THE BEST DAMN

ENGINE STAND
THAT MONEY CAN'T BUY
 
 
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<As I stripped the engine of intake, heads, oil pan
and water pump… I finally removed enough weight
(about 250 #s) to force the stand to let me roll the
block over to get the crank out and punch out the
pistons… the bare block was just about the max that
my old blue stand could endure.    Plans were
beginning to come together for a replacement. 
Looked for stands on the internet.  About all I
found were pictures of stands for sale… and one
lone place that sold plans for a stand.  I guess
liability enters into the equation here and most
people just plop down 50 bucks and buy one that
won’t do what they want to do.  Those available in
the stores weren’t any better and I quickly decided
that I didn’t want to invest the cash necessary to
buy the stand  that would do what I wanted and
needed. Good commercial stands are very expensive 
and that is money I take OUT of the truck budget
for non-truck parts.   Plan B looked like the way to
go.

If you’re going to build one… build one that will

handle anything short of a Caterpillar, Cummins or a
de Havilland.  While this stand certainly isn’t built
for the large Diesel engines… it will surely handle
any normal truck/car engine you can hang on it.
The first criteria was something that could be
turned easily and have a substantial footprint to
prevent tipping or falling over when being turned or
moved around the shop.  My thinking was that
turning easily required bearings and a stout enough
shaft to prevent deflection and bending.  I
discussed this with several folks that know how to
build stuff…  One of which was a machinist… old
school guy in his 80’s who had worked for 60 years
in the trades, mostly in steel mills where big stuff is
made and destroyed and remade.  His suggestion
was to find a large enough diameter pipe with
sufficient wall thickness… stuff some bearings in it
and turn a solid shaft to fit the i.d. of the bearings. 
Here’s what we came up with and how we put it
together. 

Note here…   This stand was to built from ‘available’

resources with hopefully no cash outlay. If you have
a reasonably well stocked scrap pile or material
hoard, you can do this with very little money leaving
your hands.

 A 10” piece of 4” Schedule 160  pipe was found on

the scrap pipe.  It’s wall thickness was .531”.  We
located a stash of old unused bearings … did some
measuring and found two alike with a o.d. of about
3.5” and an i.d. a little less than 2”.  Mr. Johnny (the
machinist) turned the pipe to give a nice tight fit on
the bearings and we pressed them in.

Next he turned down the shaft to match the i.d. of

the bearing(less a fuzz) and tried it for fit…
perfect.
The two pieces were mated to give us this…

So, that’s  the basic rotating assembly.  The engine

mount plate will be added on one end and  a gear
drive on the other.
The next step broke my rule of zero expenditure.  I
located a right angle gear reduction box that would
work but had to give the owner twenty dollars for
it.  It’s a 15:1 ratio box and the input/output shafts
could be adapted to work for this purpose.   NOTE: 
the gearbox isn't a necessity.  You can just turn it
by hand/lever and fab up a way to hold it in place...
but the gearbox drive is cool..  and you just gotta
have a cool engine stand, right ???
 

Another favor was used to get the stand  shaft

bored to fit the output shaft of the gear box..and
cross drilled for a roll pin, and here’s what we have. 
This is a low torque application and the roll pin
should work nicely holding everything together
 .

Next came the stand portion.  Again, trying to use

available materials… so looking around ...I spied over
in the corner…  4 pieces of 3” square tubing with a
nice thick wall.  It looked like it really really wanted
to be an engine stand.   I plan on tacking everything
together first before final welding.

I started by coping the end of one piece of the

tubing to match the circumference of the 4” pipe. 
After a lot of cutting and grinding I finally got an
acceptable fit for welding   (never been very good
at coping).  I set the tubing up and clamped it to my
welding table then plumbed it both ways.  Next… set
the rotating head on top of that and got everything
plumb and level… A little  grinding needed here and
there till  I could tack weld the head to the tubing…
making sure it remained plumb and square and level.

The gearbox/shaft were put in thru the bearings

and everything  moved as designed.  Then I added a
base for the gear box.  A piece of 6” channel iron
about 5” wide worked perfectly for the base…  and
it was tacked to the tubing also.  Here’s the first
screw up of the build… before I tacked the base
plate on the tubing I should have drilled the
mounting holes for the gear box… that comes from
trying to beat the dark and get finished…  so, You
cut it off, drill the holes and remount… if that’s all I
screw up, I’ll be content
So... to catch the pictures up with the text ….
Here’s where we are now
 You’d think I’d discuss making the engine mounting
plate here, huh ?  Well I can’t.  It’s not built yet…
I’m getting the plate cut on a CNC plasma table that
isn’t installed yet… it will come later.
 
