A huge second, third and forth vote for the load leveler! I pulled many engines over the years trying to guess at how much slack should be on the various lift chains and invariably, I had to put the engine back down a couple times during the process when the angle wasn't right. For my last swap, I broke down and bought one from Harbor Freight - it was cheap, like $25 on sale!

It works like magic. One of the problems when not using it is that pressure builds up when the engine contacts some part of the body as it's sliding up and out. This pressure has a nasty way of letting loose when you're not paying attention or are yanking on it trying to free it up. An engine and tranny are very unforgiving to hands and fingers in between hard metal parts.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250