Attaching Upper Crankcase to Harbor Freight Stand

[YL82]

I've seen an HF Engine Stand (1/2 Ton) used to support an inverted XS650 upper crankcase. I'm interested in buying one of these $60 stands and using for rebuild work.

How does one connect the crankcase to such a stand? I saw a YouTube video that used the lower front engine mounting bracket, but am not precisely sure how this done or which mounting holes on the case were used.

Are there any pics or videos out there that show how to connect an upside down upper case to an HF Engine Stand?

 

[5twins]

That may be difficult on that stand. On the one I built, I have two uprights and connect one to the front, one to the rear .....

 

[I am Carbon]

That may be difficult on that stand. On the one I built, I have two uprights and connect one to the front, one to the rear .....

Brilliant!

 

[DIRTY DOG]

I've seen an HF Engine Stand (1000 lb.) used to support an inverted XS650 upper crankcase. I'm interested in buying one of these $60 stands and using for rebuild work.

How does one connect the crankcase to such a stand? I saw a YouTube video that used the lower front engine mounting bracket, but am not precisely sure how this done or which mounting holes on the case were used.

Are there any pics or videos out there that show how to connect an upside down upper case to an HF Engine Stand?

LOOK IN THE TECH SECTION,Wildwillyjohn and travis,and I think someone else made one too but can't remember who.

 

[5twins]

Yes, you can hang a 650 motor off one of those HF stands but you can't split the crankcases. To me, that makes it a waste of $60. Hanging the motor from one side only requires attaching to motor mounts on both the upper and lower crankcase halves.

 

[YL82]

5twins,

That's a very nicely designed stand! Very impressive.

I may have a Metal Fabricator buddy of mine look over the concept. He's supposed to be designing me a stand.

Here's the YouTube video that I referred to earlier. He may be a member.

 

[5twins]

Well, it appears it can be done after all, lol. Only one thing concerns me with that set-up though. He is utilizing the stock front motor mount rotated against the case. It contacts and bears against the area of the case that the oil pipe screws into. That means you have the whole weight of the motor pushing against that spot. I'm not comfortable with that. What if you crush or crack that hole? I don't know, maybe it's fine, just makes me nervous, lol.

The other part not shown is how do you wrestle your motor on and off of that thing? I designed mine so that the motor mounted in one of those normal homemade stands could be jacked up into position and attached to the revolving stand with my Blackjack 1000. Removal is just as simple.

 

[retiredgentleman]

I vote for 5twins design...............looks real fine! I see a marketing opportunity, if
5twins wants to start manufacturing

 

[5twins]

I'd starve making these things, lol. It was fine for my own use. I had all the materials and the time on hand. I'd never really seen exactly what I wanted anywhere so I built my own. I borrowed ideas from various stands I had seen and combined them to get what I wanted. The revolving tube-in-tube part is from car engine stands like the HF unit. Using one at each end of the engine is from a stand in the "motor stand" thread, although that one was way too weak in my opinion. Of course, the whole unit had to be on wheels so I could easily move it around. I put a lot of thought into this. To help brace the uprights against inward flex under the weight of the motor, I strung a length of all-thread between their bottoms. Double nutted at each end, it allows me to adjust the distance between the uprights at their tops .....

The only parts I bought were the hitch pins and grease nipples .....

The tubes that attach to the motor are actually the double walled front down tubes from an old 650 frame. I scrap nothing , lol.

 

[SEd27]

Hello All,


It is possible to attach the XS650 engine to an automotive engine stand at the rear mounts. My stand is from Princess Auto, but looks very similar to the Harbour Freight model.

I don't have 5Twins welding skills (that is one great design), but nevertheless still managed to modify some hardware store brackets with the following common tools:

- Hacksaw
- Drill Press
- Grinder


One thing to be aware of though, is that the fully assembled the engine is top heavy and does not rotate well in the stand. I used it more for painting and storage (as I don't have much counter space in my shed).

Hope this helps.

