Shop / Tools DIY Geared Rotating Engine Stand

[Greg]

I've been turning my engines over by hand and I figured it was time I worked smarter, not harder. I'll be adding this to an engine stand I've owned for almost 30 years, it has some history and is a nice, well-built stand.

Thought I'd share this on here in case anyone wanted to duplicate this. I've seen builds using similar parts, but not quite the same. I'm trying to keep it simple and strong. (I'll include part#'s and links.)

You can buy engine stands that have a similar setup, but they're not cheap... and why buy, when you can build!? 😁

The 2 main components of this project are tractor trailer brake pieces; A 10 spline S-Cam shaft and a matching 10 spline Manual Slack Adjuster. The S-Cam is a large, splined shaft which the slack adjuster fits into. The slack adjuster is basically a worm-drive gear reduction unit, when the small bolt on the side of the Slack Adjuster is turned, the S-Camshaft spins.

Here's the ones I used;

S-Cam ($57) - https://a1truckparts.net/products/e...ight-hand?variant=39403598250049&currency=USD

Slack Adjuster ($35) - https://amzn.to/3F7lMdq

The other components of this project are Pillow Blocks & a couple pieces of steel. (The S-Cam has a 1 1/2" shaft diameter, so I found Pillow Blocks in the same size to match.)

Pillow Blocks, 1.5" ID ($31/pair) - https://amzn.to/3mbzogs

I cut the S-Cam shaft to the length I needed, 10 1/2" long. I had some 2" x .250 (1.5" ID!) round link material laying around and it just happened to be just about the right size to adapt the S-Cam shaft to the engine mount tube!

Here's how it's looking so far! The flat plate is overkill in size, it's 1/2" thick. I would have preferred 3/8", but I didn't have any on hand.

I chopped the top round tube off the engine stand. (The flat plate needed to be wide and long enough to accommodate the Pillow Blocks, with the Slack Adjuster mounted on the back of the engine stand.)

Once the flat plate was welded into place, it was time to put it all together, toss an engine on and test it out!




The slack adjuster is geared very deep, you need to be careful turning the engine over with an impact because it'll spin fast! I've used a 3/8" speed wrench and it turns over very easy by hand as well.

 

[UNSTUCK]

I build one for a customer a while back so he could hold a 5.9L. Carl and I built a drip pan that fit perfectly between the legs. Was a pretty nice engine stand and a super cheap way to rotate it.

Yours looks very similar. Nice work.

 

[Hickey]

That's pretty cool. Do you think an air ratchet would be slower?

 

[Tebbsjeep]

We throw away S-cams/adjusters like that every week at work.

Maybe I should grab a few old ones just in case I ever dive into an engine build.

 

[Hickey]

We throw away S-cams/adjusters like that every week.

Kinda makes me wonder if I could build/modify a swaybar with those parts.

 

[Greg]

That's pretty cool. Do you think an air ratchet would be slower?

I used a 3/8" speed wrench (by hand) and it's much more controllable.

We throw away S-cams/adjusters like that every week.

I'm not surprised, I thought about going to my local truck shops and sourcing used parts, but decided new parts would look better.

 

[1969honda]

I love it! I've actually got a rotisserie project mostly built in storage that is similar to this for a Datsun 240z one day. Those slack adjusters are 22:1 if I remember right. I grabbed some scrapped camshafts from work and manual adjusters we were told to throw away. I went a little different route on the headstock tube and welded a piece of DOM in place of the normal headstock; I then pressed in some roller bearings and welded the engine plate to the S-cam.

And ya, I may have to put that ICT Billet adapter in the "Today I want this" thread now....

 

[Greg]

I love it! I've actually got a rotisserie project mostly built in storage that is similar to this for a Datsun 240z one day. Those slack adjusters are 22:1 if I remember right. I grabbed some scrapped camshafts from work and manual adjusters we were told to throw away. I went a little different route on the headstock tube and welded a piece of DOM in place of the normal headstock; I then pressed in some roller bearings and welded the engine plate to the S-cam.

And ya, I may have to put that ICT Billet adapter in the "Today I want this" thread now....

I was wondering if one could build a rotisserie using the same parts! That sounds like a useful tool and great way to build it.

I considered using DOM and roller bearings, but this seemed a little easier. I was searching for bearings when I thought about the pillow blocks.

The ICT Billet mount is a piece of art, it's beautiful and really secures the engine to the stand, even more so when you're spinning it around. With 6 bolts securing the block, it's solid. I just added it for this project and I'm wondering why I didn't get one sooner!

Got mine on Amazon as well. - https://amzn.to/3pCWqPt

 

[1969honda]

Nice, thanks for the share on the mounting plate. On the rotisserie idea there's a ton of different engine stand conversion plans out there, I copied a known good plan others have used for the base from http;//forums.hybridz.org (https://forums.hybridz.org/topic/106808-building-a-rotisserie/) My Z isn't much bigger than a miata and once the shell is stripped completely probably won't be to far off from a JK tub in weight. I may get a wild hair and put my k5 stripped shell on it if I ever get out from under other family stuff to work on it again, if I do I'll take pictures and share.

 

[UPNO4]

That is pretty awesome now I need to figure out where my old engine stand went

 

[Tacoma]

Pretty slick. I bought a Sunex 1,000lb geared stand last Feb for.... $259, according to my Amazon history , but it is not as smooth as this. Excellent DIY-ing, and I award you 271 Tacoma points for using parts outside the box. Really great idea.

 

[Greg]

Pretty slick. I bought a Sunex 1,000lb geared stand last Feb for.... $259, according to my Amazon history , but it is not as smooth as this. Excellent DIY-ing, and I award you 271 Tacoma points for using parts outside the box. Really great idea.

Why thank you Tacoma, it was fun to build and I'm glad it works well! 😁

That's a lot of Tacoma points... @JoeT is going to be jealous!