Hey guys. Never knew this website existed. Looks cool. I'm going to be pulling the motor out of my '97 Saturn SL2 this weekend and I could stand to borrow an engine hoist from a fellow classmate. I'm planning right now on renting one. It's $30 a day, so that's $60 just for the hoist, but I'll also be buying a load leveler as I hear that makes the job easier, and that's another $50.

So, if anyone has a hoist or a leveller that they could let me borrow that would be awesome. Thanks.

8/12/2009 8:51:24 AM

i have never used a load leveller to remove or replace an engine. maybe i've been missing out.

8/12/2009 8:56:02 AM

i got one you can rent if need be. $20 for as long as you need it. with some kind of deposite or collaterall

[Edited on August 12, 2009 at 9:33 AM. Reason : lol]

8/12/2009 9:10:49 AM

It seems that the load leveller is more useful for FWD cars that don't have a lot of room to work with. Don't think I'd need one to take the V6 out of my '93 Explorer.

@ Ragged: YGPM!

8/12/2009 9:27:50 AM

can't you buy a cheap hoist for like $100?

nvm theyre like $150 for one that'll probably end up dropping something lol

[Edited on August 12, 2009 at 9:32 AM. Reason : a]

8/12/2009 9:32:01 AM

The 150 dolla ones work great. I have one. Jeepman has one.

The leveler works well as long as you have enough lift on the lift to account for the extra chain length. I have one of those too. The combination is kind of a bitch if you're working on a tall truck, though. You may find your lift won't go high enough.

I worked for years without a leveler, and I can get by just fine without one. It actually works better with most RWD vehicles because of the limited amount you can lift the tranny to mate everything up and getting the right angle of attack...especially with manual trannies. FWD isn't so much of an issue.

I've done an assload of both FWD and RWD, manual and auto. I did my Integra once with just a chainfall. Did it another time with just a floor jack.

8/12/2009 9:54:27 AM

the question is

have you done it with a chainfall in an oak/pecan/pine tree?

8/12/2009 9:58:03 AM

^ theres a guy (coloured fellow) off rock quary road that ive seen do that a few times

usually a mid 90s gm car that they work on

8/12/2009 10:01:44 AM

i've never had to do that

but we did straighten a race car chassis by chaining one end to an oak tree and the other end to an international harvester one time

8/12/2009 10:04:19 AM

god damn i wish i was raised in the raised "out in the county" somewhere

8/12/2009 10:07:07 AM

i wouldn't trade my upbringing for anything

8/12/2009 10:15:39 AM

Quote :

"i wouldn't trade my upbringing for anything "

A COUNTRAY BOY CAN SURVIVE

8/12/2009 10:36:39 AM

nm.

[Edited on August 12, 2009 at 10:38 AM. Reason : back on topic]

8/12/2009 10:37:40 AM

So ragged is letting me rent his hoist for an a lot better price than I was going to pay: thanks. Anyone up here have a load leveller I could borrow/rent so that I don't have to buy one?

8/12/2009 11:59:53 AM

i wouldn't bother with one

8/12/2009 12:04:51 PM

harbor freight used to sell them for like 30-40 bucks. not listed on their website anymore, but they may still sell them in store.

8/12/2009 12:08:53 PM

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28361&highlight=engine
http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1496507&posted=1#post1496507 (post 6)

The guys over at Saturnfans.com seem to highly recommend using one. This is my first time taking the motor out of a car, so I'm trying to do it as painlessly as possible.

8/12/2009 12:10:47 PM

you really dont need one. seriously.

8/12/2009 12:32:58 PM

I'll consider not using one. I got a buddy who's gonna help me with the project. He might have one.

8/12/2009 12:43:18 PM

Ragged has a good one.

I borrowed one from my nbor here recently and I can ask him for you if you would like.

They are hard as hell to transport is the problem.

[Edited on August 12, 2009 at 12:58 PM. Reason : ive done engine out bottom, out top, in bottom, in top , never used a load balancer. YMMV]

8/12/2009 12:57:29 PM

If ragged is still missing the chain for his I bought some recently and you can borrow it. You can also rent one from advance or autozone. I forgot which one I went to last time.

You may also want to rent the axle nut set to get the axles out.


