a near miss and its finally starting to sink in

[grumpyvette]

frank sent me an e-mail, note to tell me about a near miss, he had and , as a result its finally starting to sink in, that the cost vs value of those dirt cheap engine stands is hardly worth the cost saved.
http://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-en ... 69520.html

Frank had purchased an engine stand, like this one ,pictured above, from some auto parts store years ago.
well last night Frank was moving an engine mounted on that stand and one of the cheap swivel casters locked up in small flaw in the garage floor,
the result was the engine fell, and frank without thinking in that instant, tried hard to stop it from falling , and sprained his arm rather badly and barely missed crushing his foot!
https://www.harborfreight.com/catal...AFeatured+Weight,f,Sale+Rank,f&q=engine+stand

harbor freight sells a fairly decent quality CHEAP engine stand thats fully able to handle a big block chevy engine. and resist tipping


stands like the one below will usually hold the weight but are MUCH EASIER to tip over when your tightening bolts or rotating the engine, the cost difference is in my opinion well justified, and they have 20% off sale stickers frequently
https://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-capacity-engine-stand-69520.html

every engine crane and engine stand Ive ever seen came with crappy steel wheels about 2.5"-3"in diam.
but you have options (yes this mod adds $80-$120 to the cost of the engine stand) how much do you save by loosing a toe or breaking a foot keeping the cheap crappy casters
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-cus ... 46819.html

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... _200305217

a decent engine stand with decent casters is a far safer tool, and yes both the engine stans shown below need better casters added, but at least they are semi safer designs than the upper engine stand shown

http://www.harborfreight.com/2000-lb-fo ... -8970.html

BTW YOULL WANT TO MEASURE the engine stand legs and bolt hole spacing in the caster mount plate,AND SHOP CAREFULLY, YOULL WANT TWO OF THESE SQUARE U-BOLTS TO LOCK EACH SWIVEL CASTER TO THE ENGINE STAND

while price alone is not always a good indicator of quality its usually a good bet that the smaller and cheaper engine stands with the smaller wheel bases, like this

http://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-en ... ?hftref=cj

ARE less stable, with the identical engine mounted on them, and that the slightly more expensive stands, that have a larger and wider foot print, like this

http://www.harborfreight.com/2000-lb-fo ... ?hftref=cj

are harder to tip once the engines mounted, due to simple leverage and physics

and that every engine stand Ive seen for sale for under $300 has had really crappy low quality and small diameter casters, and few have caster roll locks, the main point I was trying to make here was that upgrading the casters to the larger size, and better quality and selecting an engine stand with a wide stable base to convert to the use of those larger swivel casters makes it far less likely to be effected by running over minor trash, or floor seams.
READ THESE
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=8443&p=29605&hilit=engine+stand+grade+eight#p29605

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3724

 

[87vette81big]

I have 4 engine stands Grumpy.
1 holding a 1970 Pontiac 455.
1 Holding the 410 sbc.
1 holding the 425 Olds.
1 holding a 1957 Ponch 9.3 Posi 3rd membwr. Its the newest bought last ywar rated at 1,000#s.
Try & add Good Casters to it. Pneumatic tires be nice.

 

[philly]

another point of interest regarding engine stands, be sure the style you buy and the modifications you make to it will FIT BETWEEN THE LEGS OF YOUR ENGINE HOIST. as it isnt much good to have both tools if you cant use one to feed the other. those wide legged engine stands are great for larger 2 ton hoists but the smaller cheaper folding hoists may not accommodate some of them, even at an angle or juxtaposed.

 

[87vette81big]

My newest engine stand is wide legged non folding model.
Had to buy it last year to Rebuild a 1948 Chevy H072 Rear
The assembled 3rd member hogs nose weighed over 200lbs .
A thread of mine last year here Phil.
Good side job $$$.

 

[grumpyvette]

So instead of blaming the root causes, being a damaged floor and debris on the floor, you blame the engine stand?
That's like blaming the spoon for making someone fat.

your missing the point here!
NO engine stand design that is safe too use should have a tendency to tip simply because it has a caster wheel roll over a dropped wrench, or hit a floor seam or some other common shop floor hazard, a properly designed engine stand with decent size swivel casters easily takes that type of obstacle in stride, it should remain stable and have no tendency to tip over. its just not that expensive or difficult to select a decent engine stand and go to the minimal effort required to install decent size and quality casters, that make moving the engine stand with the engine mounted far easier and safer and with far less of a tendency to tip even if it does hit some object on the floor.
yes It does take some extra effort , or expense to buy and install the larger casters or select a engine stand design with a wide base that is far more stable to begin with.
yes we all make choices and price is obviously one factor, but saving $100 or so and working with an engine stand thats inherently unstable is in my opinion a poor choice

adding these caster wheels to all my engine stands made a huge improvement to the shops engine stands
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-cus ... 46819.html

each of us is free to make our own choices , but having an engine fall and potentially injure me is one I can most likely avoid

BTW

heres a darn impressive and logical custom welding project, I found posted on a different site and finding an older flex-plate or flywheel and a spare starter and gear for use with the engine stand as a gear drive and adding some custom crank handle, makes the stand more useable.
now I don,t know why I didn,t think of this, its a rather simple modification with easily obtainable components that would make using an engine stand easier.
the pictures, showing what needed to be done is rather self explanatory