Of course, you're correct. ANYTHING can happen with Mr. Murphy. But why tease him with something you are unsure of??? I've never had a chain break. Never had a hoist spring a leak. Never head a head bolt let go (I swap them out for grade 8 blts BTW). Also never ran a "test lift". Where the hell am I gonna find something that weighs as much as a 454 iron engine and Turbo 400 trans???? Unless I try and lift a whole car first.

 

I've seen a chains or cables break and a bolt can definately shear under side load. The test lift only needs to be high enough to put the load onto your lift rig. If you've ever been involved with any heavy industrial lifting, you'll know a good crane operator tests his lifting capacity before hoisting the load.

Lots of lifting methods have been used over the years to re & re engine blocks. Most are successful, some are not. Try to stay in the majority and be safe.

BTW, I was very sure of my lifting rig!

 

I'll still take chains and bolts over a stud with a nut on it.

 

It's OK to stay with the chain set up. Nothing wrong there. I ran a quick check on the bolt tensile strength and found the gr. 5, 1/4" bolt had a tensile strength of approximately 3800 lbs. With four bolts torqued down to the lifting plate and a load of less then 1000lbs, I was well within the capacity of the connection. A note worthy comment found was the "Rule of thumb" when applying a shear load on a bolt as you are doing with the chain connection is to use 70% of the bolt tensile capacity to determine the load capacity of the connection.

 

Now that we are on the subject.

Do you guys know this type of Balance?

 

I've never used that model Cas, but it looks like a simple spreader beam. How is the beam connected to the lifting device?

 

I have no idea. I was looking for a balancer and found this model. I was wondering ho it works? Chains to the engine, angle with the threads, but those 2 black things? How can it help with the gearbox?

 

Looks like it's for supporting not lifting

 

My thoughts exactly!

I've just bolted a couple of links of a nice thick chain to the heads when I've lifted mine out.

 

Thanks to all for the help. I think I will go conservative with bolts and chains. Murphy lives at my house too....

 

Take your valve covers off so you don't crush them with the chain.

 

Why take a chance:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...ctId=100594356

$34 delivered. Cheap insurance, plus adjustable with weight applied. Used it to pull my 350 and TH350 together.

 

Yeah, that really looks like a strong tilter for a good price.
Can't go wrong with that!

 

That's fine for the studs that go into the manifold, what is the strength of the threads on say an 10 year old performer intake that was bought at a swap meet ?

 

Hi Gentlemen,
I have heard this same discussion over engine lifting a hundred times and people, including myself, always had the same concerns. I designed the Kaizen load leveling lift plate so I knew that on paper, (4) 5/16th studs in tension were approximately 84% stronger than two 3/8 bolts in shear. (given the same alloy) My concern was always the aluminum intake so that's why I did the destructive testing with an iron manifold and then with an aluminum manifold. I was surprised by the results but load cells don't lie. After the aluminum manifold test I unscrewed the ARP studs out of the manifold by hand! I couldn't believe it. My plate was mangled beyond recognition but that intake is now on a BBC. I grew up the son of a mechanic/race engine builder and my dad always used carb mounted lift plates pulling and installing engines into/out of cars and on and off the dyno. I have never once seen a lift plate fail. NEVER. I have seen chains break (understand that most chain is sourced from china or mexico), I have seen bolts snap that were screwed into the side of a cylinder head and I have seen Mr. Murphy show up a few times but only due to someone's stupidity. Like the homemade .125" thick (if that) lift brackets that a guy cobbled out of a rusty piece of cold rolled on an all iron small block. Anyway, whatever your preference, always work with a partner and never work under a load, avoid impact loads when operating the hoist, always use studs over bolts on aluminum, avoid excessive angles when rigging anything. Excessive angularity can multiply forces many times over and easily exceed your rigging gear's capacity.

Good discussion guys. Take care and be safe.

Chris Cogan
Kaizen Motorsports

 

I'm curious Chris, would you say that tilting an engine and transmission to go into an engine bay from over a fender...to be an extreme angle?

Oh and I ordered one of your plates too, right after I ordered the Oberg. What can I say, I like having extra tools.

 

That is for working on FWD cars. It is used to support the engine and transmission when the cradle is removed or the engine when the transmission is removed. I don't see how it could be any use on a Vette.

 

Most EVERYTHING is sourced from china or mexico or whatever foreign producer you want to name. Most of the parts installed on a new Vette are from countries other than the USA. So should I not buy a new Vette (or Harley bike, which is also has many imported parts) because they have foreign parts on them?
I have also seen rusty old chains that I wouldn't use to close a garden gate used to pull engines and not break. Everyone's experience varies on this. And I would take anyone who is in the business of selling manifold lifters with a grain of salt. Just as chain salesman would say their product is the best and has been the best for years, guys that sell manifold lifters will make the same claim.

 

Material properties are based on physics not sales. When you have a moment, do a little research on strength of materials. Particularly, pull-out forces, shear forces and tensile strength of common fasteners. You may be surprised at how strong some of these connections are.

 

This has been argued to death. I guess it SEEMS like 4 little 5/16 studs in aluminum shouldn't be all that strong. But I've seen the engineering analysis of bolt strength and that's what I trust. I pulled an iron head 454 with an aluminum intake AND a TH400 hanging off the back with a lift plate. No problem whatsoever. Just make sure that everything is in good condition (especially the threads) and it will work fine.