Compact hoist / block & tackle to lift engine

[Skylark]

No firm plans but I'm contemplating how to lift my engine off its mounts, slide it forward and drop it again just enough to disengage the saildrive input shaft.

I have in mind something like a goal post. Vertical arms either side of the engine (resting on the grp bearer) and the overhead bar with a hoist or block & tackle in the mid of its span. There isn't a great deal of space above the engine so it would need a very compact lifting device. Any ideas of something suitable?

Any better ideas?

 

[vyv_cox]

I once lifted my Bukh 20 out using a turfer like this one https://www.bing.com/images/search?...9f0be278c8b906bdaf286841e309b801o0&ajaxhist=0 It wasn't as easy to use as my chain block, particularly lowering it as I recall, but it did the job very cheaply.

 

[Martin_J]

I supported the engine from the other side on a Volvo MD2040 when I replaced my saildrive diaphragm....

I bought a few of those large cheap plastic chopping boards. They are very slippery when piled on top of each other. Between a couple of these I slid some of the wooden wedges like you find around the marina chocking up boats, slim end towards slim end.

By knocking the wedges until they overlapped, the boards took up the weight at the rear of the engine.

Once the weight had been taken up the engine just slid forwards on the boards by the 2-3 inches needed.

Perhaps I was lucky that the forward engine mounts were on bearers that were sufficiently long enough to allow the engine to slide forwards and in the years previously I had gradually replaced all the fuel lines with enough slack for this manoeuvre.

With wedges and boards underneath there was no chance of the engine dropping.

One other thing to note - If yours is a Volvo, then at the upper forward end of the gearbox you should find a couple of holes that will allow you to put in support bolts. A couple of supported bolts in these holes will allow you to disengage the engine without the forward end of the saildrive gearbox dropping.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I used a 4:1 handy billy to lift my leyland 4.98 engine together with my jib sheet winch. Hung from boom with extra support.

 

[Stork_III]

A dinghy sized double block main sheet with jammer would easily lift the weight.

 

[Skylark]

Many thanks for the helpful responses. It's a Yanmar engine and here are some views

My priority is to avoid scratching / causing damage to the boat.

I like the idea of using boaty blocks. Even wondering how to incorporate a Traveller or Jib Car to aid the slide.

 

[TSB240]

WHY?

David FFS.

Yours saildrive gasket is only a year or so old!

Has it had much UV this year NO..... You have been in Wales all year!

Has it been soaked in diesel all year No..... You will have leaked as little diesel as you have used!:encouragement:

Think the Yanmar has two seals with a water sensor between. Has that gone off?

No

Has anyboat gone down because of a faulty saildrive seal? NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It is fine!

I am doing ours probably starting next weekend. I think our little 10 hp unit can be slung with our works chain hoist off the boom if really needed. But you only need to move it 30 -50mm forward max. Slippy bread boards sound good idea.

I am 99% sure that sail drive gasket on ours is the original fit in 2002!

We only have one between us and the deep blue sea.............

If it aint broke................

Come and help fix mine! (which is probably good for another 10 years.....)

Steve

 

[Mrnotming]

Big baulk of timber atwarthships over companionway!
Then use the mainsheet tackle made fast to the timber.
Just enough hauling to take the load should make the job easy!

 

[Skylark]

WHY?

David FFS.

Come and help fix mine! (which is probably good for another 10 years.....)

Steve

Steve,

The diaphragm isn't the problem. I've lost almost 0.5l of oil out of the gearbox and I don't know where it's gone!

I don't want to do it but I'd like to find the missing oil! I removed the 8 bolts holding the bell housing to the block last weekend but so far still no evidence of a leak (assuming it's leaked from the input shaft seal). I don't believe that sealant is used between that joint but I may encourage a leak with a soft head mallet next weekend! I'm also going to pressure test the saildrive. If it holds pressure I'm going to assume that I've had a bad dream and forget about it. The remaining oil in the gearbox, now about 3mm lower than minimum, is nice and clear (it's only done 8 hours in 2015) with no evidence of water ingress / emulsification. It's driving me mad!

I'd be quite keen to help you replace yours. The experience would be most helpful. I've give you a call......................................

 

[fisherman]

We lifted a six cylinder Ford with a chain over a trolley jack sitting on a beam across the engine bay coamings, enough to change mounts. In your case I would think you could slide a jack under it, with suitable wood padding.

Edit: Ah, I see the cross bearer in the way, maybe use that as a fulcrum with a timber beam and heavy weight (person) on the other end.

 

[Heckler]

Steve,

The diaphragm isn't the problem. I've lost almost 0.5l of oil out of the gearbox and I don't know where it's gone!

I don't want to do it but I'd like to find the missing oil! I removed the 8 bolts holding the bell housing to the block last weekend but so far still no evidence of a leak (assuming it's leaked from the input shaft seal). I don't believe that sealant is used between that joint but I may encourage a leak with a soft head mallet next weekend! I'm also going to pressure test the saildrive. If it holds pressure I'm going to assume that I've had a bad dream and forget about it. The remaining oil in the gearbox, now about 3mm lower than minimum, is nice and clear (it's only done 8 hours in 2015) with no evidence of water ingress / emulsification. It's driving me mad!

I'd be quite keen to help you replace yours. The experience would be most helpful. I've give you a call......................................

