using tractor FEL as engine crane/hoist

[JB4310]

Nothing wrong with using the loader as the lifting point, but you really should use a lifting tool like a comalong or chain-hoist.

You risk doing damage trying to control the lift with tractors hydraulics, that's Caveman style, they don't even do that at the junkyards if they are trying to salvage the engine or tranny.

You could make the loader safe with cylinder blocking/locking.

I would use my bucket buddy for the lifts attachment point

JB.

 

[z0lt3c]

The engine is a 3.0L aluminum block and head. For an engine, it's very light, it's well within my lift capacity. The plan is to pull it from tunnel nose up with transmission attached as described by another poster. There is a single lift hook on top of the engine and in front of the intake, directly above the crank shaft. There will also be 5 of us here tomorrow to finish disconnecting and then assist with removing.

The engine is coming out of a parts car I found out a local junkyard. There is another thread I posted in regards to my adventures towing it back home. I am selling it to a buyer who is installed it into an e30 chassis track car. So my singple priority is make sure nothing is damaged coming out. I will need to load it up onto the buyers pickup truck once out (so another transport & lift involved here).

I plan on junking most of the chassis non mechanical parts, you can see the windshield is damaged and both front corner wheelhouse areas sheet metal has been crumpled. I tried to straighten and paint it but, alas, I could not save it satisfactorily. It also took a hit to the passenger side as there is a nice wave in the under body and rear floor. Somebody fixed all the outer body panels so I didn't discover it until I started stripping parts.

It sounds like I'll make a trip out to TSC tomorrow and pick up a come-along, I am sure iIll find additional uses for this. The engine hoist is so single purposed, I just don't want to invest in one.

 

[E/S]

Nothing wrong with using the loader as the lifting point, but you really should use a lifting tool like a comalong or chain-hoist.

You risk doing damage trying to control the lift with tractors hydraulics, that's Caveman style, they don't even do that at the junkyards if they are trying to salvage the engine or tranny.

You could make the loader safe with cylinder blocking/locking.

I would use my bucket buddy for the lifts attachment point

JB.

X2

E/S

 

[some zilch]

last i checked, osha was irrelevant when working on a personal project at home. i *think* most people have *some* common sense, and would not work under the bucket any more than necessary. i pull engines all the time w/just a chain wrapped around one of my forks. i have "real" forks; not clamp on buket forks

 

[archerm3]

Make sure you don't run the loader up into your garage door.

 

[RobertN]

My Dad, and a good freind have done this in the past.

They indicated the biggest thing they found, was being able to feather the loader control so it did not jerk around.

My friend also indicated it was hard to be sure when everything was loose, including coming off dowel pins. He wound up with a new windshield....

Remember, on the tractor you are 5-6' away from seeing everything. With a cherry picker, you are right there, and can make minor adjustments. And, you can really feel any binding, that may be harder to feel from the tractor.

Seeing how you have everything stripped back, front support off ect, that looks like it should be an easy pull. Would still have a second person to watch it and make sure everything wigggles free without binding, jerking around ect.

 

[z0lt3c]

The engine is out and loaded into the pickup truck and the buyer is on his way! Everything went pretty smoothly, I did take some pictures which I have included below. In the end, I am sure some you won't approve of the methods, but it went smoothly and nothing was damaged and nobody pulled their backs out. Our approach was pretty simple, I attached a pair of 2' long chains to the end of my carry-all forks and then we wrapped and shackled the other end around the exhaust manifold flange. This provided us a good lifting point on either end that was in rough vertical alignment w/ the carry-all forks, so no Y connector was needed. It wasn't too hard to control the attachment movements w/ the tractor hydraulics, although I did have to be very careful to avoid "jerkiness" mentioned by another poster. I found that I had greater control of small movements by titling the angle of the carry-all back as opposed to moving the loader arms higher. We had some problems getting the oil pan on the engine to clear the steering rack, I came very close to lifting the whole chassis off the ground, but with a spotter on each side of the engine we figured it out quickly.


all hooked up:

off the engine mounts;

stuck on the steering rack;

free and clear;

trans comes off;

up into the truck;

lonely;

Thanks,

 

[powerstroke444e]

I would hate to gues how many I have done with a loader or backhoe, and good or bad I have rarely done it in shop usually in driveway heres a few photo's of the fun. On the trailer I have about 10 engines that I pulled with a tractor.

