Engine Hoist Recommendations

[heathy]

I'm looking for an engine hoist. A 1/2 ton should be more than enough for my needs.

I did find a thread about the Pep Boys one and it's ****.

Anyone use the Harbor Freight one or the one from Northern Tool?

HF http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93704

Northern Tool http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200305491_200305491

I'll need a load leveler as well but that can be purchased separately.

TIA

 

[brownbagg]

I got the HF one, and it does what it says, its OK, and worth the money, I just wish it had a faster ram or a power ram. only thing I dont like is the folding legs, are very hard to pin.
Thats not the one I have.

I have this one.http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=35915

 

[FatFndr]

Try NAPA (if there's one in your area), they have good quality at reasonable prices. If you're only considering the two you have listed, I'd look into the Northern Tool and compare it against other well-known brands before you purchase. With tools, don't shop price, shop quality. Also, if it is only for a once or twice usage, consider renting, that way you don't have the expense of purchasing nor the storage/maintenance issues.

 

[heathy]

I'm not stuck with those brands at all. I'll consider anything. I just don't want to buy **** like the pep boys one.

 

[Hiball]

In all honesty theres not much difference between the American made brand Long jacks compared to the Harbor Freight versions or the napa as far as that goes, Especially in the 1/2 ton to 2 ton range.

 

[dlwilson]

I got the same hoist as brownbagg. It was on sale at the time, and I had a 20% coupon, so I got the hoist and an engine leveler out the door for $168. I didn't have any problem lifting a Jaguar V12 and transmission on the 1/2 ton setting. It also pulled an LT1 with transmission.

I really recommend the engine leveler; it made things much easier.

 

[sberry]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=7620 My Bud has this one, very well made, flawless fit and it wasn't the Chinaman's first try with the MIG, first class welding.

 

[metal1313]

heck if you can find that one on sale and with a 20% off coupon you can buy the 8ton air ram and make things quick and easy. that said i have an old old no name that someone gave to me

 

[snorky18]

i bought the pep boys one (Torin) OTD for ~$110 a few years back. Never had any problems out of it.

 

[sberry]

There are some differences in both tubing thickness and boom design. 110 is quite cheap, there was a thread on here about a design failure (I believe it was from Pep Boys) which wasn't the case with this orange one.

 

[rsanter]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=7620 My Bud has this one, very well made, flawless fit and it wasn't the Chinaman's first try with the MIG, first class welding.

I have this same one and have had it for years with no trouble

bob

 

[bmwpower]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7029

 

[battmain]

Look in your local Bargain Trader magazine. I picked mine up locally and it was brand new. It folds up, it is heavy and it is a RPITA to roll over the 1" garage lip . I've learned to pry it over the lip with a piece of pipe. Only issue I have with it is the jack doesn't stay up overnight. While working the fairly light engine ****** combo, it's fine. If I'm leaving the engine on it overnight, I use another piece of pipe to hold it up because I'm too lazy to dismount it and put it on the stand.

 

[bmwpower]

Yea check out CL. There's ALWAYS some for sale on there....

 

[Stick Figure]

I lucked into a "Ramco Shophand 5000" about 7 years ago, and this thing has been awesome. http://imagesb.backpage.com/central...b28ed--1--EngineHoistOilTank007JPG--large.jpg mine is in a bit better shape than that one, but i don't have pics of it, and its been recently repainted anyway. But i have used it to not only pull engines, and trans out of everything i've ever needed, but i've also used it to lift the rear of my MR2 to get them high enough to bring the engine out the bottom. I also heard my dad used it to load an unload is ridding lawn mower while it was stored at his house lol.

As for a load leveler, i've bought a couple harbor freight ones. I usually killed the first one w/ too much weight, and the fact that the stupid little handle annoys me, so i get rid of it and weld a nut to it so i can use an impact to level things in a hurry! Second one is lasting longer, but i'm not doing near the amount of motor swaps now that i once was.

