Moparts

bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong?

Posted By: David_Trimble

bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 12:31 AM

Hi-

A few years ago I bought a dolly off a board member, and up until this weekend it had sat in my garage gathering dust. Now I'd ask the member I bought it from this question, but being so long ago I lost all his contact information- but I think it's probably a easy answer to a stupid question....

This weekend I got ahold of a engine hoist so I could lift the engine in question (a C-body 440) up so I could bolt the dolly on. While everything else looked good, I could not for the life of me get the rear brackets to line up with the back of the engine block. Now I'm assuming this bolts directly to the 'ears' on the engine block- or does it? I've included some pics to show the alignment.

Again- thanks for the input!
David



Posted By: thehemikid

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 12:44 AM

...Can what-ever this spacer is back in there be removed? Not sure it will be enough but is bound to help.

Attached picture 6300340-moparts-boltingonaenginedolly-whatamIdoingwrong-_1289691535698.png
Posted By: thehemikid

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 12:48 AM

...Or just cut this & weld it farther back.

Attached picture 6300352-moparts-boltingonaenginedolly-whatamIdoingwrong-_1289691913618.png
Posted By: Mopar_Country

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 12:57 AM

Looks like you need to slide the engine back a half inch or so. My thoughts are it's supposed set down on that shelf where the tab is.
Posted By: Yancy Derringer

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 12:59 AM

Quote:

Looks like you need to slide the engine back a half inch or so. My thoughts are it's supposed set down on that shelf where the tab is.



's it. Learn to use a crowbar LOL
Posted By: David_Trimble

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 12:59 AM

Quote:

...Can what-ever this spacer is back in there be removed? Not sure it will be enough but is bound to help.


Well, the spacer is welded on top of the strut- it can't be moved. Making the assumption that I really am bolting this dolly on correctly and it's just not lining up then I had thought of grinding off about a 1/4" from the front of the 'spacer' to shift the dolly forward. However on the rear mount there's a taper on the block near the rear mounting hole angling in towards the block and while my grinding would line up the rear mount (the angle welded onto the short strut), the angle is wide enuf where that taper would interfere with the angle sitting flush (or even near-flush) with its corresponding hole thru the block.

So if I am mounting the dolly correctly then what I think the easiest thing to do to fix it is to grind the welds off both rear mount angles, rotate each angle 180 degrees and move them back around 1/2", and reweld them in place. But what I want to make sure is that I AM mounting the dolly correctly before I do that.
Posted By: David_Trimble

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 01:04 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Looks like you need to slide the engine back a half inch or so. My thoughts are it's supposed set down on that shelf where the tab is.



's it. Learn to use a crowbar LOL



I thought of that - in fact I started to try it by prying the angle against the block's mounting ear But I wasn't brave/stupid enuf to see if I could bend it back w/o snapping off that ear on the block. I understand that that mounting ear is not that difficult to break (especially the one on the starter side) so I didn't go too far trying that....
Posted By: thehemikid

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 01:08 AM

...or just cut these welds, bolt it to the block, set it down with all bolts in place then tack, remove motor & weld. Lot of options.

Attached picture 6300406-moparts-boltingonaenginedolly-whatamIdoingwrong-_1289692578535.png
Posted By: thehemikid

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 01:13 AM

...will you ever bolt a trany on.
Posted By: David_Trimble

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 01:19 AM

Quote:

...or just cut these welds, bolt it to the block, set it down with all bolts in place then tack, remove motor & weld. Lot of options.



That'd work - I'd probably also have to trim off some of the angle towards the inside so the angle won't interfere with the taper on the block, but if there isn't going to be any side-stresses (mostly just the weight of the block bearing down on the angle and strut), then that won't matter that much.

Something else to consider- on the forward mount, a bolt would need to go thru the spacer via the two 'ears' on the block. Again, from concern with the ears breaking off from too much tightening, would I get away with lightly tighening the bolt down (say, 25 foot-lbs)? Since at that point my main concern is being able to let the block rest on the bolt that's going thru the spacer (and btw all bolts I'm using are grade 8) then I should be ok....
Posted By: David_Trimble

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 01:29 AM

Quote:

...will you ever bolt a trany on.



Good point- the only thing that would concern me is the flywheel interfering with the dolly. The engine had a automatic at one time (tranny now long gone) and during my intial attempt at attaching the dolly I had to remove the torque converter flex plate as it was hitting the dolly. So your idea is better than my idea of rotating the angle 180 and reattaching but I need to do some checking to make sure the dolly won't interfere with a flex plate or flywheel should I go that route. I may have to simply go with a different dolly for that.
Posted By: Mopar_Country

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 01:33 AM

I sure don't see how you would bolt it on any other way, and yes removing the 1/4" on the front of the taller upright might just get you where you need to be.
Posted By: thehemikid

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 02:20 AM

...if you need flywheel/housing clearance you could cut and invert the piece & reweld it if needed.

Attached picture 6300526-moparts-boltingonaenginedolly-whatamIdoingwrong-_1289696646796.png
Posted By: 4BBodies

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 03:14 PM

Why don't you just take a sawsall to the base of both upright supports, cut them, position the engine (with a hoist) and bolt it to the stand? Then re-tack the uprights, remove the stand and weld solid? Seems like about a 15 minute job to me, and then you would be done. They may have been moved for some reason already, it kind of looks like it in the pics.
Posted By: David_Trimble

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 05:14 PM

Quote:

Why don't you just take a sawsall to the base of both upright supports, cut them, position the engine (with a hoist) and bolt it to the stand? Then re-tack the uprights, remove the stand and weld solid? Seems like about a 15 minute job to me, and then you would be done. They may have been moved for some reason already, it kind of looks like it in the pics.



Well the major problem to all of this is that I don't have direct access to a welder- the best I could do is have someone else do the welding. Not difficult to find someone but it's just one more pain to deal with....

However, I've been doing some thinking and I'm wondering if it would be better if I added the engine mounts to the block, THEN attached the dolly. I'll be trying that today - failing that then I guess it's off to the welders to have some mods done to the dolly
Posted By: jbc426

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 06:23 PM

Quote:

...Can what-ever this spacer is back in there be removed? Not sure it will be enough but is bound to help.



Hold off with the welding just yet....Some years of these block's motor mount ears are thicker than others.

Looks like all you need to do is use a hack saw to cut off a small amount of the FRONT of that little tube that the bolt goes through on the front mount (cut the tube on the opposite side indicated in this picture by the little circle).

It looks like if the front edge of the motor mount mount sat flush with the front of the forward upright, it would fit. (notice that the amount of interference is equal to the amount the tube sticks to far forward)

That way the engine can slide back and the rear tab will drop into place. Sometimes in this life, all you need is a hammer, a hacksaw and a pair of vice-grips to get by....

Attached picture 6301422-6300340-moparts-boltingonaenginedolly-whatamIdoingwrong-_1289691535698.png
Posted By: David_Trimble

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/14/10 06:43 PM

Well, this morning I managed to get the dolly on I had to move the dolly back so that the back mounting angle was mounted on the rear of the engine- that is, on the mating surface where the bellhousing goes. So the rear of the engine isn't resting on the back mounting struts as it was suggested that it should (and as I had thought, too), but it seems to be holding up pretty good.

Anyway, I think I'm good to go now- thanks all for the suggestions!

David
Posted By: 4BBodies

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/15/10 02:52 PM

Glad that you got it Dave!
Posted By: scratchnfotraction

Re: bolting on a engine dolly- what am I doing wrong? - 11/15/10 03:16 PM

what no pics of it on the block and mounted up?????

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