NOTE:   the parts above for the head section  are
fairly precise and need some measurement accuracy
and machining skills… the base below is a little more
forgiving, although the closer you measure and drill
the better things fit together… and won’t look or
feel so cooty-bobbed.

The design I chose for the base is what I consider

the most sturdy..  two legs (instead of one) extend
under the engine and give the stand good balance
and support.  They will  better resist tipping as well
as roll more easily.
  

The legs will angle in slightly in order to allow an

engine to be bolted up from a cherry picker and
they will also hinge and fold upward to conserve
floor space when not in use.

 Three inch Solid steel casters which were saved

from a wheel replacement on a set of wheel dollies
will be used.  While they are non-bearing wheels
they will roll well enough for short moves around in
the shop.  They aren’t locking casters (it’s what I
had), but I’d suggest if you're buying casters get at
least 4 locking casters.   Steel or hard plastic
casters will work best and not 'flat spot' from
having an engine sitting over them for
years/months/weeks.
Well, after a short pause for work and chores… I’m
back on the stand… got the base fabbed up and
tacked together.  But, dummy me forgot to take
pictures of the individual pieces… so just look at the
part I’m discussing and ignore the rest…

The base is composed of 9 pieces…  the back piece

(leg) … two short stubs… two hinge sections and the
two legs (and a couple of braces)  The back leg is 34
long and the two short stubs are welded at 4” in
from  each end.  The stubs are cut at a 95 degree
angle so the legs turn in a little. (remember the
'mount from an engine hoist part ?) They are 26”
wide (o.s. to o.s) at the back leg and 20” apart at
the far end.  This allows you to roll an cherry picker
up to the stand and mount the engine directly to the
stand.
Here’s a little closer view of the leg stub.
The hinge pieces or saddles SHOULD BE fabbed
from 3.5” tubing with a 1/4” wall thickness.  Mark
and drill the holes for the legs before you cut off
the top of the tubing.  If you cut the tubing before
drilling the pressure of the drilling will make the
tubing sides flex and  it will make your holes a little
off.. The top keeps the tube rigid and allows you to
apply pressure when drilling…  Also, these holes are
more easily drilled with a drill press due to the
diameter.  You could probably do it with a hand drill,
but you’ll be tired and your holes won’t be as
accurate.  A 5/8” drill is tough to handle by hand…
especially when it creates a burr and hangs up.

The two leg mount holes are  for 5/8” bolts… but I
drilled them 11/16” diameter.  That’s about a
16th sloppy but makes it easier to insert the bolts…
and once the engine load is on them you won’t feel
the difference… They are 6” apart… and 1” from the
leg end of the hinge. Step drill these holes… I
started with a 3/8 bit then the 5/8” last.
The lower hole in the hinge is to lock the legs in an
upright storage position… it will take a little
finessing when you drill the legs to make for a good
fit… see below.

You can probably tell that my hinge saddles are

NOT 1/4” wall.  The only piece of 3.5” tubing I had
was 1/8” wall. (again trying to keep with the zero
expenditure theme)  After looking at the design I
could see that this piece was a weak point and might
tend to bend with 700-800 #s hanging on the head
and a little bouncing around on a rough floor.  I took
a section of 4” tubing and cut it down to add two
external pieces to add to the saddles..  they will
cradle the hinge saddle and reinforce it greatly…
They were drilled to match the hings saddles and
will be welded to it on each side and bottom… a
reinforcing saddle for the saddle… If you do have
1/4 " wall tubing... forget you read this.

the reinforcing saddle saddle might not be needed….

But won’t hurt… if you can build it…OVERbuild it!

Here’s a shot of the hinge point with the reinforcing

plates added. This is another of those after the
fact pictures !
The legs are 40.75” long and the picture below
shows how they are cut and drilled.
 
  

 
After the leg is cut to length it needs to be drilled
for the hinge bolts… the holes should pretty much
match the hinge holes  (if you want the dang thing
to go together properly)…  on the hinge end of the
leg drill a 11/16” hole 1” back from the end and  1.5”
from the top and bottom edges… or centered on the
side.  Drill a second hole 6” inward from that one
and hopefully the holes will match up with the hinge
piece.  Before the leg can be swung up into the
vertical storage position it must be trimmed on the
bottom corner to allow it to swing in an arc when
raised.  Miter the lower corner of the leg at a 45�
degree angle approx �” in from the end. 

