TheSamba.com :: View topic - Jack or table for removing engine with a car on a hoist?

Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:39 pm

Hi,

Ive just recently installed an old hoist and want to know what the best jack option is for removing/installing vw engines is. I have usually used a regular trolley jack when my beetle/bus is on floor stands.

Looking to upgrade to something better and looking for advice.

I have heard of a lot of people using atv jacks but would prefer something a bit taller. Anyone have any experience with jacks like these or have any other recommendations?

Thanks

Wed Dec 11, 2019 10:04 pm

What are you going to do with a 250lb engine sitting on a tranny jack? A lifting table is hard to use because you can't tilt the engine to clear the generator. Same with ATV lift. Even when I had a fully equipped shop with all those jacks, all I ever used was a 5 ton floor jack, easy to move around the jack and the engine.

brad

Wed Dec 11, 2019 10:06 pm

I was just thinking about how I was going to get the motor in and out. I'm leaning towards a hyd lift table like that Trex. Only needs about 400 lbs capacity. I don't have a lift but I WILL have a removable rear apron.

Wed Dec 11, 2019 10:18 pm

Whatever you use you'd better have a plan on how to get it down to the ground or on a stand afterwards. I use a tall stool when pulling engines on a hoist, careful down valve manipulation (helper is best) can get it at the point where it slides out, then up with the hoist and lift the engine off the stool with goons or a crane.

Thu Dec 12, 2019 12:45 am

I am low rent but here’s how I do my type 1 (farmin’ ghia):
Block front wheels
Drop engine with floor jack, then drop it to the ground
Raise rear of ghia with a bus jack on each jack point (2)
Slide engine out the back
If I got organized I could probably do it in under 15 minutes

Thu Dec 12, 2019 3:49 am

Last time I put my engine in I used a tranny Jack. Took me 12 minutes to install it with that. I can't imagine anything working better. It rolls easy, you can turn it, jack it, tilt it... Whatever you need. I just lifted mine onto the tranny Jack but obviously it wasn't completely assembled.

Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:07 am

I use a motorcycle/atv jack with a small metal sign (the engine is just BARELY too narrow to sit properly on the jack rails...)

Normally I can bribe a friend to come help lift it from the ground to the stand.. on this particular occasion, I had to do it myself, so i laid a 4x4 across the rafters in the garage, threw a braided steel cable around that and attached a come-along to it.. worked like a charm..

Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:13 am

busdaddy wrote: Whatever you use you'd better have a plan on how to get it down to the ground or on a stand afterwards. I use a tall stool when pulling engines on a hoist, careful down valve manipulation (helper is best) can get it at the point where it slides out, then up with the hoist and lift the engine off the stool with goons or a crane.

I have a couple of Invacare patient lifts that are super handy around the shop. They have a 400 lb capacity although I never get near that. A VW motor will be no problem.

Keep an eye out for a cheap used one.

Thu Dec 12, 2019 8:17 am

I use the table method, then again its with a Baja. I use this for full body cars. It has a tilt hand adjustment and raises the engine high enough to put it on an engine stand.

Thu Dec 12, 2019 9:36 am

First it was DA Bronx Style in the 70's when the buildings were burning in the background, there were abandoned or stolen bugs all over the Da Bronx. Cut all the wires and Hoses, ( gas pouring on the street )? loosen the bolts. Put a tire on under the engine, have 2 or 3 thugs lift the rear of the bug. Pull and drop the engine on the tire. Throw the engine in the trunk and burn rubber.

Back to 2019 use a furniture dolly with a floor jack in the middle an lower it on to the dolly.

Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:06 am

A motorcycle jack will work and cost less.

Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:38 am

I use a lift table from harbor freight with my mid-rise lift. Looks just like the red one above. They have 2 different sizes. I would get the bigger one. It works awesome. Pull the engine out onto the cart, and then lift the car up over it. Then you can turn the cart around, bolt your bench stand adapter and on, and plug it right into a bench or roll around stand.

I also use my lift table as the run stand. I ratchet strap the engine to the table top, lower it down all the way and let it run. It also stays mobile this way. Lift it back up to adjust the valves or work on the carbs.

Then go plug it back into the car on the lift.

I can do R&R, and get full rebuilds off the build stand without lifting the engine or needing a buddy. Even put them in the back of the truck by myself.

Brian

Thu Dec 12, 2019 12:21 pm

Brian, I agree we have several Table lifts from Harbor Freight

We use them when an 18 wheeler brings us a an elevator motor or drive system and the truck is made for a loading dock and ours is occupied.

It the lift goes from ground to truck and we just push it on.

300 lbs is nothing.

Sun Dec 15, 2019 3:38 am

Cheers for the info!

Going to look into the transmission and table jacks, whatever will be able to transfer easiest to the engine stand.

Sun Dec 15, 2019 5:40 am

Another advantage to the lift table is that when there isn't a motor on it then you have an extra portable work surface. I am amazed at the number of people that have to put their tools and removed parts on the ground because they don't have any portable tables.

Sun Dec 15, 2019 7:37 am

nextgen that brings back memories....once paid a couple kids a couple bucks to help roll a bug on its side so we could get the axle beam out of it...cant help on the real question...never had a lift...but i would think that a car sitting level on a lift as opposed to nose down on a jack would require you to have to tilt the engine that much further to get it in or out so i think a flat surface like a atv jack or lift table would be a pain

Sun Dec 15, 2019 8:18 am

Sun Dec 15, 2019 10:37 am

bruce i'm sure you did this long ago but you realize you capped off the side of the muffler where the pipe for the heat riser terminates? ...should have used a muffler with the pipe on the other side

Sun Dec 15, 2019 11:06 am

Yes, I'm aware of that, the inside baffles of that muffler has been heavily modified and the pre-heat passage was also modified. I bought a pile of OEG T1 mufflers at Hershey for $5 each and that's how you use them on a bus.
:wink:

If the pre-heat pipe is on the left it won't clear the CB Maxi Filter-Pump that I use.

Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:51 am

ah yes see the filter in the first pic...just glanced quickly at a dual port in a bus and assumed it had a rear engine mount so a pump/filter wasnt an option...now i realize yours is an early model...thats the trouble with using the same taillights for 10 years