The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Engine Cradle

Anyone have plans for an engine cradle to hold a 235 6-cylinder engine or know of a supplier for the same type of cradle that can be purchased?

Look at this tech tip, I have made 3 of them and like them for storage, I put wheels on mine. Dave http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/engine_dolly.html

BigTonka had some posts showing his 235 running on one. I believe he bought it at Princess Auto here in Canada. Princess Auto in canada is similar to Habour Freight.

Homer52,

Exactly what I had in mind. I'll put the horizontal 2" x 6"s on top of the 4" x 4"s. The 2" x 6"s are prone to split out when notched like those shown.

That stand works great! I have one in service myself....

I made two of those rolling stands. As others have stated, they work great. Our Canadian pine might have tighter grain than southern pine? No splits in either of mine. I roll them around with no problems.

Yes, it was an observation based on the material properties of Southern Yellow Pine.

Thanks guys!

Gents,
I really like the tech tips "engine dolly". It looks like it can hold the engine while you work on it. A good friend showed me how to make one on the fly when I was moving from Nc to Az. It is basically two 2X4, two 2X8, and two 2X2's w/ framing crews. Once I got settled in, I picked up a furniture dolly and had the engine sit on it so I can easily move it around the garage. It has held up for the past 2 1/2 years. Here are a few pics.

pic,
pic,
pickity,
pic
Bread

Bread,

You and Homer got me to thinking. I had made a crude wooden engine support a long time ago and had it sitting on a metal dolly that had really small wheels. It worked, but I always thought the dolly too small and frame not quite what I wanted. I found the frame, so I drug it out and had considered using it. The more I look at the pictures from the two of you, the more I am inclined to follow your leads.

Thanks guys,

I made one for my 261 from the Tech Tips as well.
I bought casters from Harbor Freight that by rating (+-270 lbs each), should have worked... but in reality, did not.
I'd get better casters and also recommend swivels on all 4. It's much easier to manuever into a parking spot!
Jerry

here's the link to the one in canada from princess auto. It might give a welder some ideas.

http://www.princessauto.com/pal/product/8127821/

Tiny Jaime,

Thanks for including the link for the Canadian engine stand. This is the first one I have seen on the Internet that looks to be such that it will suffice for different engine widths. Got to playing with a pencil and paper yesterday and sketched up a frame I may weld up using some TS 4" x 4" x 1/8" and put some good sixe 360 degree swivel casters on so I can easily move it around in the one-car garage. I did something similar for my cab and hope to put some pictures and dimensions on the Tech Tips soon. I designed the cab frame to match the location of the hold-down bolts for the cab.

Looking at the link above, I think the wooden one is much more sturdy and frankly cheaper.

Splitting of the 2x6's should not be a concern since the grain of the wood is parallel to the forces applied, not perpendicular to.

Installing good casters is key. Making them all swivel makes it easier to move this heavy lump around a concrete floor...

When I looked at building the one in tech tips - the major cost was in the castors.

The one linked at Princess Auto, like most items goes on sale for 50% off. I couldn't make it cheaper than $35.

I used these casters on mine about 4 years ago. I use 2 swivel casters and 2 stationary casters on both of the ones that I made/use.

Hi Tim,
Those were the ones that failed me... well only one did. Maybe I got a bad batch.
After pushing the loaded cart around at the end of the day to park it in a hole I had cleared out in my garage, I decided from there that I should get swivel casters all around... especially if I was going to be using the dolly in the future.
The wooden frame was dirt cheap and easy to make. It was a GREAT idea and service to fellow bolters to put that in the tech tips. SALUTE!
Jerry

TC,

Thanks again. These look to be the same size I used for my Tube Steel cab support frame, but I used 360 locking swivels on all four corners. Makes it easy to move the cab pretty much anywhere I want either in or out of the garage.

This is frigging awesome thanks for sharing this even if it has been posted for quite some time

I made these awhile back. I have six engines I needed to move around. Got the idea from here but wanted to make them out of metal.

http://devestechnet.com/Home/EngineCartPlans

NICE WORK!