That really sucks Mike! I hope you are feeling better!

Sorry to see, glad no one was hurt. Need much shorter rigging next time and be glad it wasn't a big block motor. I'm surprised it needed to be so far extended, the ram because the rampage it seems pretty low to the ground?

Wish I was closer you, do you have another engine crane to get the motor off your car?

Yeah I got the engine off.... the arm needs to be
that far extended... it has to go right to the
fire wall... that was about the 20th time I pulled
the engine/trans... I even do the race car the same
way.. but that trans is about 60# lighter

I bought two of those cranes with the fold up legs and the extendable boom. Its surprising how much the load rating goes down as the boom is extended and I'm glad its marked as a reminder.

Dang!! I've never seen anything like that before!

Hope the damage is not as bad as it looks.

Gosh darn it Mike,
Its almost time to pull the tent stakes and make the Shadow street legal for drag week. As always if you need anything or help I will extend a hand if and when I can.

I was just inquiring how you were doing the other day too.

Good to see you up and about but not in this way!!

Scot

Wow, I know every system has a weakest link, but I would not have guessed that the hyd ram was it. I assume the hyd cyl wasn't jammed preventing pivoting or restrained inadvertently in any way, when moving under this load? I guess an Alum SB is out of the question?

I meant the rigging on top of the motor(chains/tilter), I know the boom has to be all the way out in most cases.

Holy Smokes Mike! You just can't catch a break lately. Hopefully the damage is an easy fix.

Randy

Unreal, and your a much more patient man then me, the car would be in the back field full of holes by now and I wouldn't feel bad a bit about the time and money in it.

Just glad you had a buddy there and are aware of your recovery stage. Take it easy or a deserved day off.

I bought a new engine leveler/tilter today... I have
all my parts ordered for the car... they should be
here in 7 days... now to strip off the old junk and
put the engine/trans in to test it
EDIT
I just need to see what I want to do for a cherry picker

The load on that cylinder is supposed to always be in compression, that's why it pivots on both ends. Something happened to put a shear load on the shaft, maybe the upper bushing seized. Glad the motor wasn't damaged.

Both pivots were free... it came down.. fairly slowly
thats why things didnt get all busted up
EDIT
The only thing I can think of now is that the cyl was
extended farther than I normally go... when it gets to
a certain point I start to level the engine out so it
will clear the front end.. my buddy wanted to keep going
up... but when the cyl is a long way out it is weaker(greater
area to bend in).. so MAYBE all along I was right at the max
lifting point... just a guess

Sorry to see this,hope your luck turns around soon!

Awwww crap Mike, thats just a shame that this has happened, looks to be a car guy's worse nightmare, but at least nobody got hurt or worse, things are fixable, but if you are like me you have a full plate of things to get done and somthing like this is never figured into lifes gotta do list.

I've seen it happen before. If you look at the pics, you see a couple things.....One, there is a LOT of ram run out there. Two, the base of the cylinder is mounted WAY behind the push point on the boom and appears to be even with boom pivot point. Fully extended that thing has some SERIOUS side load on it. Not sure I have ever seen a hoist with the bottom of the ram not a good bit ahead of the boom pivot.

Sucks for sure, but I believe I would look at moving the cylinder forward at the base.

My lift is homemade but has lots of adjustments on it and with the boom really high, the cylinder is pushing nearly straight up

sorry to see that, it really sucks. that must have been a chinese import pump?

i would like to see the whole pic of the picker

Can't you just get a new cylinder for your crane?
I have wore out 2 of them over the years and on my 3rd cylinder, but same crane.

Damn the luck Mike....so sorry to hear this.

Rickster