Engine stand recommendations

[tdskip]

Will something like this from Harbor Freight work OK for a TR3/4 engine? Ditto for the 6?

 

[Gliderman8]

That's what I used on my TR6 engine rebuild.... it was fine.

 

[JodyFKerr]

I've two of that exact same stand, works perfectly fine on light little british car motors. I've even put a big old cast iron studebaker v8 on one.

Jody

 

[TR3driver]

I have their smaller, 750# version with only 3 wheels. Works fine. Had a TR3 engine block hanging on it for over 20 year now with no signs of sag or fatigue.

Note that you will need to supply your own mounting bolts, much longer than the usual ones. Ordinary hardware store stuff will work fine.

 

[JodyFKerr]

Oh that's a good point.

Buy grade 8 bolts/nuts/washers. The last thing you want is a bolt giving way and dropping the block to the floor. I've seen it happen, not pretty.

 

[Brosky]

I like the four wheel versions better than the three. More stable when pushing them around.

 

[Adrio]

tahat is what used on my TR4A engine. It worked fine. I was bi worried aobut having that lump of cast iron hanging on four bolts into the cast iron of the block, so I had a plate made up that has te same holes as the transmission. Then I bolted the plate to the engine thrugh all the tranny mount holes. The blate was then bolted to the stand through four other hols in the plate.

you can see it (sort of) in this picture

 

[TR4nut]

I like the four wheel versions better than the three. More stable when pushing them around.

I'm with Paul on that one. Not something you want to have tip over.

 

[tdskip]

So in the picture above the four arms that the engine mounts on to can move to line up with the engine plate, and then the grade 8 bolts attach right?

 

[Adrio]

The four bolts of the engine stand bot to the plate and that is all. You can see one of them in the upper right quardrent of the plate outside the edge of the engine. The plate is then bolted to the engine block with a dozen or so bolts exactly like the transmission would bolt to the engine block.

 

[tdskip]

Got it - thanks.

 

[billspit]

I have the same thing in the 3 wheel version. No problems with two Spitfire engines and one Nissan Z24 engine. I would want the 4 wheeler for a long TR engine. But the 3 wheeler is easy to store with the engine on it.

 

[tomshobby]

My stand has a U shaped base with wheels in the four corners. Very stable and has a 1250lb capacity. Far more than our engines require but I had it when I did a lot of engines. I do like the base because it allows me to place a drain pan under the engine.

 

[KVH]

Remove the engine and transmission all as one unit? Or, one at a time?

Is a stand necessary? Someone here once posted that he (or she) preferred an engine table.

Not being of an engineering background, it took awhile for the notion of the engine hanging from the back on three or four 5/16 bolts to be remotely acceptable.

 

[TR3driver]

If the engine has to come out anyway, I vote for removing them as a unit. Much easier than having to undo all those nuts & bolts that hold the two together, with one end in the car (under the dash) and the other end in the engine compartment.

The stand is by no means a necessity, IMO; if you have a suitable table. I've mostly used a table ... first time I used a (borrowed) stand, it convinced me to buy my own. As it happens, I've not done a full engine rebuild since buying it (just "make-do" quickies with the engine still in the car).

Even a "Grade 1" 5/16" bolt has a tensile strength of over 3000 pounds. 4 of them is overkill.