Ford Lehman Hoist for Rebuild

[lavida]

I am looking to conduct some major engine maintenance to my twin 120 hpFord Lehmans. This includes most engine/transmission seals and gaskets as well as camshaft bearings (if needed). I want to do this in my engine room aboard my 48.5 GB MY.

Does anyone have advice on best way to hoist and block engines for safe and practical positioning so that this work can be done in the engine room?

Thank you in advance.
~bruno

 

[koliver]

I am looking to conduct some major engine maintenance to my twin 120 hpFord Lehmans. This includes most engine/transmission seals and gaskets as well as camshaft bearings (if needed). I want to do this in my engine room aboard my 48.5 GB MY.

Does anyone have advice on best way to hoist and block engines for safe and practical positioning so that this work can be done in the engine room?

Thank you in advance.
~bruno

20 yrs ago I swapped out my engines. I had the boat on the hard and a Truck mounted HIAB did the heavy lifting.
I was prepared to lift in the saloon, and had bought one of these for the job: https://www.collisionservices.com/p...576442286987706&utm_content=Equipment & Tools
When I didn't need that hoist I was able to sell it for close to what I had paid.

If you don't need to remove the engines, only to lift them in place, that should do it for you.

 

[lavida]

20 yrs ago I swapped out my engines. I had the boat on the hard and a Truck mounted HIAB did the heavy lifting.
I was prepared to lift in the saloon, and had bought one of these for the job: https://www.collisionservices.com/p...576442286987706&utm_content=Equipment & Tools
When I didn't need that hoist I was able to sell it for close to what I had paid.

If you don't need to remove the engines, only to lift them in place, that should do it for you.

So that hoist was assembled in the salon with a lifting chain into the engine room?

 

[SteveK]

Hope your 48GB has better space open above engines, mine are 1/2 under the fixed floor, there is no straight up lift, so the lift Keith suggested cannot work as is. Also look at the pressure points of the lift and block the floor under those spots.

 

[lavida]

Engine Room Space

My GB 48.5 MY has ample room to lift and rotate the Lehmans. Am leaning (no pun intended) to a chain/block tackle supported by extra beams placed in Salon across the access hatches. Then have a support platform to slide under the engines to block the weight and spin the engine to get at undersides.

 

[Scooby5959]

Two points first one, I would weld up a frame that fit your floor and spread out the weight as much as possible, you could do that fairly easily with some angle iron . that way you’re spreading out the weight, then you build a A-frame on that with a removable pipe that you can hook a chain hoist two ,basically custom build an A frame over your engines ,that you can take apart ,you’ll need plywood to put all this on top of ,plywood so you’re able to slide things around and then good luck ,you’re probably have to partially disassemble the engines to make room to move them around, or you could sell the boat to somebody like me that buys boats ,that let’s say are in distressed condition,For $.30 on the dollar, i’ve bought more than my fair share ,I quit buying twin engine boats for this reason. I am better with wrenching and welding than I am with describing how to do something in writing ,some boats you may have to move cabinetry, pull out flooring, I’ve seen people cut holes in the cabin top and pull the engines out that way,If you wanted to call me I could tell you exactly what to do, Second point , you mentioned cam shaft bearings this makes me wonder ,why do you think the camshaft needs work ,because if it does they need to come out to be rebuilt, and I wouldn’t rebuild them I would replace them ,I know a lot of people pretend to love their Ford Lehman’s ,but a good mechanic and an honest one will tell you those engines are what are considered throwaways, are not designed to have an in frame rebuild and if you have an engine that is designed for that ,normally when they need cam work They get replaced with With a remanufactured engine or different ones , I could go in to great detail on why it is this way ,however I could do that over the phone much easier ,there are people that will tell you you can do the work in the boat,I wouldn’t listen to them ,it’s difficult enough to do a good job rebuilding a Ford Lehman, I would never do it in the boat Machining needs to be done in the shop, and once you have the engines out time to do your fuel tanks sorry I don’t like Upsetting people but it is what it is

 

[lavida]

All good comments. I so appreciate your candid approach. Apart from the oil leaks in the SB engine and the transmission oil leaks in the Port engine, they run well. My mechanic advising me (from Germany) wants to inspect the camshaft bearings - I suspect they may be just fine. This project is really about lifting the engines in order to replace seals to stop the leaks.

 

[Scooby5959]

My guess is he wants to look at the cam to see if the engine is worth rebuilding, in the boat if the cam needs work that changes everything, you have to pretty much disassemble the entire engine to look at the cam anyways.If you’re going to go that far and you find the cam is in good shape ,your crank looks good ,you can hone the cylinders replace the pistons and rings.Roll a new set of bearings in it and that’s about as good as you’re going to get, it’s more involved than that but that’s the quick version

 

[lavida]

My guess is he wants to look at the cam to see if the engine is worth rebuilding, in the boat if the cam needs work that changes everything, you have to pretty much disassemble the entire engine to look at the cam anyways.If you’re going to go that far and you find the cam is in good shape ,your crank looks good ,you can hone the cylinders replace the pistons and rings.Roll a new set of bearings in it and that’s about as good as you’re going to get, it’s more involved than that but that’s the quick version

I agree. Your logic makes sense. Thanks so much!

