Off Road engine hoist

[RoamingGnome]

Finally got around to finishing a project I've been thinking about for a while. Took the easy way out and mounted 4 - 10" Swivel Caster wheels from Princess Auto in place of the stock iron ones...

I'll keep you posted on how it works out

[JSinMO]

Good idea! That could be much handier. Yes let us know how it works.

[RoamingGnome]

Update time...
And to borrow a quote from Thomas Edison... I didn't fail, I just found 10,000 ways that didn't work

The concept was good - put bigger, pneumatic tires under the engine hoist, and use 4 - swivel casters like the solid steel ones they were replacing...

The problem with the cheap Chinese swivel casters I was using was excessive play in the ball bearing swivel - as soon as I tried to turn the hoist... the swivel - instead of swivelling wanted to flop over on itself and I was constantly fighting with it .

next attempt was to replace the swivel casters at the far end of the hoist with an old fashioned fixed axle & wheel setup.
This was 1/2 way to being better - The weak link was still the swivel casters and my very uneven lumpy bumpy backyard/courtyard

[JSinMO]

Good quote, I’m going to have to remember that!
It looks like it functions, kinda. Probably still better now than the original wheels. Maybe you’ll come across some swivels that aren’t made with Chinesium!

[RoamingGnome]

Don't worry... There is a happy ending (I hope)
It's been cold lately, averaging between -5°C and -15°C (20°to 5°F for the fahrenheit crowd )

I've been trying to do some welding in the BigSky Fab shop when it wasn't snowing or too windy...
My next idea was to replace the remaining swivel casters with a trailer dolly and modified hitch...

A couple of trips to my favourite store (Princess Auto) and I had a 2" bolt on bumper mount receiver hitch and a 1000lb trailer dolly.

The bumper hitch was bolted to the hoist, and a short tongue fabricated from some 2" square tube.
It actually worked pretty good - after I made a slightly longer tongue, so the dolly could swivel all the way with out rubbing on the hoist frame or the hitch

Back to the fab shop and time to make 4 legs with height adjustable pads

- so I can get the trailer dolly out from under the hoist, and also as a safety measure in case the tires ever failed

I dragged the whole contraption around the yard a couple of times and it works pretty good, much better than using the swivel casters.

Almost finished now... Last step is to mount a hand winch on the post, so I can lift things a little quicker than pumping up the hoist cylinder.
I can also put a longer tongue on the hoist, and that would let me drag it behind one of my Case garden tractors...
My ramble for now - I'll update again when the winch is mounted and I've used the hoist to pull the engine out of car so I can replace the timing chain and adjuster...

[Harry]

Gerry that’s quite the fabrication project especially in this cold weather. Harry

[RoamingGnome]

Gerry that’s quite the fabrication project especially in this cold weather. Harry

Thanks @Harry - the last set of photos were all taken earlier today - it's cold, but fortunately I don't have any snow to speak of...
I keep trying to push myself - If I had snow like @DavidBarkey that would be game over until spring thaw - I'd have to consider hibernation like @propane1 keeps talking about