creative ways to pull an engine

[salty87]

what are some creative ways to pull an engine block?

i've got a 454 inboard that i need to yank for stringer replacement. i don't have a garage and also nothing to use to pull the block out. i have a few trees on my property but that's about it. i don't have any buddy's with access to heavy equipment either.

*what's a 454 with velvet drive tranny weigh....800 lbs? my trailer sits higher than most so the gunwhales are pretty high up there too. i'm guessing i need the whole thing about 15' in the air to clear the oil pan over the sides.

*what do you do with an engine while it's homeless? i'd like to get it painted and looking nice and shiney.

*is it possible to make something fairly cheap to do this?

i'm kinda stuck before i can even get started. the stringers under the engine mounts gotta go. i'm tempted to try and rent a bay in a garage but that ain't cheap.

thoughts please

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

Got any friend who own a tow truck with an extending boom to clear the sides od the boat? I would stay away from a "cheap" home made lift .... one slip and it will plumet through any part of the boat.

Do you have a pick-up truck? Tow the boat to a place with a boom truck .... have the motor lifed and then back your pick-up under it.

Lumber supply trucks, roofing companies, tree companies, a backhoe, a bucket loader? I bet for the price of a case of good beer you can find a willing equipment operator.

 

[crunch]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

You could always make an A-frame out of 16' 4x6, but Bob's right... our local lumber yard will deliver 20 miles out of town for 15 bucks and a boom truck will safly lift 2000 lbs. Use the A-frame for in and out of truck.

 

[NBE]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

If you have a local rent-all place they usually have an engine lift designed for that type of job. It hooks up to your trailer hitch and away you go. There is also one that you just put in the back of a pick-up truck.

They reach fairly high. I've used one to lift my 455 olds out of a 21' jet boat a couple of times with no problem. Don't know about 15' though. Maybe you could put it in the back of a truck.

As far as holding the engine once it is pulled I have an engine stand for that. But usually I am working on the engine and the stand lets it rotate and such to make it easy to work on. I don't see why you just can't set it on a pallet or something similiar and brace it up.

 

[NW Redneck]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

Heres' the 'Redneck creativity' coming out.....:devil:

Whack down 3 of those trees and cut them into poles the height you need. About 2' from the top, lash them together into a tripod. Set up over boat and drive stakes (any pieces of re-bar lying around?) by each pole and secure. Hang a block and tackle from the tripod and hook up engine. Tie an extra piece of rope somewhere at the frontt of the engine. Take lead end from block and tie to frame of nearby vehicle. Drive away until engine clears boat. Grab on to the rope you tied onto the engine and pull to the side as 'winch vehicle' backs up. Viola!

Laugh if you will, but that's exactly how my F-I-L & I got the engine out of his tractor! d Of course he has 10 rural acres and lots of trees.

Of course if you wanted to get all fancy and stuff you could use a chain hoist instead of the block and tackle.d

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

You can rent a little U-haul trailer to transport the engine too. It's only like $25 per day. I wonder how much a boat yard would charge just to lift it out if you already had everything unbolted. Probably not much more than it would cost to rent a hoist. Most hoists that you'd rent would be more for a car and wouldn't reach high enough.

When you've seen the other posts about making an A-frame.. what they are saying is to make a swing-set looking thing out of wood and use that to lift it out. I've done that before, but it didn't need to be as high as yours.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

Salty, I pulled my Chevy 4.3 V6 using a home made scaffold and a cable hoist ($20). I basically built a "old west"-style "hanging" scaffold (see the movie "Hang 'em High"), backed the boat under the crossbar and used the cable puller to hoist the motor above the height of the gunwale and then pulled the boat forward. Seriously I used a double 2X10 for the crossbar, 12' 4X4 posts for the two uprights, and 2X4s for the cross braces to keep the 4X4s vertical. Worked like a charm.d

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

Call Homeland Security and the FBI.... tell them you saw a suspected terrorist snooping beneath the motor!!! I bet they lift it out!!

 

[AlanR]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

Call Homeland Security and the FBI.... tell them you saw a suspected terrorist snooping beneath the motor!!! I bet they lift it out!!

LMAO!!! Sorry i had to laugh.. that was great

 

[cookinoffroad]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

use a pulley with your truck and a buddy, it is all about levege

 

[oops!]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

if the trees are close enough.....but a beam....or several 2x4s tween them.....(on edge)

it they are on an angle....drive a good spike thru them so the pully of choice is stable......800 lbs isnt much

cheers
oops

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

The tree's are do-able, preferably a hardwood with a branch as big around as your leg. Chain, tow-strap, come-along and maybe a pulley. Raise the block up, drop the back of the boat with the trailer jack, scoot the boat/trailer out from under it and drop it on a pallet in the back of your truck. Get-er-dun rides again...done it many times with heavier stuff.

 

[NoKlu]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

Rent a portable engine hoist from the local rental store they all have them for about $20. they come apart so they will lay on the back floor of any car.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

Plant two trees about the width of your boat apart. Water them thoroughly, and as they grow shape and entwine the branches that face inward toward the other tree. Eventually those branches will grow together. Use this as a cross beam for a block and tackle, to lift the motor out. If you choose the right species, you can even have the only engine lift in town that produces fruit!

Seriously, I usually just rent a large engine lift for this from the local rental shop... they have a 10 foot model I tow behind my car. I'm planning on using the metal from a boat trailer I don't need any more to weld together a lift this summer.

Erik

 

[salty87]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

Plant two trees about the width of your boat apart. Water them thoroughly...
Erik

would have been a good idea...maybe plant just a little before the thread was started in 2006 though

i borrowed a friend's hangar roof...not sure how high but on the trailer, i need real close to 10' to clear the hull...we had about 5" clearance with this set-up. will be more fun putting engine back!

 

[fixb52s]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

I wish I has a large aircraft hanger. Years ago while stationed at Griffiss AFB, we had a B-52 nose dock at our disposal. In this building was an overhead electric 20 ton hoist on rails. We changed many engines there on the weekends. We also lifted a truck once for fun, and hung some young stupid troops every now and then. Nothing beats a human pinata (well, we did with hockey sticks, but that's another story).​

 

[drewmitch44]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

Take it out in little pieces. start with the starter and pull the plugs and then the belts......... and so on and so forth. It will be easy to clean up and make nice and shiny that way too. You can clean each piece as you take it off. And re-assemble it back onto your new stringers once you get all the pieces painted and cleaned up. Just a thought. I heard of a guy taking his car apart in his driveway and putting it back together in his basement. LOL

 

[OhWellcraft]

Re: creative ways to pull an engine

We pulled a 350 out of a old boat that was pretty high on the trailer, used a big tree branch and a chain hoist. I wouldn't use a come a long but a good chain hoist would be fine. As already stated the more you can bone it down the easier it will be, sometimes you have to pull stuff off anyway just to get good access to mount the chains to pull it out with. And if you are going to detail,clean,paint, it would be way easier with all that stuff already off. A good hardwood pallet would work fine to set it on just have some short pieces of blocking you can use to build it up where needed so you don't have to set it right on the pan.