HF ATW jack and engine drop tip

[jmills]

I have a HF ATV jack that I used to drop the motor and it worked pretty well. However, the main complaint of the HF jack is the foot pedal used to lower the jack is more like an on/off switch, which makes it hard to lower smoothly. I friend suggested clamping a pair of vice grips on the foot pedal to make the lever longer and hopefully give you more control.



Since my motor is still sitting on the jack, I gave it a try last night and it works like a charm. It's still not as smooth as a floor jack, but I was able to slowly lower the motor with no sudden drops or bouncing. I would also suggest using your hand instead of your foot on the pedal.

[r-mm]

Good call. I second that on-off switch action being a problem.

[Ferrino]

Thanks for the tip. I just picked one up in anticipation of dropping my 3.2 engine/tranny. I am yet to build a wooden platform to sit atop the "arms" of the lift though. Do you have any more pics of yours? It seems that some like to let the heat exchangers take the weight, while others make something to "cup" the sump.

[clarkd]

I don't know if it is still the case or not, but the HF lift I've had for several years lowers slowly if you depress the pedal completely. It drops quickly just depressing the pedal slightly.

[jmills]

I don't know if the jack will lower slowly with the pedal depressed all the way. I don't think I will give it a try with the motor on the lift. I may get more than I bargained for.

Here is a picture of the platform that I used.



I used several pieces of 2x4 and some 1/2" plywood, but I did not secure them to the platform. I wanted the ability to place the boards in the correct position once the platform was in place under the motor. The platform itself is (2) layers of 1/2" plywood about 2' square.