There was a guy who worked in my grandfather's shop many years ago who was
taking shortcuts rigging up something to remove an engine from a car. He
died when the rope broke and the engine came down on top of him.

In another situation, not car-related specifically, when a hoist was
under-engineered, I watched the top of a distillation column come careening
to the ground, coming very close to killing one person in the process.

I'm not saying any methods described here wouldn't work, I'm just
recommending caution and very much thoughtfulness for a process such as
this.

Marc Perdue

On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 8:26 AM, Jim Felder <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:

> To me, what's wrong is that the jack method doesn't offer very much control
> over the attitude of the engine mating with the transmission, plus the fact
> that if you make a mistake you get an engine on the ground or worse. I've
> done it both ways, many times, and I prefer the precise control of a hoist.
>
> I bought a transmission jack once upon a time with fore and aft tilt
> control on it, but I couldn't make it fit under the car with enough
> clearance to roll the engine out. I have seen some special purpose jacks
> for motorcycles and such that look much lower, and they have a wider
> platform to work with, but so far I haven't see the need to go beyond the
> saw horse and hoist.
>
> Jim
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 10:18 PM, Ed <email99@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
> > What's wrong with the traditional jack stands, a piece of plywood, some
> > wood
> > blocks and a floor jack?  You can build a simple cradle with the wood
> > blocks
> > is you like.  It has worked well for me with a stock engine, a tiico I-4,
> > and
> > a Subaru Ej25.
> >
> > If you want something to just hold the engine in place while you r&r the
> > transmission, use a 2x4 with a hole in it, a large eye bolt with washers
> > and
> > a nut and some quick links.
> >
>