 

[travisd]

One other important stat to look at is the maximum lifting height - the 1/2 ton one only seems to go to 77.25" max lift height, while the 1-Ton will go to 94" max (at 1/4 ton capacity. It's unclear also if max lift on the 1/2-ton is at 1/2-ton capacity, or something less . Longer the boom, the lower the capacity, but higher lift.

 

[bobbyr]

the last one i bought is a ac delco it cost me 25.00 more than the habor modle but has lasted me about 5 years now with out any cyl problems so the 25.00 was worth it to me

 

[Uncle Buck]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=7620 My Bud has this one, very well made, flawless fit and it wasn't the Chinaman's first try with the MIG, first class welding.

I have this same one and have had it for years with no trouble

bob

I have the same hoist, it has treated be very well, I have used the hell out of it. Yes, I have done a few things with it I knew were beyond it's capacity that I should not have done and it still did very well!

With the pictured model I used a long frame old Walker 2T jack, under the rear end, and the hoist with a chain wrapped around the draw bar on an International 656 farm tractor that had calcium filled tires and succeeded in getting both rear wheels off of the ground for a while till the hook on the hoist failed with a loud bang. Yes very stupid, I know, and I knew it then, but for some reason I no longer recall it had to be done at the time. No, no one was hurt, and no, I did not re-rig and lift it again.

 

[billspit]

Check Caiglsist first.

I bought a new one from Tractor Supply and am happy with it. It is one of those that the legs will fold up and take up less space. I does the job. It was about $125 and should have included the leveler. It didn't and I got stuck for another $35 to get one.

 

[krooser]

I've seen a couple of those levelers come apart with engines hanging from them... you're better off buying a GOOD one than the run of the mill HF job...IMHO.

 

[ironroad 9c1]

My prolift I got off craigslist that a guy used once, still had the tag for 219.00 from advance auto, got this and a engine stand for 150 bucks. I have had some loads on this thing , and it folds up which is really nice and has heavy duty pins, The oberg engine tilt is a super nice piece that I highly recommend, I hate those 4 chain cheap bastards cause they take up so much room, the oberg is rated for 2000 LBS.

Just uses a 1/2 inch ratchet and is super smooth in use and has a ton of positions.
http://www.thestricklincompanies.com/category.php?category=64

 

[malibu101]

May I cast another vote for the HF hoist. Mine is at least 6 years old and I've used it for everthing from pulling engines and hedge stumps out of the ground to just using it as a hook to hang things from. It's a very handy device!
Even with all the jacking the ram is not leaking a drop and I have no complaints with it at all.
Your mileage may differ.

 

[brownbagg]

I forgot to mention, when I bought my HF hoist it came with a engine stand too. all under $200

 

[billspit]

I've seen a couple of those levelers come apart with engines hanging from them... you're better off buying a GOOD one than the run of the mill HF job...IMHO.

Amen! Mine is a cheap piece of ****.

 

[bmwpower]

My prolift I got off craigslist that a guy used once, still had the tag for 219.00 from advance auto, got this and a engine stand for 150 bucks. I have had some loads on this thing , and it folds up which is really nice and has heavy duty pins, The oberg engine tilt is a super nice piece that I highly recommend, I hate those 4 chain cheap bastards cause they take up so much room, the oberg is rated for 2000 LBS.

Just uses a 1/2 inch ratchet and is super smooth in use and has a ton of positions.
http://www.thestricklincompanies.com/category.php?category=64

That is the same crane I have. Very nice quality, hardware and all.
OMG, I gotta get that leveler. Looks like it will do wonders over the typical chain and threaded rod deals. Took a look and it's only $50! Next thing on my list to get....

Was gonna go for one of those OTC's but this is way cheaper and probably good enough for an occasional engine swap.

 

[blown94conv]

I have pulled many a motor with the Pro-lift. Picked it up in a pinch and I didn't expect much from it, but it has performed very well.