 

[High Wire]

Could you rent an A frame lift? If not, farm out the job to a marine diesel mechanic that has one.

 

[Comodave]

Over the last 2 winters I pulled both of my then SP225s up and out of the engine room on our President 41DC. I made a crane up out of an 8’ 6x6 I beam. On the port side I had a lot of room but on the starboard side I only had 2” of deck. Port side I stood a 6x6 wood beam on end on top of another 6x6 lying on the deck to spread out the load. On the starboard side since I only had 2” I used a 2x2 square tube and welded a receiver on the bottom of the I beam. Used a trolley and a chain fall to pick up the engine and slide it over to the other side. It worked really well. About 2 hours to lift each engine and set it on some temporary stringers on deck over the other engine. I used 2 by stock to support the deck down to the stringers so the deck wouldn’t collapse.

 

[Andy G]

I have had two FL120's rebuilt. From my experience Scooby 5959 is 'on the money'. The main difference I see in the Op's case is that his boat is a 48' and mine is 36'.That probably gives him more options.

However, once you have set up the cradle, got the lift in place there is not much more effort in taking the engine out. Working on a FL on a bench is light years away from trying to work in an engine bay.This of course assumes there is room around the existing built in cabinetry, and your door is wide enough.And you have somewhere to put the engine(s)

Either way I would repaint the ER with the engines out.

Good luck.

 

[Comodave]

I made 2 temporary stringers to set the engine on while they were up out of the engine room. I used 3 layers of LVLs and laminated them together. If you have room in the salon then that is the way to go since the engines will be up out of the engine room and easy to access. Then with the engine out it is easy to clean up the engine room and paint if needed. I also did a bunch of work on the wiring and bonding system. It took a couple of hours per engine disconnecting the wiring harness and fuel lines, etc. then about 1.5 hours to actually pull the engin up and out onto the salon deck. About 2.5 hours to set it back into the engine room and connect it back up. It took 3 men to setup the crane and pull the engines. 2 could do it but it was easy with 3.

 

[Comodave]

Some photos of the engine coming out and on the temporary stringers.

 

[Alisske]

Some photos of the engine coming out and on the temporary stringers.

Man. I’m loving the pics! Get’er done! attitude.

Nice to look at good work done right.

 

[MVDarlin]

I had complete 120 FL engine rebuild done on my 43 ft Ocean Alexander a few years ago. The mechanic built an A frame inside and used a chain hoist to raise the engine. He disassembled the engine and sent the block and head out for machining and then reassembled. When they lifted the block out to the dock the finger sunk about 2 ft. This was a complete rebuild with new sleeves and pistons and new bearings/ oil pump. Work was done in Mazatlan Mexico. I bought the parts from American Diesel and flew them down myself. Total cost was $8,500. I have pix.

 

[MVDarlin]

Also. Check with American Diesel. They sell remanufactured Ford Lehmans with some upgrades.

 

[psneeld]

Also. Check with American Diesel. They sell remanufactured Ford Lehmans with some upgrades.

Last I heard they don't rebuild anymore or sell complete engines.

 

[REO]

Quick comment on lifting equipment: Harbor Freight sells a nice inexpensive lifting bar that changes the lift point on the chain hoist so you can balance the load. Also handy if you want to tilt to get past something, or lift the engine evenly to help with initial alignment when installing.

 

[ronobrien]

Hope your 48GB has better space open above engines, mine are 1/2 under the fixed floor, there is no straight up lift, so the lift Keith suggested cannot work as is. Also look at the pressure points of the lift and block the floor under those spots.

I am looking at that in my GB36. I don't need to pull the engines, but it would make some repair work easier, but I have yet to figure how to get them from under the floors, to the centerline of the boat.

 

[Comodave]

Look at the photos of the crane I built and used to pull my SP225s. I lifted them and then slid them over to the other side with a trolley. Then I set them on temporary stringers while I worked on the engine room over the winter. The next winter I did the other engine. It was very easy and straightforward.

 

[ForEvers402]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3sdEV6boYacefbjg9

I built a rolling A-frame hoist. I've used it on several boats. This one happens to be a twin engine gasser. It disassembles into 3 pieces to allow it to be carried onto the boat. It rolls on 4" I-beams (in picture hanging off stern) with 2x4s on underside to protect floor (somewhat ;-). The balance bar mentioned by REO can be seen in photo as well. I hope this helps with ideas...