Engine Stand for storage?

mkmskm

Senior Member
I'm looking to see if anyone has some ideas for a small stand just to store (and be able to move) a spare engine. I've seen the adapter plates for the modern style stands and those just look too awkward.
 
Made these from old bed frames. The bottom makes a place to store the loose parts. The cheap steel can be hard on saws and drills.

EngineStands.jpg
 
A friend of mine had a couple 'A' engine stands/frames(origin unknown) and was able to horse-trade for one. Bolts up nicely to the oil pan. trans end is away from the wheels and acts like a handle. I added the wheels(from an old rototiller) for convenience. Had to do all-terrain because my barn has a pee gravel floor. Frame, wheels still need to be painted. Has nice Fall patina though:).
 

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Fellow Fordbarner Will Cronkrite has a neat wooden cart he designed several years ago which I use here at the shop and he sells those detailed CAD plans on eBay. Click on Model A Cart to see them. If you buy the plans, build several and then sell one of them, you can recover the costs of your materials & the plans. Everyone that sees one in use likes them.

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I have one of the wooden type shown, perhaps a clone or done from those plans.
Excellent, cheap, and as Brent suggests once you have bought the material and gotten out the saw it's probably nearly as easy to build a fleet as one.
 
Some very nice looking stands posted.

How fancy do you want to go? Simple dolly made from HD casters, carriage bolts and some 2x6s.

Sorry the picture has a v8 on it, not a 4.
 

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I use the wooden furniture dollies they sell at Menards for around $20. I use them for the snow blower off the Cub and just about anything bulky, a snowmobile fits great on 2 of them.
 
I just received plans from a fellow Barner. It isn't fancy, but it looks sturdy and you can put a dolly underneath it too!

EngineStand.png
 
I use a car wheel dolly. The ones you get at H.F. or Northern Tool to roll your car around the shop. The dip in the dolly the oil pan sits on. I can then roll the engine under my work bench. You can add a strap to secure but i havent.
Ive been using this method for 5 years now with no problems.
Wick
 
On the plans that you bought does that bolt down or just sit on it, and I assume it jangle the complete engine including the oil pan?
 
There were plans in The Restorer for a simple stand. I have a sketch and diminsions if you would like them; however, I am changing to the design that Jerry Parr showed .....simple, neat, pro. looking.
 
Where do you find the casters for ones like Jerry showed? I have checked at Harbor Freight, Home Depot and Lowe's, but for casters able to hold 500lbs or more, you have to shell out $8-$10 a piece... :(
 
Where do you find the casters for ones like Jerry showed? I have checked at Harbor Freight, Home Depot and Lowe's, but for casters able to hold 500lbs or more, you have to shell out $8-$10 a piece... :(

Are you putting the engine stand on one caster? Four casters rated at 250 lbs each could support a 1000 lbs engine. A complete A engine weights in around 500 lbs, so you should be fine with just about any caster you find.
 
Are you putting the engine stand on one caster? Four casters rated at 250 lbs each could support a 1000 lbs engine. A complete A engine weights in around 500 lbs, so you should be fine with just about any caster you find.

Imanidiot.:p

I guess I thought it was going to crush them, even if the weight were distributed...
 
Another angle on weight: Model A and B engines drop a LOT of their weight if you leave off the head, flywheel, and flywheel housing. I don't have a number on that, but picking up an engine stripped to that point is fairly easy for two geezers with bad backs.
Another caster factor is smoothness of floors...on flat concrete a pretty flimsy caster can survive. I actually have a flathead V8 shortblock sitting on a $19.95 Home depot furniture dolly right now, an experiment*...the setup is obviously marginal (it would be a lot stronger if I simply planked over the middle) but it works. If I had to move it on a rough surface I am sure it would collapse...

*I went into experiment mode when I noted that even hopelessly inadequate casters in the store cost more EACH than this 4-wheeled platform!
 
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I plan to store the entire rebuilt engine so it will need to be strong. I also want something stable enough to hold the motor so I can occasionally turn it over to keep things lubricated. I like that angle iron suggestion if its something I can bolt together. I don't have any welding equipment but we do have a Metal by the Foot store nearby that would sell the steel.
 
Two Harbor Freight furnature dollys and 2x6's to hold them together works great for me.
 

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