Transporting an Engine

Picking up my 241 Hemi next month in Washington and bringing it back to Arizona. I’d like to secure it to an engine cradle. I’m no carpenter. Anyone have any ideas on building one. It’s probably simple, I’m just overthinking this. Any help would be appreciated.

Take an old rim and tire combo, put the lug nut side down, put the sump of the engine's oil pan in the rim, strap it down.

Nothing fancy needed.

I've always used a few old 14" car tires to haul core engines. Lay the engine down on them and tie it off multiple times to the bed and good to go. You can use scraps of 2x wood as shims to help wedge the motor to sit where you want it.

Might want to bring some steel lift plates/brackets and some spare bolts and washers so you can add connection points to the engine if needed.

A big tire - say, 31 x 10.5 pickup size - and a few tie-downs will work OK.
What I did for my BBs was to take some 2x8 and 2x4, about 24" of each, and screw them together using Simpson ties, all from Home Depot.
Those ties are @ inside & outside corners.
The width & length match the oil pan rail, the 2x8 along the sides, and the 2x4s ft & back across the bottom so there's clearance for the harmonic balancer & rear of block.
Lumber oriented vertically, of course
It basically fits around the pan, with no worry about proper support, rocking, or falling over.
Absolutely bulletproof, will outlive me, and easy to add a furniture dolly or dedicated wheels later if needed.

Yep, dont over think it.

I just take a pallet, ratchet strap a 14 inch tire off the rim to the pallet, set the motor in the hole of the tire and if it leans to the right, its happy there I use the other ratchet strap from the pallet to motor. If on a open trailer I put about 4 HD trash bags on the motor wrapped in duct tape.

Ive even shipped some costly long blocks this way... zero issues. Its shipping from a to b in a safe way not a beauty contest. Although when shipping a few out of the country they required a crate.

60 series or wider Tires work great especially if it has an oil pan on it

In the back of a pickup truck I assume? I've done it in a tire also. As written especially good if it has oil pan. Allows for a little buffer for vibration and rocking but not so much it'll fall sideways. I've had ones delivered from companies on pallets and straps.

I use wood 2x6 and or 2x8 nail together to fit the oil pan and notch them to clear the crankshaft on both ends to haul engines all the time BB don't need notching.
I do make the ends wider than the center pieces also for stability: wrench:
I put 3 to 6 inch coaster wheels (depending on which ones I have on the shelfs) on some and not on all of them.
Steel wheels works better than rubber or hard plastic wheels on most surfaces

That’s kinda the direction I’m going. Last time I did a long haul transporting an engine using a tire everything kept shifting. Driving 1500 miles on [censored] roads I want to have the load firmly in place.

I tie to all 4 corners of the bed and have never had a problem

I load my motors on one of those home built engine crates, holders, and put them up against the tailgate and use two little ratchet straps to hold the engine around the water pump to keep it from sliding forward on hard stops, works good, last a long time

On rubber tires in bed of pickup

I usually use one of the wood holders with no wheels on them, I have a camper shell on my pickup so I have to shove them off the tailgate into the bed onto the composite bed liner