Engine Lift/Hoist

I need to get a lift and I am tempted by the price of the Harbor Freight one ton. I do need the legs to fold but I don’t want to buy junk.

Thought are more than welcome!

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It's just nuts, bolts and metal. The only thing that will fail is the cylinder, and just get another HF cylinder. Probably under warranty.

I have one from HF. It works fine. replaced the cylinder once - around $40 IIRC - after I left an engine and tranny hanging from it for a looooooong time and blew out the seals. If you don't abuse it like that it will work fine.

You can replace the cylinder with an air over hydraulic one.

ratatatatatatatatatatatat

I have that hoist. Honestly, my biggest complaint is that it's a hideous orange color. Come to think of it, my only other complaint is that the casters kind of suck compared to the ones on my higher end stuff.

I have one too, it works fine after 5 years or so.

i got a fold up picker from Northern Tool.. paid $200 for it- it's the 2 ton version. the boom goes out far enough to put an engine in a 74 Monte Carlo and goes up high enough to lift a 350/TH350 combo out of a slightly lifted 4X4 truck without taking out the radiator support..

i once used it to lift the front of that Monte Carlo off the ground with the boom all the way out.. i wanted to see how strong a carb lift plate on an aluminum intake was, and it was plenty strong to lift the whole front of the car a foot and a half off the ground.

that cherry picker is my favorite tool.

I have the Harbor Frt. unit. It has always worked fine. I do have one suggestion. Do not leave the hoist in the up position because the exposed cylinder can rust causing premature seal failure.

Watch craigslist. Engine lifts take up room in peoples garages and they change hands regularly and you can probably get it cheaper. I have no comment on the quality, however.

Beware the casters on the HF lift. They pop off very easily, especially if you've a rough driveway.

I have what looks like the same lift (but painted in red) that I got from Tractor Supply. I think I paid around $135 and it should have come with a leveler. I works fine for my needs, but the casters don't swivel the best. I just got tired of renting one and having to haul it around.

I have a Northern Tool one I bought 12+ years ago for about $140. The lift cylinder was replaced under warranty within the first 6 months, but has been working great ever since. I do have to add a little fluid after it sits for awhile, but nothing bad. It has paid for itself several times over.

I have a steel beam overhead in the garage, which means a chain hoist overhead, then pushing the car from under the dangling engine. Works great, except the MR2 motor drops out the bottom easier. Doh!

If you get one, get one with a balance bar. I was surprised by how much dangerous manual work it took to haul an engine out without one last week.

I've had the one pictured for the last 6 years. My biggest complaint I the amount of space it takes in my shop. I don't use it regularly enough for the space it takes up. Now that I have a two post I figure I could just attach a a strap to the roof and lower the car away from the engine. That cherry picker works well though. I have lifted up a miata body off the subframes with it.

RossD wrote: Watch craigslist. Engine lifts take up room in peoples garages and they change hands regularly and you can probably get it cheaper. I have no comment on the quality, however.

I searched for many months on CL for a hoist and those that were even close to the HF price were junk. I, too, now have this HF hoist and am pretty happy with it. And thanks for the caveats mentioned in previous posts.

In reply to gjz30075:

I should mention I did get it for the $99, per coupon. Coupon was good for about six months so it gave me time to look around for one.

One interesting thing I've noticed about some of the H-F stuff is the quality of the steel may be suspect. I bought a truck hoist in the Spring and had to drill a couple of new holes in the base plate. While I do have a pretty powerful drill for these sort of tasks, I was still rather shocked at how quickly I was able to to drill a 7/16" hole. The phrase 'hot knife through butter' comes to mind.

I've drilled a similar hole in the old trash-picked engine hoist I have and the metal didn't yeild quite so easily. A folding hoist would be nice, but I use mine so rarely that I just take it apart and stuff it into my shed when not being used. Yes, it's annoying to spend 30 minutes assembling it for 5 minutes of use, but in peices it takes up less space than even a folded hoist.

mw wrote: Now that I have a two post I figure I could just attach a a strap to the roof and lower the car away from the engine.

You make a bar that hooks onto the hoist arms so you can lift the engine out with the hoist.

SkinnyG wrote:

mw wrote: Now that I have a two post I figure I could just attach a a strap to the roof and lower the car away from the engine.

You make a bar that hooks onto the hoist arms so you can lift the engine out with the hoist.

If I had a 2-post, I'd lift the car off the engine/front subframe assembly, since that's how most cars are assembled.