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Message: [QUOTE="me2, post: 328770, member: 3825"] It turns out that if I am going to replace the rods in my engine, I need a real engine stand. Had I not chosen to replace the rods, I would have worked on the engine while it was sitting in a wooden cradle, similar to this. That is what I did with my first swap. [ATTACH=full]86022[/ATTACH] The cradle is something I threw together with some scrap wood. The blocking holds the engine up on the pan bolts. The engine isn't at the right height, but providing you don't have to do anything to the pan, it works. However, when one changes the rods, the pan must be removed so that one can get to the rod caps. Theoretically one could do this with the engine hanging from a shop hoist, but I don't think that is a very safe or convenient way to do it. So the search began for an engine stand. Its difficult to find a stand for the Cummins 5.9/6.7 engines because most stands are built for a typical V8 engine and the 5.9/6.7s are way longer and heavier than a typical V8 engine. I spoke with several people who had worked on a 5.9/6.7 on a stand. The general consensous was that all but the heaviest automotive stands were downright dangerous and only the largest automotive type stands, with reinforcing straps on the main post, were suitable for working on a Cummins. With this in mind and a little more research, I settled on wanting a stand like this one. [url]http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200485241_200485241[/url] However, none of the retailers in my area had such a stand. After a while I located a stand very similar to that one, albeit without the tool tray and the screw down feet. However, the one I got folds up for storage, something that is very important to me because my shop is tiny. I paid $100 for it because its missing a few pieces and the paint job isn't up to snuff. [img] https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0rSgGP_VTSA/T77U1_PjHAI/AAAAAAAABAU/hjVPRJGumCA/s800/DSC_6869.JPG[/img] There isn't much to these stands. I was honestly going to build my own from scratch, but couldn't justify the effort for the few hours I am going to need it for this build. Having looked at several high end commercial stands while doing all this, there was no way I am going to leave the stand as I bought it. For starters, I am not going to mount my engine on the stand at the back of the block. A large part of my work on my engine involves building the adapter plate. I thus need access to the flywheel end of the engine and thus I'll be mounting my engine from the side using the engine mount bolts. I'm not alone in doing this. I've seen 2 engine build threads where others did this as well. The next thing that needs to be addressed is the stability of the stand. The footprint on my stand was 36x36. Judging by the size of the commercial ($5K) stands, that isn't large enough. So I increasee the width of the platform wheels by driving 2x2x1/4 wall square tubing into the existing wheel mount tube. This increases the rear width from 20 inches (!) to 48 inches. [img] https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-N7DrYGnC9oA/T77VBLNe2ZI/AAAAAAAABAc/VP6g1RQ1_JM/s800/DSC_6877.JPG[/img] I'll be adding an extension to the front legs as well, so that the overall footprint is 48x48. That should greatly increase the stability. Another thing I got from talking to people is that these engines are pretty hard to rotate. Ideally, one would be using a stand like this one, with a higher weight rating and a larger footprint. [url]http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200349940_200349940[/url] To make mine easier to rotate, I'll be making my mount assembly so that the center of rotation is closer to the center of the block. And I'll be using a long pipe to help rotate the engine. [ATTACH=full]86023[/ATTACH] I'm also mounting larger wheels on the stand so that it rolls better. I find engine hoists and engine stands to be very prone to tipping over because their wheels are too small, they roll hard and they skid on any little bit of debris, making them prone to trip up the stand itself. Another thing I had to check was that I could load the engine onto the stand using the (new) shop crane. It looks trivial in this picture, but it won't be once the legs are extended and connected together. [ATTACH=full]86024[/ATTACH] I hope to have the stand done tomorrow, so that I can I tear the engine apart on the weekend. In other news, the Ford harness for the transmission finally arrived. It took several tries to get it. It should have been trivial, but it wasn't. I had no such luck with the hot pipe materials, however. The outlet flange for the HE351VE did not fit. Another one has been ordered. [/QUOTE]