Here it is tacked together

When both legs are mitered and you place the back
hinge bolt thru the leg and saddle, the leg should
swing up freely to vertical.  With it vertical, look
thru the lock hole (the lower hole in the hinge and
you can see how much to trim the leg for the lock
bolt to clear.  It’s easy to mark the leg using a
Sharpie pen through the hole then remove the leg
and trim it.  A 4” angle grinder will do this quickly
and with a little patience make a nice hole.  The rear
hinge bolts will always stay in the base so you can
use bolt/lock nut combo for them.. The front will be
remove for storage position so you can use either
bolt/nut or fabricate a 5/8” removable pin with a
hairpin clip and washer to hold them in place.  You
can buy these at tractor supply places or trailer
supply stores… or simply take a 5” piece of 5/8”
rod… weld a washer on one end as a stop… insert it
in the hole and mark the other end for the hairpin
remembering to allow room for a washer.  Remove it,
drill the hairpin hole and you’re done… insert the
pin, slap on the washer and insert the hairpin.   Or,
even something easy like this   5/8” x 8” bolt.. cut
off the threads and taper the end… the head will be
cross drilled and ‘chained’ to the base so they don’t
get lost
 
Before attaching the upright and head, it’s a good
time to put on your casters.  I’ve seen caster
mounting plates welded on and then drilled and
threaded to bolt on the casters…  I can’t ever see
removing the casters so I’ll just tack weld mine to
the legs.  You’ll need 6 casters… 4 for the rear part
of the base and two for the front of the legs.  If I
were buying my casters new I’d buy 4 locking and 2
non locking..  the locking ones would go on each
corner and the non locking in the middle.  My
casters are all non locking…  I’ll probably add some
screw down legs to hold the stand in place when
working on it..  torqueing head bolts requires a
stable engine stand.
SO…  I did build the screw down legs… well I’ve built
them… just haven’t tacked them on the legs yet…  I
took 4 pieces of 1” all-thread and nuts… some 3/8” x
2” flat bar and a little grinding/drilling and welding.
Ground a flat on one side of the rod stock and
center punched it…drilled it for 5/16” bolt for the
handle…wouldn’t hurt to dress the threads with a
file to remove the drilling burrs after drilling to
make the nut thread on easier … came up with this

The legs will be attached by welding the nut to the

frame legs… two on the back leg just outside of the
front leg stubs…and one each on the folding front
legs on the outside edge just behind the casters.
 

So… back after a few days at the coast…  I flipped

the frame/base over and tack welded the wheels
on… as I said, these aren’t locking wheels but they
were free… I can add the feet shown above later…  
the base is complete and the vertical beam and head
are also tacked on now.  This thing is getting heavy. 
The vertical and head probably weight in excess of
50#s… it won’t blow away in the wind… and I don’t
have to carry it anywhere either.  I’m pleased with
it so far.  It seems plenty stable. The wide base and
legs will distribute the weight evenly and I don’t see
a point that will make it off balance…  here’s where
we are…..

Here again my pictures lag behind my work… this is

of course the whole thing… so I’ll tell you about the
vertical and head install now.

I wanted the  engine centerline (shaft centerline)

around 36” so I measured from the ground up to the
top of the back leg.--  7.5”  I subtracted that from
36 and measuring from the center line of the head
down the shaft I made my cut mark at 28.5” and
chopped her off. (see above) The placement was
simple… mark the center lines of the vertical on
both sides and the center of the back leg… line up
all the marks… that’s the easy part… holding the
vertical beam straight, plumb and centered is a
little more difficult when working alone.  I used two
large welding magnets, one on each side, a building
square to keep it plumb left to right and a level to
keep it plumb front to back… thank goodness for
magnets..  a couple of quick tacks, check the levels
and square and then serious tacks to hold it in place.
Now that you have a complete rolling base, it’s
probably time to attach the vertical beam and the
head. 

Now that pieces are in place and tacked …everything

is plumb and square.. you can add the cross brace.  I
used 1.5”x1.5” tubing for mine.   Measure the cross
distance between the two hinge plates about
halfway between the hinge bolt holes..  Cut the
tubing to fit (remembering to miter the ends to
match the angle of the legs  and tack it into
place.  Make the tubing flush with the top of the
hinge saddles. A vertical brace was added….. It’s
approx 11” to the cross brace from the vertical and
11” up the vertical.  
      