 

[hetkind]

Over the years, my favorite way to pull engines is with a chain hoist and an I beam in the ceiling. Plus it will do a zillion other lifting chores...

 

[bmwpower]

Over the years, my favorite way to pull engines is with a chain hoist and an I beam in the ceiling. Plus it will do a zillion other lifting chores...

I should have put a beam in my place. I am really regretting it.

Ah...next time....

 

[bmwpower]

Can someone eplain how to use the Oberg?

 

[wot sales]

I bought the Northern Tool hoist. Really good stuff. Here’s a photo of mine unloading an Onan marine generator, diesel 4-cylinder, weighs about 800 lb. or so. Easy to unload and move around the garage as in the photo.

 

[CamarosRus]

HARBOR FREIGHT 2 Ton Foldable Shop Crane through 9/21/09 for $180 less 20% coupon
= $144.00!!!!!!!


FYI, Harbor Freight has their regular $20 1/4" Air Angle DIE GRINDER on sale
this weekend through Monday for $9.99

I've been abusing one for several years and it still works. I'm buying sevral more.
At $10 each its a no brainer.

All you loyal truck brand (ONLY) tool buyers are just wrong about certain/most Harbor Freight/Chinese tools.

 

[kfainf]

I have the NAPA 1-ton unit that I bought used off CL for $75.00. I pulled a Jeep 4.0 engine and AW4 trans from a Grand Cherokee and later installed the 4.0 engine only into my old Cherokee with it. It worked very well with no problems and was very stable.

 

[krooser]

I like my "light duty" 1/2 ton jib crane... US made and under $100.00... the bad part is the Taiwan chain hoist but I bought it years ago for $6.00...

 

[phy6]

My prolift I got off craigslist that a guy used once, still had the tag for 219.00 from advance auto, got this and a engine stand for 150 bucks. I have had some loads on this thing , and it folds up which is really nice and has heavy duty pins.

I have this one too, bought it in ~2001 and still works great. I think I got it for 189 on sale. Also this was one of the first I saw that pumps when you move the lever in either direction (double action). Makes things twice as fast.
One thing I want to do is mount a ~4" wheel on the end of the pump stick, to make it supper easy to lower slowly.

Also this lift survived being outside for a few YEARS, through winter, etc. (Under a tent, but humid MD weather.) Brillo-padded the surface rust off the piston and slapped some heavy axle grease on it, and now it's fine again!

I like this one because it's "rated" for 1125lbs at the longest extension. An LT1 and ****** are pretty heavy!

 

[nissan_crawler]

I got the HF one, and it does what it says, its OK, and worth the money, I just wish it had a faster ram or a power ram. only thing I dont like is the folding legs, are very hard to pin.
Thats not the one I have.

I have this one.http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=35915

same here, no issues with it. Pinning the legs is easy, wheel the base to the edge of the garage so the legs hang outside, or if your driveway is 100% level with the garage floor, then just push back on the top of the cherry picker a bit, takes no effort to tilt it enough to pin it.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Can someone eplain how to use the Oberg?

I am sure if I had one in my hands I could easily understand how to make it work. My problem is, this is the first I have ever seen, or heard of one, so I have not a clue where I would go to buy one!

 

[Matti]

I've got one of the Chinese ones w/pneumatic cylinder and load leveler. It works great for BB Mopar engines.

 

[Falcon67]

I got mine at Pep Boys about 3 years ago on sale for $119 - couldn't get it out of the store fast enough. It's a fold up, I've worked the **** out of it and never had an issue. It looks identical to the HF one ton model except it's red.

 

[offroader30]

I have had a few Torin Engine Hoists and they have been great to me. Check them out... http://www.torerostore.com . Torero Industries has some great pricing on their Hoists right now.

 

[Kojak]

Hey Bmwpower,

Did you ever get an explanation on how to work that Osberg leveler? Sorry if this is a dumb question but, can you adjust the angle under load? It seems like the load will slip as soon as you release that manual ratchet.