 

[zzvyb6]

OMG! That beautiful plastic bucket could have gotten crumpled if the chain had exploded. (Chain must have been made in the U.S.A.). All those guys standing around could have tripped over each other and fallen into the running tractor's fan blades. And where was the E.M.S and fire trucks stationed when all this was going on? Shame on you. Good thing that this is America and that creative individuals unafraid of challenges are still in existence. A wildcat picket line should surely have been set up for unsafe practices performed here. Where was the Safety Committeeman when all this was going on? It took 4 days to get this done I assume. You can probably tell I've worked with skilled labor such as yourself a lot. The official Violation Report on this is going to take weeks to investigate.

Be sure to wax your tractor afterwards...

BTW: 3 MEN could have picked that motor up by hand and tossed it into the pickup. Next time use the tractor to pick the whole mess up, set it into the truck bed, and then use your Jaws of Life to cut the car out away from the engine.

Good Grief ! Lord have mercy on us dummies.

 

[jas67]

I'm going to attempt to use the FEL on my B7800 as an engine hoist this weekend to pull an engine out of a BMW sedan. I'm thinking the best approach would be to use my FEL mounted carry-all forks, attach one end of a pair of chains to the fork and the other ends to the engine lifting points. Up with the loader and back with the tractor until the engine separates from chassis ?? I am also thinking about using chains under the engine as well, to form a cradle.

Has anybody else attempted this with their loader ... any points or tips?

Thanks,

What model BMW? I've swapped engines on a few E30's myself. I have a manually operated hydraulic engine crane, and have always pulled the engine and transmission together. I don't know how high the FEL on your B7800 goes, but my B7610's FEL doesn't go high enough to do the job with the bucket pivots, and I agree with the poster's comment about not having enough fine control out at the ends of the forks.

Regards,
Jay

 

[z0lt3c]

What model BMW?

It was an e36 OBDI M3 engine (S50B30) going into a e30 swap car being built for drifting. I have another 95 M3 that I use for HPDE events, trying to get into NASA and BMWCCA races in a year or two.

The B7800 had plenty of FEL height and lift capacity, even with my attachment, Q/A and using the furthest mounting bolts from the pins. Bigger challenge was not running it into the garage door at 8' high. As I mentioned, it was much smoother to roll the forks back then it was to try and lift them up.

Once we had the trans off, it was no sweat to lift the engine, using the chains we rigged, and up into the back of the pickup truck. The nice thing about the engine so far out in front of the tractor is I could pull up all the way to the bumper and get the engine into the back of the bed.

When the engine got the stuck on the steering rack I lifted the whole front end off the ground, that's when we decided to put the wheels back on, just in case. Yes, our backup plan was to lift the engine by hand, but on a 15 degree day in NJ, standing around the torpedo heater and using the tractor sounded like a better plan.

 

[Wis Bang]

I've used a fork lift to pull a v-6 from an S-10 at my work shop.

I used a Case skid steer to R & R the 4 cyl in an ingersoll air compressor at the construction company.

We borrowed an old Holmes wrecker to pull the engine from my '62 willys jeep in the backyard.

The 2nd time we had the Jeep down the city's shop and dad [city eq operator] used a JD 2010 backhoe.

We also used a tripod made from 3" pipes and a chain fall to pull a chev 250 I-6 and 3 speed trans from a 68 chevell in the backyard...

I inherited an old Ingersoll air powered cable lift [1000# hoist] but never got it set up b/4dad passed and ended up taking it to the scrapyard along w/ alot of other stuff...

An engine hoist works nice but isn't necessary as long as you work safe...

 

[jas67]

It was an e36 OBDI M3 engine (S50B30) going into a e30 swap car being built for drifting. I have another 95 M3 that I use for HPDE events, trying to get into NASA and BMWCCA races in a year or two.

Sounds like it'll be fun car. I owned an '89 E30 (325i). Even stock it was a fun car, the S50B30 will certainly wake it up!