FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => Non-FE Discussion Forum => Topic started by: hwoods on May 20, 2020, 08:41:48 AM
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anyone buying $825.00 engine stands?
http://www.axeequipment.com/engine-stands.html
saw it mentioned on Powernation you tube video and inquired on cost. Kind of pricey I think?
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Are you really asking if anyone is using one of these stands, or are you making a comment about the price of the stands in a round about manner?
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I think it is too expensive, but it is expensive to have one drop your engine too. anyone use these stands?
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Of course they show a Harbor Freight (alias for Pier 1 Imports...lol) stand that failed. I hate Harbor Freight. You might as well throw your money in a burn pile.
The Mac heavy duty gear driven engine stand I bought a couple of years ago was something like $350. I could easily put a drip tray underneath it. So yeah, that thing is way overpriced, in my opinion.
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If they are in business and selling them for a profit, good for them. The last three engines I have played with are a 430 MEL (the lightest of the bunch at 850 lbs.), 327 Packard Straight 8 (about 950 lbs), and a 6.9 IDI (about 1100 lbs). No one in their right mind would put any of those engines on a $50 Harbor Fright Chinesium special.
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Up until 2017 I never actually owned an engine that was worth $825....
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I am not completely ready for an 825.00 one, but I am likely going to buy one or two better ones. One benefit of a bigger and stronger head is to allow putting a flywheel on it. Handy for complete engines, handy for turning an engine over, handy for mockup, etc. Certainly not required, but I am getting sick of my 3 oldies.
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Ross nailed it. Sorry but I had my pricey 445 FE on a HFreight stand...insert cringe...the "higher capacity" stand. But just last week had to pull it off to put the flexplate on. Made for some fun torqueing down the bolts while keeping the motor from turning over and balanced. I don't move like that very well anymore. Typical after work, rush fashion, did all the above and forgot to put the block plate on. Two times for memory right.
The HF worked but definitely worried me as I have seen a wheel crack on another one and down went the motor....worried me every time I moved it. New USA wheels may be in it's future...I don't use a stand enough to justify the added expense but boy would a crank over style stand be icing on the cake. These motors are a bit tough to rotate alone once they are close to done.
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mine is on a stand I bought probably (oh crap) 45 years ago.
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That stand is less than the 2 OTC Revolver's I have. I did get them second hand which helped the price quite a bit, they are pretty nice tho. Well worth the money I paid for them slightly used.
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I have a real Lakewood stand I bought, yikes, in about 1971-72. Really heavy duty.
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HF is fine for some stuff, their quality is way up over 5 or 10 years ago.
I've got electric grinders and pneumaatic items that work just great for 1/4 the cost of others.
I've used their engine stand and hoist, worked just fine, would not buy if I used them every day though I suppose.
Snap on, Matco and the like are dinosours now, way too overpriced for what you get.
Lots of value in some of the new lines out there. They're tools to be used and abused not ornaments.
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Bob Glidden never used an engine stand! Cheap bastard....... ;)
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Yep, set the engine on 2 tires, need to work on the bottom end, roll it over on two more tires.
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Funny, but when I saw the $825 price and before clicking on, I did think about why Glidden did what he did.
He claimed (and I'm sure he was right) that hanging all that heavy iron off one end did distort the bores enough to make plopping the blocks onto a flat plate a better idea. He's been depicted (along with wife Etta) crouching down to a floor level block more than a few times. A journalist or two in the era did look around his Indiana shop for a tradtional engine stand but found none. I do wonder if the Pro Stock folks then and now emulated his rolling cart-like device to eliminate any unwanted block stress.
Btw, it looked like a large and heavy-duty creeper (but with a thick flat steel center) that we've all seen or used. Still, it had to be a back-breaker. Today, one could rig-up a 2nd rotating engine stand at the front to hold a block at both ends. Always wanted to test his theory by measuring a block but haven't a fine enough measuring device to do so.
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Bob Glidden was working on Clevelands…...cylinder walls were probably only .050" thick LOL
I have engine stands of all different kinds. I still have the very first engine stand I ever bought and it's a HF stand. It's been welded in a couple spots.
I also have one with a rotation handle (crank the engine over) and it's a pain in the hindend to me.
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Bob Glidden was working on Clevelands…...cylinder walls were probably only .050" thick LOL
How true! I wonder how he did the Boss 429's when Pro went to the 500" rule?
