Joel1975

I just bought a 302 to rebuild - complete motor. I'm buying an engine stand this week but I need to get the motor out of the bed of my truck and suspended so I can hook it up to the stand. I know I can get a portable engine crane or lift that has wheels and all, but my buddy said I can just use an engine hoist suspended from the rafters in my garage. The problem is my ceiling is drywalled and I don't want to cut any large sections out. I know enough not to tear up the rafters - if I have to I can figure out how to support the 500lbs or whatever the 302 weighs without tearing them up. I just prefer to not go that route unless I absolutely have to. I have a 1,000 hoist I can borrow.

Have any of you found a way to do this? Once the engine I'm rebuilding is done, I'll put it back in the bed and drive over to my buddy's house to swap the existing engine with the rebuilt one. He has a big garage and a good setup already in place for swapping them.

I don't think a portable engine crane will work well enough to maneuver around in my two car garage to actually pull an engine anyway and I'd rather spend the $200 on parts for this rebuild.






Any suggestions or ideas?

Came out of a 93 F150 with Speed Density. He did not know if this was a roller block, so my fingers are crossed that it is . . . if not there has to be a work around to use a roller cam.





This dude had a sweet setup in his building.





Only bought the engine. I let him keep the AOD since I have a 4R70W.





I love my truck!

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

With my son's 4.0 we bolted the motor to the engine stand in the truck and kinda lifted it out. Depends how high your truck is though. You can maybe jack it up and take the back wheels off to lower it enough....depends how determined you are to get it off. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Joel1975

I see what you're saying, Chris. I'll have to take the tailgate off and make a little ramp to get the motor stand high enough to bolt up then roll it on down. I can pull the engine back far enough just by dragging the tire it's sitting in towards the back of the truck. Thanks for the idea!

qdeezie

The '93 truck 302 is a roller block and has a roller cam in it.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

Even if it doesn't have the roller cam in it, it will be the roller block so you can install one

Scuba_Dave

My brother hoisted an Austin Healey engine out & broke the joists
Most joists/rafter systems are simply NOT made to support an engine
Some will...many will not
You also need to verify they are joists -2x6/2x8/2x10 etc.....or if its a TRUSS assembly
A Truss assembly is usually 2x4's & I would never try to use one to support an engine
Many times with joists (if larger) you can put a 2x LIFTER joists across several joists for support
Then lift from the LIFTER joists (just what I called it)
How far the joists SPAN is also a consideration
If they span a single bay garage maybe 10' you are in much better shape then if spanning a larger garage say 16' span
2 bay garage may have a support beam down the middle of the garage between the bays

Depending upon height of the garage ceiling I have seen LVL's installed below the ceiling & used
Good luck

Joel1975

I took a sheet of 3/4 plywood, a couple 8' 2x6s, a few 4x4s of different lengths, and a 3' long dowel rod that was like 1" thick.

I had the engine sitting in a tire to help keep it from tipping over during the 1 hour and 45 minute drive home, so I was able to do the following. I took off my tailgate, used the 2x6s on the bumper to the end of the bed, laid the plywood on top of the 2x6s and kind of rolled the engine down the plywood. Just a ramp. This is an extremely brief description of what I did - it was way more involved but you get the idea. I used two jacks to assist with the whole process and 2x4s etc. Went slow and had no problems that couldn't be solved. It took about 45 minutes to do with my 16 year old son helping.

When I get the engine stand, I'll just use my floor jacks and 4x4s or some kind of similar setup to raise it incrementally until I have enough height to bolt it on.