Engine Stand Thread

[Dan Stokes]

I posted earlier that I picked up a back-up engine for Mutt the Race Truck (OM617) "just in case". ImBroke took good care of me.

So how do I want to mount this on a stand given the hassles I had doing the rear main seal on the current engine? I bought another Harbor Freight 4 wheel stand (I had great luck with the previous one) but the standard rear-mount is a bit of a pain when working on the engine, especially working in the rear area. I was reminded of a HUGE OTC stand we had at EPA for heavy duty Diesels and my little brain got to hummin'.

Here's pics:

1) Mounted "as usual" from the rear. Besides impeding rear access, some of the guys worried that the rear intermediate plate might not be strong enough to hold the engine over time. Note the box to hold bits and pieces from the engine.

2) What's this? Explanation to follow.

3) Mounted. I made the mount plate from a 4"X3 1/2" piece of 1/4 plate - note the notch to clear a bump on the FI pump. The piece of heavy square tube is 8" long. This is 1 1/2" but I'd suggest 2" if you had to buy any but this hunk was scrap just lying around the shop. Note that I gussetted the heck out of the joints. The gussets were just angles I had left from other projects - in fact, it's all made out of scrap. Yes, I painted it as always for me.

4) Note lack of rear obstructions.

Given that I'm not the world's best weldor I carefully let down the cherry picker and shook the engine violently. Nothing moved, groaned, or creaked so I decided all was well. The stand seems plenty stable with an engine mounted sideways to "normal".

Dan