Engine Stands and cherry pickers

[rp23g7]

General questions here,

Thinking about finally picking up a cherry picker and a engine stand. Just wondering how many of you guys have them.

If you do have them, do ever get a wild hair, or a leak in something, and decide just to yank the engine, trans out and seal it up and put it back in over a Saturday or weekend? If so, depending on the fix, does it take you to yank it out and put it back in.

So much easier to get off you butt and just do it if you have the stuff already. Be nice to yank both engines out to do the main seals and the shift shafts on the transmissions.

 

[wannadrag]

Bought the cherry picker back in the early 80s,one of the best $200 i ever spent.Engine stands are home built and i use them all the time.I'd be afraid to hang a engine on some of those cheezy store bought ones.

 

[69 Runner]

Got a cherry picker from Harbor Freight. Have replaced the jack on it once. Legs fold up and that's good for storage. As far as engine stands go, while a 4 wheel one is considerably more stable than a 3, the front is (sometimes) to wide to roll up between the legs on the picker.

hope that makes sense

 

[HitIt]

If you are going to do stuff like leak repairs etc while your engine is on a stand, spend the extra money and get the crank handle type for rotating. Wish I had one last time I used my cheap store bought take-the-pin-out-and-pray one.

 

[generaljmwlee]

bought a cheap stand years ago bolted the big block to it and started to lower it and the groaned and said "IDONT DO BIG BLOCKS!!!!" and the motor went to the floor . goodthing I still had it chained to the hoist!

 

[Deleted member 214]

Harbor Freight had coupons for engine hoists with folding legs for $89 in magazines - my July 2010 Car Craft has them. If there is a store near where you live, that's a great deal. It is most likely a Chinese import but if you don't use it very often it should last a good while. Since it folds it can be moved easily - I've loaned mine out to car buddies. My wife wanted to paint a hanging lamp and it was a perfect place to hang it!

 

[wannadrag]

:yes:

bought a cheap stand years ago bolted the big block to it and started to lower it and the groaned and said "IDONT DO BIG BLOCKS!!!!" and the motor went to the floor . goodthing I still had it chained to the hoist!

 

[72 Charger SE]

So much easier using a cherry picker to pull an engine than the old method I used to use (come-along hooked to a braced cross beam of a car port.) If you know your way around under the hood of the car and have air tools, you can have your engine pulled and on the engine stand in under an hour. My cherry picker was under $200 at Costco about 10 years ago, with removeable front legs for storage.

 

[roadrunnerman]

bought a home built cherry picker that makes the back end of my 1/2 ton p/u go a little closer to the ground.rolls real easy too on the garage floor.haven't got an engine stand but don't know if i'm going to buy one or not.

 

[scotts74birds]

I use Harbor freight tools, but I will never risk my life with them! Get QUALITY stands and lifts. JMHO.

 

[rp23g7]

I think i found a nice cherry picker, never used, they say, for $45, gotta go look at it tomorrow.