Who was I talking to the other week where they said when they changed their saildrive gearbox oil if they werent careful it got an airlock and appeared full but wasnt, had to do some fiddling with a pipe to fill and get the air lock out! Ah! got it! it was a boat called Scarlett, a a brand new red shrink wrapped forty footer Bene we met in L,Aberwrac. a common fault he said.
Perhaps no oil leak at all!
Stu

 

[Skylark]

Who was I talking to the other week where they said when they changed their saildrive gearbox oil if they werent careful it got an airlock and appeared full but wasnt, had to do some fiddling with a pipe to fill and get the air lock out! Ah! got it! it was a boat called Scarlett, a a brand new red shrink wrapped forty footer Bene we met in L,Aberwrac. a common fault he said.
Perhaps no oil leak at all!

Stu

That would be fantastic news, Stu. I've already asked the same question to the agent but so far my impression is that their priority is to find any conceivable reason to deny warranty rather than actually offer any help and advice. Not impressed.

An air lock doesn't readily explain why, 5 days after adding 350 ml, I had to add another 100ml. Now, it's lost another 100 ml or so (would be required to bring up the level). Also, no such issue last season following the same change routine.

I'll do an air leak test this coming weekend. Hopefully, that'll give me some useful information.

 

[Mrnotming]

I think Stu may have the answer, just air locked pockets being displaced by agitated oil.

Otherwise if you cannot detect oil in the engine bay, the drain screw is loose on the saildrive? or missing.

I presume oil fill is common to leg and gearbox on a yanmar?

My experience is Volvo Md2030 based.On running 12 hours or more, say on a canal, oil will emerge from the gearbox due to boiling.
I run with less oil in there consequently.I have changed the diaphragm once at year seven,

it was as new.

 

[Skylark]

I think Stu may have the answer, just air locked pockets being displaced by agitated oil.

Otherwise if you cannot detect oil in the engine bay, the drain screw is loose on the saildrive? or missing.

I presume oil fill is common to leg and gearbox on a yanmar?

My experience is Volvo Md2030 based.On running 12 hours or more, say on a canal, oil will emerge from the gearbox due to boiling.
I run with less oil in there consequently.I have changed the diaphragm once at year seven,

it was as new.

Thanks for your input.

There are no external leaks. I did save 10p by not replacing the drain plug washer but it's not the cause of the "missing oil".

Yes, leg and gearbox share common oil.

It is conceivable that it's an air lock. The sectional view (thank you, Google) shows some pretty small galleries.

I'll top it up again and pressure test it this coming weekend. I hope my worries have been in vain.

If it is a simple air lock, I'm surprised that it's not more commonly discussed. Google doesn't find reference to it but it does find reference to blowing the input shaft seal.

 

[Mrnotming]

Well my 120SE volvo has spent a good deal of it time surrounded by pampers nappies, as it ejects oil from somewhere mysterious.Only after warm water of canals reaches 25C and is useless for cooling even a beer!
So I run with only the tip of the little dipstick showing a tad of synthetic oil.
I changed from engine oil, to the very expensive fully synth stuff sold by Volvo.
No seals failed and the boiling point is much higher.
Would not expect to find these events happening in UK/Irl waters.
good luck with chasing bubbles!

 

[oldharry]

Ihave lifted engines using the mainsheet block and tackle, but it can be difficult to control once the weight is off the mounts, and even more so when lowering it back.

I used something like this, which can be operated easily with one hand with my MD7 on it:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=ratchet winch&ssPageName=GSTL


Might be possible to hire one? Or if you are near Chi, borrow mine.

Edit - just noticed where you live - cheaper to buy the Ebay one than to come and get mine!

 

[Skylark]

I'm now convinced that it can only have been an air lock in one of the oil galleries. I removed all of the bolts from the bell housing to the block last weekend. After a week, no evidence of oil leaking. I've tapped around the bell housing with a soft-head mallet and also managed to get a 5 thou feeler gauge between the two components so if oil had leaked out of the input shaft seal I should have seen it.

During the week, I made up a piece of kit to pressurise the sail drive. I inflated it to just 3 psi and it held constant for more than 10 minutes, see picture.

I'm surprised that a google search didn't find a reference to the issue. Thanks, Stu for your helpful comment.

 

[Cantata]

As one other has mentioned, the usual way to do the job is to unbolt the mounts from the bearers, then simply slide the engine forward with the weight at the aft end taken on timber wedges or whatever. I've not heard of lifting the engine off the mounts to do the job.

 

[PlankWalker]

A Turfer Winch is a handy bit of kit for this type of job, and very cheap.
I have lifted my 4 cylinder Perkins with one on several occasions.
I would suggest remooving the steps, place a well padded timber beam accross the main hatch, and hang a turfer from the beam to a chain / rope between the lifting points on the Yanmar,
You can then lift the engine swing it forward 6 to 9 inches lower it down, and repeat this as many times as necessary by moving the beam, all under precise control.

Plank

 

[Yngmar]

Sounds like you've got it resolved. If you still want to move the engine (not that fun, I can assure you), I've simply shoved a piece of timber underneath the flywheel housing and a wedge on each side. Both were wide enough for the ca. 3 cm the engine needed to move. I then removed the bolts connecting gearbox and engine and pulled the engine forward by way of a rope that went from one mount, around the mast compression post (with some padding) and back to the other mount. I thought I might need a block but gave it a try by just pulling the rope up and the engine moved forward without too much struggle (the MD22, gearbox and saildrive weigh 251kg together according to spec, most of which is the engine).

Moving it back in place was trickier, as there was no suitable attachment point for pushing or pulling it aft. I ended up levering it back with a plank. Re-engaging the drive-shaft on my own was a bit fiddly, as the wedges had to be adjusted for the right height and the prop (with gear engaged) had to be turned so the shaft grooves aligned. Probably much less frustrating with someone turning the prop while you wrestle the engine.