Knowing I was committed to pulling the engine, I went ahead and ordered an engine stand and hoist from Harbor Freight. I could have driven 15 miles to the closest one, but I decided to save the trip and order it online. With a flat $6.99 shipping charge, it was probably cheaper to do that. I got the 1/2 ton engine stand and 1 ton engine hoist. I wasn't looking to start a mechanic shop, so this seemed to suit my needs.
The items arrived during the week and I didn't wait for the weekend to assemble them. The condition of the boxes were, suffice to say, laughable. Though, pissed was more my reaction. One of the boxes was completely broken open. Tape loosely flopping around. And they were just left on my driveway for everyone to see. You get what you pay for, I guess. With the condition of the packaging, I wanted to make sure they were fine, so I got to work putting them together. Fortunately, there were no missing parts and everything came together without a hitch and I was satisfied.
That was, until I checked the reach. Okay, so I probably should have done a bit more research here. This arm is just not going to reach the center of the engine. After a slight bit of panic and mulling over the options, I decided I would remove the bumper, before packing everything up and exchanging the hoist for the 2 ton version. Ho boy! If the bumper removal worked, I'd keep moving forward with what I have. This was the task for this weekend.
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| Front end and bumper removed. |
So, actually, the front end removal wasn't all that bad. I just need to find a place to hold all of these parts to keep them out of the way. My garage is already filled with other crap that all these parts lying on the floor just adds to the crampness. I'm keeping the front end out in the side yard for now along with some other parts. I think it should be safe out there.
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| Plastic, eh? Who knew? |
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| Fog lights have been this way like forever. Would be good to get replacement covers. |
So the front end removal worked and I don't have to endure the hassle of exchanging this huge piece of equipment. Mission accomplished. Of course, if you're considering pulling your engine and haven't gotten the hoist yet, consider the 2 ton version or you'll also have to do this extra work.
One other note, I purchased the hoist using a coupon to get a discount. Harbor Freight does this a lot. I noticed that a later ad had a deeper discount coupon available. After reading the fine print on the coupon, I went to the local HF store and got the difference back! So, if you bought an item from HF, keep checking the ads for the next 30 days to see if you can get a deeper discount. Every dollar counts!
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