Introduction: Engine Crane

About: toolmaker turned sparky

Im going to change the engine in my brother in laws car. whenever i have done this in the past i have slung a fence puller over the beam in my garage to lift the engine out of the car then push the car back away from the engine but his car is outside. i toyed with making a tripod out of 4 by 2 but this seemed to be a bit dangerous. i was looking around in my scrap pile and found the remains of a hotwater cylinder stand that i cut up as stock material. the penny dropped. i could use one side as a base and a cut up side as the main upright. an old scaffold pole looked like it would make a good beam/arm. a few early afternoons from work left me and my aprentice thomas some time to weld up a crane. within a few hours we had what passed for a crane. i welded a tube through the scafold pole so it would be sronger and pivoted it on an offcut of m12 studding. i also found a couple of scaffold clamps at the back of my garage which with a bit of drilling and filling could hold 'd" shackles to attach the fence puller to and something to hold the engine. also in the garage were some big castor wheels which were meant to go onto an old scaffold tower that we have but they soon were bolted to the botttom of the crane which gave it all the manoverability it required even though they could have done with being half the height if i was going to keep the crane. in use the scaffold pole started to bend so i shored it up with my shoulder as tom worked the puller mechanism. also when the engine was clear of the car we clamped a piece of plywood to the frnt of the crane to lower the engine onto to move it around as it was safer than leaving it swinging around. unfortunatly i dont have a photo with the engine being lifted as i was under the arm of the crane!!!
things i would do to improve this are smaller wheels so the car dosent have to be so high and weld some strngthening onto the scaffold pole also add a hydraulic ram to make it a bit more profesional!!!!!