 

[TwoJugs]

I checked the vid and it looks like he has the front motor mount attached to the stand with welded steel plates. I would like more then that one attach point to hold the cases up, especially as it get heavy during added parts and assembly. looks like the motor mount jams against the case to hold the motor level?

I am working on one now that will use a second attach point to help support the outer weight and still rotate in the auto motor stand. The setup 5twins has does a great job. I saw another who used plywood attached to a bench with holes drilled to allow the cylinder head studs paas through. It does not swivel but is simple and chea to build.

 

[neanderthal]

i built this guy, works pretty good. it can be rotated to face up, down, left and right. also has breaks and is a good level so i dont brake my back bending over. i can sit comfortably on a stool. 5twins if very nice though. great design.

 

[TwoJugs]

i built this guy, works pretty good. it can be rotated to face up, down, left and right. also has breaks and is a good level so i dont brake my back bending over. i can sit comfortably on a stool. 5twins if very nice though. great design.

Similar to mine now, but I can't do a split case build inverted. My stand was given to me and does not have a rotate handle. It educated me when I spun it around and it slid out of the reciever tube, motor and all. I tried to catch it, or at least soften the landing. It smashed my wrist big time. I thought I broke it but most of the swelling went down in a few days with minimal pain and full use of my hand so considering I have no insurance I diagnosed it okay, even thoufh I still have a nice lump there 2 months later. Good news is the motor landed on the motor mount steel and did no damage to the motor.

 

[leggers]

Figured I'd chime in since someone told me y'all were talking about my HF engine mount.

Couple things. The stand is made for car motors, I bought it because it was priced well, and I didn't want a motor stand that sits on a workbench that can't be maneuvered around easily. It does utilize the factory front triangular motor mount which has one long bolt going through it. I used some leftover L brackets from a truck bed cover to make the transfer from straight bolt on, to 90 degree bolt on.

The motor is also supported by a 2x4 block of wood on the bottom side to keep it from swinging down vertical. Its not stressing the oil bolt as the weight is shared between the front triangle bolt and the 2x4 wood block on the lower case shell.

It worked for me, but it might not work for others...

Unfortunately when you have a fully built motor they are heavy. Getting half a case on the stand was easy obviously, but when it came time to move it into the frame I had two guys help me and we all lifted it off the stand and into place. I would never recommend lifting or transferring a motor by oneself.

Good luck

Leggers

 

[TwoJugs]

Well there you go.

 

[YL82]

I ended up buying the HF Engine Stand with the thought of having a Welder friend of mine modify it into a 5twins-style stand.

Thanks, leggers for your inspiring YouTube rebuild videos. Very helpful.

 

[leggers]

 

[YL82]

 

[YL82]

It's not done, but my Harbor Freight XS650 Engine Rotisserie is coming along. Cutting & welding was started/completed today. What's nice is that both uprights can be moved in or out if/when needed since they slide on the horizontal cross-piece.

Though obvious, I forgot to mention (in this thread anyway) that I bought 2 of the HF 1/2 Ton Engine Stands in order to get the 2nd upright.

As was pointed out by Travis, the uprights on the HF 1/2 Ton Engine Stand must be cut off and welded back on to eliminate the angles in the original design. Both uprights are now parallel, which will facilitate rotation of the engine. No, it won't be fun to rotate the engine with the weight distribution issues of an intact engine, but I've got a floor joist-suspended Strap Puller in my garage to assist with slow/controlled rotation.

 

[YL82]

I'll be having brackets welded up in next couple of weeks for my engine rotisserie stand. The plans are to make up the brackets where the inverted upper case sealing surface (to lower case) will be perfectly level. In this position, I've found the front and rear engine mount holes to be on the same plane as each other, thus the brackets are level with each other.

I'd like to somehow have flexible brackets whereby I can move either the front or back up or down so as to achieve "cylinder-level" when I flip the motor 180 degrees. In this position, the front and rear engine mount holes are on different planes, i.e., one is higher than the other.