Cherry picker flipped over!
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From: Louisville, Ky
Cherry picker flipped over! The cherry picker holding my freshly built turbo motor with the trans attached just flipped over and landed straight on the balancer. I went ahead and threw it in anyway and you can actually see the balancer moving up and down from the crank being bent, minimal but there- I only let it run for a few seconds. Anyway, my engine builder who is crazy meticulous charges $500 for a rebuild and I think he said he has to basically rebuild the engine again. The pistons and rods are balanced before they go in so I figured all he had to do was pull the oil pan off, unbolt the main caps, unbolt the rods ends and push the pistons down the cylinder- get a new crank, balance it and throw it back in. Why would he need to pull off the heads and stuff and how much should he charge me to do this with the info I've given so far? Thanks for any help?
well, i've never heard of putting pistons back in through the bottom for one thing. 500 dosent seem that much for taking everything apart and checking the entire engine over, imho. good luck - and be careful!
$500 sounds like cheap labor to me.
Your lucky(?) the only thing that got bent is the crankshaft.
You could have cracked the transmission case and a whole lot of other stuff.
Your lucky(?) the only thing that got bent is the crankshaft.
You could have cracked the transmission case and a whole lot of other stuff.
Always have 2 or 3 people helping when putting in a motor or motor/trans. They are heavy and it helps if one person actually stands on the back of the engine hoist to stabilize it and help move it. Sorry to hear your misfortune, hopefully it only did something minor.
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From: Louisville, Ky
I may have wrote that wrong. Let me restate this: I am pulling the turbo kit and engine out of the vehicle myself and driving the engine over to his garage. The labor is just to work on the motor itself, not the labor for pulling or reinstalling all of it. He didn't say so but I also got the drift that I may need new bearings and a friend of mine just told me that I MIGHT want to get new rings if I want it to be 110%, which I do. My engine builder said for 110% I might also want to replace the head gaskets. They are copper with o-rings around the water jackets so I'm sure they are pressed to fit.
I figure: $100 for a used crank, $300 for machine work and metal for the crank?, $200 for new bearings (coated)?, $100 for new head gaskets, and $500 for labor = $1200 that I should be using for a ******* vacation that I haven't had in three years because my car robs me of it every year!
My engine builder and my good friend who also owns a performance shop both said that the engine has to come apart because the pistons and rods have to be balanced to the crank. What the hell does that mean? If the rods and pistons are balanced together and the crank is balanced seperately it would seem it would all be perfect.
Can someone elaborate in dummy terms.
btw: I am embarassed that the lift fell. I guess book smart does not make you a mechanic.
I figure: $100 for a used crank, $300 for machine work and metal for the crank?, $200 for new bearings (coated)?, $100 for new head gaskets, and $500 for labor = $1200 that I should be using for a ******* vacation that I haven't had in three years because my car robs me of it every year!
My engine builder and my good friend who also owns a performance shop both said that the engine has to come apart because the pistons and rods have to be balanced to the crank. What the hell does that mean? If the rods and pistons are balanced together and the crank is balanced seperately it would seem it would all be perfect.
Can someone elaborate in dummy terms.
btw: I am embarassed that the lift fell. I guess book smart does not make you a mechanic.
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From: ATLANTA
500 bucks for a rebuild is cheap, even if you are pulling the motor. A badass performance shop is going to charge like 800-1200 if you pull the motor. I would pull it, and replace everything he says is bent, as long as you trust him, hes allready giving you a hell of a deal so he must like you. The worst thing you can do is cut a corner and not replace something and have problems later on down the road.
Hmmmnn...
As I recall, the pistons, rods, rings, and brgs are weighed to determine the bob wts for balancing the crank, not the other way around.
The rods are weight matched, end for end, the pistons are matched to the lightest piece, and then the bobwts are calculated. If the engine has already been balanced, the info should be on the balance card, and should be available to use to balance the new crank....
If the engine is fresh, why new brgs, rings, etc??
As I recall, the pistons, rods, rings, and brgs are weighed to determine the bob wts for balancing the crank, not the other way around.
The rods are weight matched, end for end, the pistons are matched to the lightest piece, and then the bobwts are calculated. If the engine has already been balanced, the info should be on the balance card, and should be available to use to balance the new crank....
If the engine is fresh, why new brgs, rings, etc??
I'd say take every precaution possible, it's not worth skipping out on $1500 now and having to spend $4,000+ later on because you didn't want to fix it.
IMO you shouldn't have put the engine back in the vehicle after flipping the hoist, especially knowing you dropped it on the crank pulley. You wouldn't even be in the situation with having to pull/reinstall it. I can't believe you even went the extra mile and tried to run the engine. It should have been easy enough to tell that the crank or pulley was bent. I can understand the anticipation can be harsh, but that's just alot more headache.
Hopefully you're looking at less damage than could potentially be there.
What is it that you think caused the hoist to tip?
IMO you shouldn't have put the engine back in the vehicle after flipping the hoist, especially knowing you dropped it on the crank pulley. You wouldn't even be in the situation with having to pull/reinstall it. I can't believe you even went the extra mile and tried to run the engine. It should have been easy enough to tell that the crank or pulley was bent. I can understand the anticipation can be harsh, but that's just alot more headache.
Hopefully you're looking at less damage than could potentially be there.
What is it that you think caused the hoist to tip?
You should make 100% sure what's wrong before you go and possibly waste a good bit of money on nothing. I'd sure hate to throw away brand new stuff. How in the world could the rings possibly be messed up. I would think that's impossible.
Well if he saved the bob weight of the piston and rod assembly he should be able to balance the new/used crankshaft to your bob weight rotating assembly.Some balance shope write the bob weight on the crankshaft or save it in thier PC program i know my machinist does
Also if he can do it that way just pull the pan and roll the crank out leaving the rods and pistons in placenot even pulling the heads.Then when you back in with it just be careful and have a buddy help you fish the crank back in avoiding knicing the journals
Also if he can do it that way just pull the pan and roll the crank out leaving the rods and pistons in placenot even pulling the heads.Then when you back in with it just be careful and have a buddy help you fish the crank back in avoiding knicing the journals