The only pieces missing are the engine mounting

plate,  the engine connector pieces... the end caps
for the tubing and a couple of gusset plates… the
end caps aren’t absolutely necessary, but they do
dress it up a bit and cut down on ankle cutters.  Cut
the end caps to match the tubing size (3” x 3”) and
weld them on… grind to pretty up.  I showed before
in an earlier picture a gusset plate I’m adding under
the head unit bracing it to the vertical beam.  With
a 460 cu.in. engine hanging out there on the block
mounting plate there will be quite a bit of stress on
the head and the welds to the vertical.  The gusset
plate is just an added safety margin.

The engine mounting plate was left till last for a

reason.  I’m having a piece of 3/4” plate plasma cut
by a friend with a new CNC plasma table.  We’re
waiting for the table to get set up.

So, the best laid plans... and you know the rest of
that tune...  The plasma table was put on hold due to
budgetary restraints... so we resorted to hand flame
cut.  The head was cut and it now sitting (hanging)
on the shaft awaiting the welder. 

The head piece was cut from 3/4" plate using a

torch.  Dimensions are 10" across the top, 7" across
the bottom and the sides are 6-3/16".  My center
hole is 1`-5/8" to match my shaft.  Slots are 3" long
and 1/2" wide to accomodate up to 1/2" bolts.  I'll
be using 7/16" bolts to match the rear of a 460
engine.  I'm sure the closer you place the center
shaft to the actual center of the block (weight
wise) but easier it will turn and the more balanced
the load will be on the bearings... I had no idea how
to calculate that center line without a dressed
engine.  I only have the block right now...so I'm just
guessing.  I'm pretty sure I'll be heavy on the top
side but hopefully not too much.
 
 

The shaft will have to be trimmed off to the proper

length before welding and my Metabo will do that
part this afternoon.  Everything else is tacked in
place and waiting for final welding.  pictures to
follow.  I've attached the 'steering wheel' now... it
was a valve actuator drive wheel for a 10" gate
valve.  Everything turns nice and easy now... the real
test will be when the block is hanging off the end. 

There are a couple of ways to fabricate the

connecting arms.   The first example below uses flat
bar  bent into a "U" shape  and pipe  added to
attach to the block and the head piece. 2" x 1/4"
would be a good choice, as would 1-1/2" by 3/8". 
Just make it substantial  A bending jib can be made
from two bolts held in a vice.   The flat bar is
heated and bent around the pivot bolt as shown.  Do
this with ample heat and do it slowly so you get a
nice "U" shape on the bent end. Schedule 160 pipe
o.d. is .840 (about 7/8") and wall thickness of .188
(abt 3/16")  ...or something with a nice thick wall for
the sleeves....  You could always drill out some
square or hex stock. (see pics below)

While the 'looped' flat bar will give you infinite

adjustment for attaching engine blocks...you have
the length of the looped section and the 3"
adjustment in the engine head plate....the flat bar
on the right will have 3" of adjustment and should
fit nearly any v-8 block that you might encounter.
This was my choice.  3/4" x 2" flat bar 8" long with
the Sch 160 pipe for the sleeves, welded to the flat
bar.  The bar is step drilled on each end to 'easy
fit' a 1/2" bolt... (17/32" hole).

o
r

So, now the final welding is complete and everything is ready for paint .
 

A shot of primer on everything and set it in the sun to bake... followed by

several coats of rustoleum metallic charcoal rattle can paint.
 

and here it is complete

 
 

it's about a complete as I can make it... unless I add a hook to hold the pins
that hold the legs in place when vertical.  I could just drill a hole in the base
section and stick them in there.  Total cost came in around 35 bucks I think...
$15 for the gear box..  $15 for paint and $5 bucks for hardware I didn't
have.  I think I have much more than a $35 dollar engine stand now.    I'll know
more soon when the 460 is back hanging on it...     and no, you can't borrow it.

Sometime later.....

big>finally got the engine back...put it in the truck for some measurements and
now it had to come back out to work the firewall and make it pretty... So, I
snatched it out and mounted it on the stand...  here's some pics...  I had to
modify the top arms... they were too long... so I cut them down and redrilled
them...  

The engine hangs nicely on the stand... part of the sag in these pics to due to a
sloped driveway. There is some caused by the 'slop' in the fit of the fold up
legs.  The third cause is basically 700 #s hanging on the end of a 2" bar !    It
actually works too well, you can grab the valve covers and turn it by hand... and
if you use the wheel on the gearbox it literally turns with one finger... even
your little finger.  I put a pair of vice grips to hold it in place....  I need to
come up with a braking mechanism... it's just too smooth and easy now !

 
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