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Lift Plate Que

1K views 8 replies 9 participants last post by  engineguy 
#1 ·
Hey, to move my sb around with a cherry picker is it a good idea to use the lift plates advertised,cause that intake I have edelbrock, scares me, also if when I attach my trans 700R4 is that going to be toooo much weight , advise, thanks, Dana
 
#2 ·
I've used a lift plate with great success, but I replaced the grade 5 bolts with grade 8. I don't know if that really did anything other than to relieve my mind when installing one of the two crate motors that I used the lift plate on. Both had aluminum manifolds, by the way.
I don't know if I'd try installing the motor and transmission together using a lift plate, that might be putting to much stress on the intake manifold and me...:confused:
 
#3 ·
I had my big block at work one day and was moving it with the over head crane by the lift plate, all of a sudden the power went out with it 10 feet in the air. I was too lazy to get a fork lift and take it down so I left it there all night, no problems it was still hanging in the morning. I have complete faith in those things.
 
#5 ·
We came into tech college one morning, my instructor had a 402 BB chevy on a lift plate with aluminum intake hanging on the cherry picker, he had just lifted it a hour before as it was to be picked up by one of his customers, we were sitting in class and heard a loud crash, we ran out and found it on the shop floor, it hit the table first at a angle and hit the floor, the table was plate steel made and it bent it like a pretzel, and knocked a heck of a hole in the concrete shop floor, the oil pan was crushed and the oil pump was broken off which also broke off a piece of the rear main cap. my instructor wasn`t angry, but only at himself. funny thing was I had told him a week before I never trusted those things and he laughed it off, after that incident, they were no longer allowed in the shop. not to say they don`t work, they do, but the risks are there.
 
#7 ·
Lift Plates work great. However I have never tried one on an aluminum intake and probably won't. I just put the engine & tranny in my 62 car and had no problem - even though it's a scary site with a 440 Chrysler engine and tranny is hanging off of a plate held on by four bolts attached to where the carb normally goes! I would steer clear of using it on an aluminum intake. Better safe than sorry.

'cudabob
 
#9 ·
A lift plate will work fine, even on an aluminum intake. Nascar teams generally use lift plates on a regular basis. A word of caution though, be sure to use grade 8 bolts and flat washers to attach the plate to the intake. When you think about it, the aluminum intake, the lift plate and the attaching bolts are each probably stronger than the links in the chain you are using on the cherry picker or hoist.
Have used lift plates many times, but my preference is to attach a lift hook at the front and back of the heads and use one of the tilting devices with a crank. These give you a much greater range of angle and the angle can be changed while the engine is attached to the lifting device.
 
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