how NOT to pull an engine.

[390Nut]

Or, listening to your old man when you were 12 years old, pulling your first engine (ok, ok, HELPING to pull an engine for the first time )

dropped1.jpg

This is what happens when you're in a rush because the weather is turning foul and you want to get done. Grabbed the wrong bolt for the chain, threaded it in till it looked like the one in front of the engine (it was an inch shorter bolt) and pulled away. JUST as I was trying to leverage the rear of the engine over the bottom of the core support (center was cut out because it was rotted away anyways) the rear bolt pulled out of the head, and down came the engine.

Quick reflexes from too much coffee, and knowing what to expect when doing a job like this kept me from getting hurt. Not having any body parts underneath it while it was on the hook helped, too!

Oh, and I heard the bolt land behind me about 5 seconds AFTER the engine hit the ground. That sucker FLEW!

dropped2.jpg

Unfortunately I think the crank got bent. Sucks, because this WAS a great running engine. Also destroyed both of the valve covers, which were nearly perfect (even the paint) and the dizzy got hit as well. Need to look at it closely tomorrow to see if it took any damage. Last bit of known damage was a dent in the flywheel cover. Not a big deal, but it was perfect too.

Bonus is it had a 12 inch flywheel. Been needing one for my truck and didn't feel like paying several hundred dollars for an aftermarket one.


Safety first, boys and girls!

[fordman]

when mine fell off the chain last year. i lost one valve cover and one pan bolt flew away out fo the pile that was on the intake at the time. i got lucky.

[basketcase0302]

Glad you didn't get hurt man!

[papabug71]

It happens.

[BobbyFord]

Jeez, you're lucky your foot or something wasn't mashed.

[averagef250]

I've been there before, but I use a picker nearly every day the last 4-5 years and have just gotten used to double checking everything and chaining it real good. About 18 months ago I had to get a 100 year old 20X70 engine lathe out of the shop, was in a hurry so I talked my dad into helping. Got him on my old 30HP diesel tractor, chained the loader low on the lathe and got him to drag it backward while I used an 8' bar to manuver the lathe through the shop. It was a bad idea. The base of the lathe caught on a crack in the floor, I left the tractor in 4x4 and my dad just doesn't have the reaction time anymore to react in a split second, or even 5 seconds. The rear wheels of the tractor went straight up as the loader went down (all the while I had time to scream 5-6 times "push in the clutch, roll the bucket or kill the motor") The lathe toppled, the tractor nearly went over with my dad on it. Could've been real bad, I count my blessings it wasn't. My dad hasn't gotten on the tractor since.

[averagef250]

Also, I have a bunch of FE flywheels that are doing me no good and are a shame to scrap. If you need one and I have a 12 in there it could be yours for the cost of picking it up.

[Ranchero50]

That's a bummer. I dropped a big 28 belt drive sheave at work Thursday. Lifting it by the eye bolts in the pillow blocks with a single strap (inverted V) to a chain fall with another fall to pull the whole works sideways off the stands once it was in the air. The whole assembly was about 900lbs and four feet long (a 350hp DC motor drives it to drive the press driveline). I started with a good 45` angle on the eye bolts but the edge of the sheave caught on of the pillow block mounts after I got the belts off and once the angle go to around 30` the eye bolt failed (the chain fall slipped on the strap allowing the angle to change).

Carnage was several ribs broken off the sheave and a big divet in both the steel framework and the concrete floor. Luckily we pilliaged the press that burnt down last year and kept all the drive sheaves and a bunch of other stuff.

Doing engines I do four point lifts anymore. usually through the exhaust manifold holes in the heads with a 16" 2x4 to keep the chains off the valve cover and it works well. An engine balancer is required anymore as well.

Jamie

[1972hiboy]

[Racer Z]

Eegads.

My engine fall story is suddenly boring.

Years ago we used to find lost shopping carts, the all steel kind, and give them a new home and a new life. We cut the baskets off and used the remaining frame as an engine dolly. They seemed just fine and we were surprised at how much weight they could hold. One day while rolling a Small Block Chevy around, a wheel caught in a crack and the frame buckled. We all managed to jump out of the in time. We all said it was the beer that gave us super-human-reflexes. The engine only fell a few inches onto its side and I don't recall any damage. This was a dead motor anyway.

[71highboy]

ouch.

[fbomb100]

I can hear the words coming out of the mouth now

[Mancar1]

I hope the air isn't still blue in the general area of that mishape. Glad the incomming bolt round missed ya.