evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

has anyone ever used an electric winch to pull a motor out? i was at harbor frieght today getting some small supplies and was looking at their electric engine hoists, but beside it they had a 2000 pound electric atv winch. it looks set up the same as the hoist and at a fraction of the price and can take a heavier load. any downsides to this? i cant use a cherry picker in my garage because the ceiling is too low with my loft, so i have to have an electric hoist at any rate. below is the winch i was looking at. also note that i would be using an engine leveler aswell and would only be doing the motor with the winch. garage is too low to install the motor and trans together.


http://www.harborfreight.com/2000-lb...ake-68146.html

85_ZED28

Could you just pull the engine outside the garage?

eseibel67

Those little winches are for pulling an ATV out of a mudhole. I would have my doubts that it could wind in an engine straight up against the full force of gravity.

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

they sell electric hoists, as well i think.... which would be more suited to the job. they have a brake on them.

novaderrik

what kid of a garage do you have that a cherry picker won't work in? if you can get the hood open, you can use a cherry picker.. if you use a carb lifting plate, you only need about 2 feet of clearance above the radiator support to get it out. and if you don't have 2 feet of clearance above the radiator support, i don't think you'd be able to even stand up straight, let alone pull an engine out of the car..

one of those winches would have no problem with an engine- back when i was young and immortal (17 years old) me and one of my friends pulled a small block out of a 78 Monte Carlo with nothing but a chunk of chain and a 10 foot long piece of 4X4 treated lumber- but you could use the "block and tackle" method and double the lifting capacity if you are that scared..

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

gravel driveway outside the garage, and doing this swap in December.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

I said that in the above post but a hoist that can lift 880 pounds is $170, the winch which can pull 2000 pounds. Is only $65

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

Iv never tried using a picker in my garage because the ceiling looks too low, ( drop ceiling) and last time I used a picker to remove the engine out of my car at my friends house, I had to have the picker pretty much at full height to swing the motor out of the car, then again when I was sitting the motor in. But your saying the winch would work fine correct?

nhgator

That winch will work fine,we pulled many a motor with an old hand crank come-along that had seen better days,a winch like that would have been a luxury.

We had a fairly low ceiling too,a length of old 6 inch I- beam in the rafters with a couple of 2x6 jacks on each side worked fine.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

I took some pictures of my garage to show how low the ceiling is and what everyone says.

AutoRoc

iTrader: (1)

I use their 2000lb atv winch on my trailer and it will pull my 3600lb IROC onto the trailer, seriously..

I use their 1300lb Ceiling Hoist in the garage. It can pull a dressed SBC WITH powerglide attached no problem.. You have to use a pulley hook though. No pulley really really strained it.

novaderrik

if the ceiling's too low for a cherry picker, then where are you going to put a winch? you're still going to need the same amount of height to get the engine out no matter what method you use to do it.
if it's a carbureted engine, then spend the $15 for a lift plate that bolts in place of the carb. this will be the most low profile way you could possibly get the engine out. if it's a TBI engine, then you can also use the lift plate after drilling the TBI mounting holes in it. if it's a TPI setup, then remove the plenum and runners and put a chain diagonally across the motor using the holes on the rear of one head and the front of the other head, with as little slack as you can get by with- you don't need the chain to be 2 feet above the engine..

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

was going to mount it to the actual roof of my garage and cut a home for the chain to come through on the loft

Fallen2603

Just use a regular picker. Doesn't matter much if it's on gravel while you're doing it. Just make sure it won't tip, and use your man muscles to move it around. Easy.

And, yes, I've done this, with both the engine and transmission together.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

well here are the pictures of the garage, i think i can do it up near the front of the garage as i have more room but will have to go from the side and keep it on the ground.

Andrew James

iTrader: (3)

Looks like room to me. You could always pull the fromt clip.

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

I can pull a shortblock out of my car in the garage. But Im not sure Id pull/install the whole longblock that way. You gotta get the oil pan over the fender (I couldnt go over the front, nose is too long, and if you're in a garage you're likely going in through the side too.) so it can get pretty close.

novaderrik

you have plenty of room for a cherry picker, and i'd rather use that than rely on the rafters or trusses to hold a 550 pound engine... move all the stuff in front of the car out of the way to make more room.. get everything unhooked and unbolted so that the engine is just sitting in the car.. open the door and push the car so that the back bumper is outside... hook up cherry picker, jack it up, roll the picker straight back to get the engine over the front of the car, lower the motor almost to the ground, move the picker and engine off to the side, push car forward, shut door..

this whole operation will only take about 5 minutes and i've done it in smaller areas than you've got there.. one thing to watch out for is that you get a cherry picker with a long enough reach to get past the nose of the car. they really put a long nose on these cars.

Fallen2603

Plenty of room. Much better conditions than I had. Just do pretty much what novaderrik said to do. You'll be fine.