I'm a budget expert

8/12/2009 1:01:51 PM

The load-leveller is hard to transport? I figured that it'd be the hoist, specially if it doesn't fold. Oh, and ragged says he doesn't have a load-leveller. Maybe he's gotten rid of his. Could you check with your neighbor for me?

8/12/2009 1:02:19 PM

in never used a load cheater only done rear drive cars so i wouldnt know how much easier it is. good thinkin quinn. after much cleaning up i cant find the chain ahywhere. i guess i left it at the last place i did a motor at.

8/12/2009 1:13:54 PM

they meant the hoist is a pain in the ass to transport. dur the leveler isn't that big. ^^

[Edited on August 12, 2009 at 1:14 PM. Reason : a]

8/12/2009 1:14:11 PM

Yea Quinn I wouldn't mind using your chain. And I'll call Advanced to get some of those axle nut removers. What is that again?

8/12/2009 1:33:28 PM

[Edited on August 12, 2009 at 1:38 PM. Reason : pic]

8/12/2009 1:38:14 PM

to remove the engine with transmission you need to remove the axles. to remove the axles you need to remove the axle from the hub. to remove the axle from the hub you need to remove the axle nuts.


it looks like you might be in over your head here......trial by fire is the best way to learn though. just keep a backup plan in mind for failure.

8/12/2009 4:13:16 PM

turns out i know this fellow and hes pretty smart. it will be a big project no lie but, i think he has the smarts to complete it

8/12/2009 4:19:09 PM

Quote :

"to remove the axles you need to remove the axle from the hub"

i always removed them from the tranny instead

but i havent took the motor out of a saturn.

8/12/2009 4:23:12 PM

If this is an automatic, then it's really not hard to separate the engine and tranny and leave the tranny in the car. Fuck taking out all of it.

If it's a stick...you don't have much choice.

8/12/2009 4:49:25 PM

i, too, have only very rarely used a load leveler. the couple of times i did it was more of a pain in the ass than without.

Quote :

"The 150 dolla ones work great. I have one. Jeepman has one."

same here. actually, mine was much less than $150. from big lots of all places.

8/12/2009 8:09:53 PM

load leveler is fucking worthless, grab that motor like a man and put it where you want it.

8/12/2009 9:56:34 PM

Well I must say, I appreciate all the comments so far. Some more so than others To clarify, it is a 5-speed so I'm pretty sure taking the motor out with the tranny attached is the easiest, if not only option. As far as "trial by fire" I've done some research, have a Chilton book, and have a buddy with loads more experience pulling motors out than me helping. I don't expect everything to go off without a hitch though, and am prepared for this to take longer than necessary.

And thanks for the vote of confidence Ragged.

@optmusprimer: I'll see if I can't do that :-/

8/12/2009 10:53:38 PM

put something better in its place

8/12/2009 11:10:36 PM

turbo 1.9 saturn !!!!

8/13/2009 12:22:02 AM

Quote :

"turbo 1.9 saturn !!!"

Oh god, you guys are bad for my wallet.

8/13/2009 7:40:55 AM

Update: I got it out! Many thanks to Ragged for letting me borrow his hoist. Huge help there. I ended up borrowing a leveler from a friend: it sorta came in handy. As many of you pointed out though I probably would have done fine without it. Tribute to optmusprimer, I did have to wrestle the motor around a lot :-/

Next step rebuild it, then the hard part, putting it back in.

8/15/2009 10:41:15 PM

you gonna take some of the parts to t hoff, or a place in gboro

8/16/2009 1:55:29 AM

I'm going to put the motor on an engine stand at T Hoff and rebuild the whole thing there.

8/16/2009 11:28:33 AM

Why does it need a rebuild?

8/16/2009 11:36:24 AM

it's seized up. It was running low on oil. Whoops.

8/16/2009 7:14:44 PM

Wouldnt it be cheaper/faster to just put a used engine in? At least start with another engine that would just need rings and bearings instead of paying to replace or turn the crank and resize everything in the bottom end. Just a thought.

8/16/2009 8:56:14 PM

cheaper but not as fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8/16/2009 9:02:45 PM

I'll be getting the machine work done for next to nothing. Heck I'll be doing most of it myself.

8/16/2009 11:14:20 PM

fail?

10/15/2009 7:36:39 AM