350 cubic inches of sled!

[84gmcjimmy]

What a day today was...
I went outside around 3:45 to move the engine into the shop. The night before I was brainstorming how I was going to get it into the shop. There is 5" of snow, so I thought I was going to use the sled like I did with the frame.
I got it down my driveway with ease (heavy momentum and down-grade=easy pulling) But when I got to the flat gravel spot it got hard. I pushed and pushed... sometimes the engine almost fell off.
Well I got to 8 feet away from the door, all I needed to do was go 1 foot forward, turn 90* to the left, and go about 6-7 feet up a little ramp into the shop.
I thought I could do it, but it got stuck in deeper snow, I pushed a bit harder on the engine, and the engine "stand" thing I made collasped making the engine tip forward and to the left. I was caught by a manifold stud and it cut my on my stomach. I managed to catch it before it knocked down the green house... it was sitting on the collasped stand, and leaning on the fan blades/pulleys. I screamed for my mom to come out and pull the engine hoist out of the shop... we positioned it and lifted the engine up with a bit of hassle... all of a sudden while I am steadying the engine, and my mom is pumping the engine hoist I hear what I thought was water... I look down and 2-3 litres of engine coolant drained out onto the ground (that's how much the engine was tipped forward!! ) when we got the engine up into the air, we tried to swing the whole hoist so it was facing the shop entrance. no way... the wheels on the engine hoist are a b***h to move. I had to get a long 2x4 and lever the hoist around, and forward. That took probably 30 minutes!! Then FINALLY with my last bit of grunt, I pushed it up the remaining 3 inches up the ramp and onto the shop floor. I was out of breathe the time we got it in there.
What I learned today:

• When building a "engine stand" out of 4x6's and a 2x4 cross braces, don't use 3 nails per side... use screws.

The wood brace actually cracked making it pivot on the nails and collaspe. Tomorrow I will re-make it with either bolts (if I can find any) or long screws. With new cross braces.
Here are the pics....

( Green lines show the path I took with the sled)

 

[mr.smartass]

your stories always seem to make me laugh

 

[ryoken]

the adventures of Steve!

i woulda sat it in a couple tires on that sled... congrats on being able to work outta the cold..
hope ya got some heat in that shop for those long days of grinding, etc.

i'm spoiled... i don't work outside unless its a breakdown...

 

[cybrfire]

What is a litre??


Ha...

 

[84gmcjimmy]

the adventures of Steve!

i woulda sat it in a couple tires on that sled... congrats on being able to work outta the cold..
hope ya got some heat in that shop for those long days of grinding, etc.

i'm spoiled... i don't work outside unless its a breakdown...

I don't have any spare tires for it to sit on, they all have rims.
The sad part about moving the frame into the shop is... it's going to be elbow to wall most of the time

 

[diesel4me]

I feel bad----

Making that cradle for the motor was my suggestion--I thought it would make it easier for you to store and move the motor around--metal is always better than wood,but if you bolt it together instead of nailing it,you should have no trouble using wood(thats all I used for years,until I learned to weld and made a cradle out of an old angle iron bedframe and some casters off an old cart)--

--I know how much it sucks trying to move heavy things around alone--I have made several "flatbed" carts with good sized tires to wheel motors and other heavy objects around,and a few trailers for my riding mower as well--one trailer is just an old riding mower cut in half with a flatbed on the axles and chassis--its wide flotation tires work great on mushy soil--one cart I made with the rear hubs and wheels off a honda civic,its my favorite for heavy loads because the big tires dont sink into the ground,and rolls so easy I usually end up holding it back rather than pushing it!..At the junkyard,we used an old hood for a toboggan to "skid" engines over snow covered ground,towed it with a truck or the forkloader....

An engine hoist is practically useless if its not on hard asphalt or a cement floor--and if you put bigger wheels on it,it wont slide under the vehicle to pull an engine out--this is why I built the crane on the flatbed of my 74 K20--and I'll tell ya,I miss that truck pretty bad--I have a ton of scrap piled up in the yard,but so far no way to load it into my other trucks to scrap it(I'm still rebuilding the "swingset" A-frame thing I used before I built the crane)--but that doesn't help UN load the truck at the scrapyard either!!..this foot of snow we got monday set me back a lot as far as cleaning up the yard--some stuff is buried under 3 foot drifts...and I'd rather be celebrating new years than digging scrap out of snowdrifts right now....

Another helpful item for moving heavy things is a winch,or a come-a-long--I use a winch in my shop to drag disabled vehicles inside without pushing--its anchored to the rear of the shop,with chain bolted to the achor bolts in the shops foundation--a come-a-long works good too,but is very tiring to use--even a hand winch off an old boat trailer(new at wal-mart for 20-30 bucks!)will drag a car or truck into the shop fairly easy--I also use my hand truck in its folded down position on all four wheels to move motors around by pulling it with the winch,but its useless on dirt or grass just like the engine hoist--tires are too skinny..and so am I when it comes to moving heavy junk around!!

 

[84gmcjimmy]

Robert,
I didn't mean to critisize you or anything. It was a great idea, and it helped me a lot. I just abused it a little. I was pushing the engine the whole way, so that put a lot of stress on the blocks. It was by all means my fault. I am going to rebuild it, and maybe use some scrap steel to re-inforce it.
The problem with my house is there is no escaping grass, dirt, and gravel. Especially in the winter time there is snow. So that makes moving things a lot easier. But remember, I'm still young so it's not a big deal, I'm learning. I was going to use a come along (I found one outside, a bit rusty) but I have no way to ancor it in my shop to pull the stuff in there. The whole shop is wood plywood and all that.
Thanks for the help!! Hopefully in the next 3-4 months when I HOPEFULLY start re-assembling the frame/chassis I will have made a few more tools/things to help me.
Thanks for the help once again!!

 

[Drey]

You need to think lazier man...you coulda just used that K5 sittin there tie a chain or rope to that sled and pull it with that

 

[84gmcjimmy]

I thought it was too risky. I was alone doing it until my mom came home. I could have I guess...

 

[POWERMAD]

I just removed a 400 from a van that was in mud like the snow ya have, and had to manuver the engine into a place it could be loaded into a rig sorta like what ya had to deal with.
I stripped the engine down to the block and oil pan( less weight to move)
then using the picker I turned it upside down and put a peice of plywood on my creeper RIP and set it down on that. I then pushed it through ankle deep mud for about 30 yards to the pickup.
That creeper with the big pnuematic wheels worked great for that.
My creeper is no more though, it gave it's life valiantly trying to stop a runaway 400.
It was no match the 400 won and died as well.

 

[84gmcjimmy]

LOL woah! So the creeper got squashed. That would have sucked.
Ankle deep mud would be worse than what I was going through!
Good job!

 

[POWERMAD]

ya the creeper is bent at funny angles and only 2 wheels are an the ground

My dads a tv repair man I can fix it
Doesn't look any worse that when a Pete rolled over my one at work.
a press and a welder and it will be good as new only older

 

[crzytrckr]

Thanks! I just remembered why i bought my little 68 chev tow truck. Guess i won't sell it after all! I ain't so young anymore and can't take all that huffing and puffing....lol

 

[84gmcjimmy]

ya the creeper is bent at funny angles and only 2 wheels are an the ground

My dads a tv repair man I can fix it
Doesn't look any worse that when a Pete rolled over my one at work.
a press and a welder and it will be good as new only older

At least it's fixable. Good luck and thanks for the help1