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

Dude, are you kidding? You've got more than enough room for a picker. I have a 7' garage door in my garage, and I just pulled the motor & trans (connected) out of my GTA with the garage door open, i.e. with less than 7' total height.


Here's a pic during removal that shows the motor partway out. The take-away here is that you can see that we made sure the hoist was as close to the motor as possible. You can see the garage door here too. See how close the top of the picker is to the door? It turns out the car was too high, so we had to lower the car to have room.


Here's a pic of the car that shows the garage door at the 7' height. Notice how low the car was in order to provide adequate room between the radiator support & ceiling

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

took 2 more pictures of the area i plan on doing the swap, plan on going in from the side to be able to have more room and leave the door shut.

rabblerouser

pull off the nose of the car, your going to have to anyways if you go with the HF cherry picker, theres just no other way to get the boom to reach. (used the same one you mentioned to pull my engine).

as for the electric winch, IF you decide to go that route, get and use a ****** block with it, cuts the cables working load by 1/2. also, something to remember, those winches usually are built to run on 12v DC current. cant exactly just plug em into a wall outlet

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

i had one as well and it baaaaaaaaaarrrreeeellly would pull my car onto the trailer. as in the winch was nearly on fire by the time the car was on the trailer. i had to put a snatchblock on it so it would work halfway decent.
now i have an 8500lb winch that works good.

novaderrik

i always do the engine pulling with the nose of the car inside the garage, towards the back wall.. if i have limited room in front of the car i will get everything unhooked and ready to pull out, open the garage door, push the rear of the car out the door far enough to get the cherry picker in front of the car (using blocks behind the rear wheels if the driveway angles down away from the door..), lift the engine out and set it off to the side of the car, roll the car back in, then close the door.. if your planning is good and you didn't forget to unhook a ground wire or shifter cable or something, the door is only open for about 10 minutes max.. i've done this in the dead of MN winter.

of course, you tend to get good at things and get a good procedure down after doing them a hundred times, so i can have almost any Chevy V8 out of any vehicle in a couple of hours after driving it into the garage under it's own power and with minimal fluid spillage.

TreeFiddy

Big difference between pulling 2000 pounds on wheels along the ground, and dead-lifting it straight up. Or 500 pounds in the case in point here.

After all, you can push your car by hand if you have to, but I'd love to see you perform a clean and jerk

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

The 1,000lb cherry picker is fine if you pull the motor out from the side instead of from the front. The 2,000lb cherry picker works fine from the front, though it's close.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

iv got a 2 ton i beleive, havent picked it up yet, its still at my dads. and last time i went from the front i damaged my front nose from the picker rubbing, so im going from the side, put a jackstand under the driver side, remove the tire, push picker up and pull the motor, slide the picker back till it clears the fender, then start to lower it. thats my game plan anyways.

watajob

iTrader: (29)

The side works just fine, even with an engine leveler and the chains not snatched all the way up.

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

my bad... I meant to say 1 ton and 2 ton, not 1000lb and 2000lb. If you have a 2 ton, you'll have room to come out the front. You just need to be careful, because it is very close. I've pulled a motor out (and put a motor in) my IROC twice using my 2 ton picker at the front of the car with the nose on. You do have to pull the lower valance off, but the nose itself can stay.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

You could lift the engine with that ATV winch, but how would you lower it? It doesn't have a powered pay-out mode. Release the brake, and it will let the engine crash to the ground.

watajob

iTrader: (29)

Now, THERE'S a good vid.

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

i was thinking the 2000lb winch i got from hf had 2 buttons. out and in.

nhgator

Ouch,didn't consider that part.good point.

novaderrik

he never did clarify that he wanted to be able to set the engine down..

lunati397

just use a cherry picker and leveler you have plenty of room Ive done it in a 7.5 ceiling with clip still on just get a tranny plug at HF best few dollars ive ever spent

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

The one that was linked did not. Or, the "out" just let it freewheel.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

good point five lol, anywho i went and got the 2 ton picker from my dad today and if i go out to half ton it will reach the center of the hood with plenty of room to go, i think ill use a half ton to pull the v6 out, and the same for my 350.

novaderrik

put the boom out as far as you can get it without the end of the boom extending past the wheels on the legs.. unless the picker is a total POS, you can lift your whole car off the ground with the boom all the way out- i picked the whole front of my 74 Monte (it weighed 4200 pounds on a grain scale) off the ground using a carb lift plate with the boom on my 2 ton picker all the way out just to see if it would do it, and i left it hanging with the wheels a foot off the ground for over an hour when i went to eat some dinner.. i took pics, but accidentally deleted them before getting them online anywhere..
they rate the picker low to protect themselves from liability, and as long as the weight is hanging behind the front wheels of the picker it won't tip over.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

I was wondering about that because the RAM that is on it is an 8 ton RAM. And for a reference we used this picker to lift the front end of my dads 68 cougar to get it up on wheel ramps. Never strained the hoist but I think I was on 1 ton