on something or floor and turn it around so you can bolt it to the stand.

My crane also folds to get it out of the way.

I have 2 may be 3, don't remember now, stands and IIRC only 1 is a 3 wheel the others are 4 wheel.

1 also has a pipe to get lavage for turning the motors because grabbing the motor does not always work for turning it.

Dave ----

[Gary Lewis]

The stand part the H where it rest on the crane are angled a little.

Now you pull the motor with the fly wheel away from the crane & stand so now you have to set the motor on something or floor and turn it around so you can bolt it to the stand.

My crane also folds to get it out of the way.

I have 2 may be 3, don't remember now, stands and IIRC only 1 is a 3 wheel the others are 4 wheel.

1 also has a pipe to get lavage for turning the motors because grabbing the motor does not always work for turning it.

Dave ----

Dave - You have an excellent point. Usually the way I pull an engine is with two chains, and each chain goes from one head to the other. That lets me adjust the angle of the engine w/o using the load balancer, which adds too much space. But that means there's no chance of swiveling the engine once it is pulled.

So, why not put the engine stand on the shop crane the other way 'round? Meaning point the flywheel toward the front of the shop crane. That way you don't have to set it down nor turn it around. Any problem with that?

As for folding, both my shop crane and engine stand fold up fairly small. You can see that in this pic of the engine stand, but the crane folds up the same way, with the legs going over center and angling back a bit and the boom going almost straight down.