Rotater for Engine Stand??

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Hello,Has anyone ever adapted something to an engine stand to allow it to crank rotate the engine around?Thanks.
Reply:I've seen chain and sprockets, usually the smaller sprocket  on the crank.
Reply:What kind of beastly machines do you work on...? I've built quite a few big block chevys and never considered building something to ratate them.I'd want some type of ratcheting lock on it. Can you imagine how fast that crank would be winging around if it got away from you..?
Reply:I will try to post a pic of the two stands I have tomorrow.Both can rotate.
Reply:http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/t.../#post-8155589V
Reply:OTC makes a diesel engine stand with a rotater. Chain and sprockets or a right angle reducer would work . WWW.surpluscenter.com would have what you need.Miller xmt304,  Miller S22 p12, Miier Maxstar SD, Miller 252 w 30A, Miller super32p12, Lincoln Ranger 9, Thermal Arc 181I with spoolgun, Hypertherm 10000 ,Smith torches. Esab 161lts miniarc.
Reply:Worm gear would be smoother, easier to turn, and much safer.Miller Syncrowave 350Millermatic 252/ 30A spoolgunMiller Bobcat 225g w/ 3545 spoolgunLincoln PowerArc4000Lincoln 175 Mig  Lincoln 135 Mig Everlast 250EX TigCentury ac/dc 230 amp stickVictor O/AHypertherm 1000 plasma
Reply:I have adapted manually operated brake camshaft slack adjusters to rotate the spindle of engine stands.The slack adjuster is a component of truck/trailer air bakes systems that allows for removing the brake shoe clearance (slack) in S-cam air brake systems that occurs with brake shoe lining wear.The old style manual adjusters (most everything these days has automatic slack adjusters) had to be adjusted often.  The manual slack adjusters were operated with a 9/16" wrench or socket to move the brake camshaft.  The mechanism inside the slack adjuster is a worm gear on the shaft the wrench turns and pinion gear that rotates the camshaft when the worm gear turns.  This makes for a very powerful, high reduction ratio of input to output.  So high in fact that the weight of the load (engine) can't reverse the action..........engine obediently stays right where you crank it to.We also always used a short length of cut off brake camshaft as our engine stand spindle.  But you can always improvise your own adapter scheme to fit the splines inside the camshaft gear of the slack adjuster (if one chooses to explore this method).We always used an air ratchet to operate the worm input to speed up the rotation of the engine spindle. Attached Images
Reply:Center the load like you're supposed to and a little kid could turn the thing over.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:Load changes as you pull parts off and put them back on though, especially the heads :-) Not easy to reposition the block every time things change.
Reply:Originally Posted by MikeGyverCenter the load like you're supposed to and a little kid could turn the thing over.
Reply:Depends on the motor I guess.Obviously you split the difference, the CG is only changing by like 3 inches. On the V8 blocks with aluminum heads it barely changes. Cheat the pivot point high to compensate for the heads/intake.A couple days ago I just pulled my LT1 v8 off the engine stand to put an all iron jeep motor on it, and it's easy to turn too.If it's really that big of a deal just weld a cheater bar coming off the pivot 18".It's a cool idea if you're rebuilding your engines ever day or something, seems like a weird thing to make a big project out of otherwise.Make it have a quick release though for the times you'll want that... there's nothing dumber than standing there cranking some thing for 2 minutes when you could have just turned it over by hand in 2 seconds.Last edited by MikeGyver; 05-26-2014 at 03:11 AM.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:It is not obvious from the OP what size engines his stand is aimed at.  Nor is it obvious what his physical stature is, so I will just presume he either has a real need for some kind of assistance, or else just really wants to have a feature he saw somewhere else.....on his engine stand.
Reply:I use a long handle to rotate my engines. It requires little effort to rotate even with all the parts on it.
Reply:Here are two pictures of the stand I have my Ford on. Its just two pipes, on in the other. You would think they bind and don't turn, but I keep them well greases and it turns with ease. Even using that small handle. I got this one for like, $50. No its not bent. Just the way the camera is looking at it.
Reply:Originally Posted by Mick120Every engine stand I've used and seen over here, rotates the engine.There's no point in having the thing fixed, not unless all you do is head work.
Reply:I built one out of a slack adjuster like above and it was OK.  You still need to get the engine pretty close to center. I traded it to a buddy a few months ago who has a really busy shop because his guys had to have it. The last time I saw it was in the corner under a bunch of crap and the guys were use regular stands. Idealarc 250AC 225SVictor OA-older made in USA stuff.And a crap ton of other stuff.