<VV> ATV Lift - Use cart or not?

[Larry Forman]

At 11:43 PM 8/29/2004 -0400, ChiefTAM@aol.com wrote:
>  The  question is, do
>I need to build the wooden cart from "Keeping your Corvair  Alive" in order
>to pull the motor with the ATV lift?  We were debating  this, and maybe it
>would just be better to go ahead and do it, but the ATV lift  seems wider 
>than the
>available lifts used in the 60's, certainly about the same  width as the
>JXXXX "special" tool the manual keeps mentioning.  I am going  to be 
>dropping the
>motor by myself, so, do I just use the ATV lift or do I build  the cart and
>put it on the lift?  Any similar experiences?   Thanks.
>
>Todd Miller
>Dallas

Hi Todd,
I have an ATV lift purchased from Costco which is a little wider than the 
Sears version, I think.  My strong recommendation is to go ahead and 
fabricate a wood cradle and use STRONG bolts and possibly "L" brackets to 
hold it together.  I modified the Finch dimensions slightly.  It was made 
wider to bolt onto the ATV lifting arms.  I recommend using the inner holes 
on the lifting arm versus the outer ones, since having the cradle slightly 
more narrow will help if you ever have headers on an engine you are 
pulling.  The second way I modified the Finch dimensions was to move the 
center divider board slightly forward so that deep oil pans will cradle 
nicely in there.  With the stock Finch dimensions, some deep oil pans are 
too long to set into the rear and larger opening.

I recommend bolting the wood cradle onto the ATV lifting arms after you 
have removed the rubber pads.  By having wood there, you have a surface 
that will assure the engine will be centered both left to right as well as 
forward and backwards.  You will need to temporarily mount the wood cradle 
and make sure that the harmonic balancer and the wood cradle do not 
interfere with the safety lock or the lifting mechanism.  Mount it as far 
rearward as possible and still clearing everything.  You will also need the 
wood cradle for any deep oil pans, otherwise the pan will hit a cross 
member when the ATV lift is lowered.  With the wood, you can slide power 
trains on and off the cradle when it is lowered and not scratch things.  It 
does tear up the wood, but it is pretty easy to build another cradle from 
scrap 2X4s.

When done, you can remove either an engine or power train, lower it and 
move it around, raise it for working on it, lower it and run it on the ATV 
lift and check for things like fluid leaks, lower and move under the 
vehicle, raise and install.  It appears to do it all.  I also use a tranny 
jack for raising the tranny just a little, if needed.

Once you have the ATV lift outfitted with a wood cradle, you will love the 
convenience and best of all the absolute safety of doing these maintenance 
tasks.

-- Larry