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Cast iron is rigid , stable and doesn't flex much, before breaking. That's why it used in machine tools. If you adhere to the theory of it flexing on a engine stand, imagine what the torque would do to it, in the car.
That said, the old cast in bell housing of the 59a and earlier flat heads, COULD break the bell housing off, when hung by that end, on a stand and did on some of them. Ford's FH mount used the side exhaust ports to mount it on a stand.
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We bought out a school for car mechanics, there was several
floor munted engine stands. With ballbearing and a disc with
holes bored around the circumference with a springloaded pin
and a shaft at the end to attach what ever you like to hang on it
So maybe 20 positions you can.block it in. I welded that on top
of a cheap stand from Swedol and used a 8mm plate i drilled
for various block bolt patterns. And a side mount to the exhaust
ports for the flatheads I don't like those adjustable arms
that is on most stands
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Cast iron is rigid , stable and doesn't flex much, before breaking. That's why it used in machine tools. If you adhere to the theory of it flexing on a engine stand, imagine what the torque would do to it, in the car.
That said, the old cast in bell housing of the 59a and earlier flat heads, COULD break the bell housing off, when hung by that end, on a stand and did on some of them. Ford's FH mount used the side exhaust ports to mount it on a stand.
The very first LS blocks GM cast (in iron) that were used in NHRA Stock and Superstock drag racing broke the water jackets around the engine mounts. This was a big surprise to racers and I'm sure GM! High hp and hard wheelie landings were the cause per National Dragster magazine. Adding more metal around those areas was the fix.
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All I could say is I wouldn't have argued anything about engine building with him ;D
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I have engine stands of all different kinds. I still have the very first engine stand I ever bought and it's a HF stand. It's been welded in a couple spots.
I also have one with a rotation handle (crank the engine over) and it's a pain in the hindend to me.
My old engine stand (can't remember where I got it) has been beefed up and rewelded. I got too nervous seeing how big block engines drooped on it. Cheap ones generlly can work if they're beefed up.
I wouldn't trade my hand crank job for anything. Not having to muscle over a heavy ass block, and hope it doesn't suddenly 'spin' on you, is very nice! The one I got is very smooth and precise, and doesn't roll in any position I put it in.
The very first LS blocks GM cast (in iron) that were used in NHRA Stock and Superstock drag racing broke the water jackets around the engine mounts. This was a big surprise to racers and I'm sure GM! High hp and hard wheelie landings were the cause per National Dragster magazine. Adding more metal around those areas was the fix.
I have ALWAYS been amazed that hard launches don't just rip the sides of blocks off, on just about any engine! That's a large flat area of thin cast iron, with no internal supports in any central areas. I'll bet there is a degree of flex going on though. That can be some huge torque stress placed on that area!
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I remember reading, long ago, that Kaase used a 55 gallon drum with spots around the top rim pounded to shape to fit a Boss 9 block when he was building engines for Nicholson. I remember pictures of the way he did it. In Hot Rod, I think. Made it possible to stand upright. I think he moved the engine using a cherry picker.
KS
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I used one similar at a shop I worked in. If I actually did several tear down and builds a week as a norm, I would pick one up. The organisation treys and built in drip pans keep things neat. That equals time gained on the books. When being the senior tech became my turn I don't remember anymore than three heavy engine jobs at once. Meaning engines that were out of the vehicle being rebuilt on a stand.
Both of my personal engine stands come from NAPA. If it couldn't safely hold a pickup diesel engine I didn't need it.
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The orange HF stand is good enough for a small block. Frankly, not to give anything to Chinese butter-steel, but that photo looks like a bad Photoshop job. I did try to put a 429 on an orange HF "750 lb" stand - started to look more like a weeping willow than an engine stand. I ordered a 1400 lb unit from Northern Tool. It's a nice unit, but is really short out of the box for a 6' guy. I went by a friends fab shop and picked up a scrap piece of 2x3 and added 4" to the mast to make it easier to work with. My go-to stand is an three point Eagle I bought in 1975. Had many 302s and 351Cs on it, never blinked.
The modified NT stand - 4' added just below the bar holder. Rustoleum rattle can red matches perfect.
(http://raceabilene.com/misc/NT_Stand.jpg)
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My stand looks just like Chris NT stand and i modified it with this "Head"
(https://i.postimg.cc/MGXPPxkk/motorst-d2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/3y5FNsJ9)