Would you trust it?

[Leatherneck]

So simple but would you trust it?

[david58]

So simple but would you trust it?

Would You?

[Dale M.]

No........ Head is too flimsy.... But rest of stand seems ok...

I would change head out for....

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... ?id=606313

Dale

[Leatherneck]

So simple but would you trust it?

Would You?

Don't think I could. I would have visions of a built case crashing to the floor.

[aircooledtechguy]

Not a snow-balls chance in hell I would trust that POS. Also, with a 3-wheeled base, you're just asking for the motor to tip over while moving it around. It would be even worse if you tried running a motor on a stand like that. It would, however fit nicely in my scrap metal bin!!

[turboblue]

Nope, not on a good day.
3 legged stands are a broken case ready to happen.
Make that into a 4 legged H shape and I might.

I build engines off a table with a 1/2" plate bottom, very stable.
I short block them on the stand attached to the table.


Then I set them on top of the table to finish.


It's on casters so I can roll it out of the way when necessary.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Leather, if you have to ask then it must be bothering you so, unless you get it for under $5, pass on it. New stands are not that expensive and you know what you are getting that way. I’d look for one that breaks down into a compact storable pile of metal with metal wheels if you can still find one that way.

(Opinion here) Looking at it, it looks pretty light weight. The gussets are good but the number and size of the gussets tell me that the guy who built it was concerned about the frailness of the unit also. It has small wheels that would easily get stuck in cracks easily and something as small as a microbe dropping could cause you to not be able to move it with an engine attached. The wheels are not metal either and if you had weight on it for some length of time, a (permanent or at least a temporary) flat spot could occur.

Going to the engine/transaxle mount, the bent flat stock could be a sign if a potential springiness, but with an engine or transaxle mounted, the additional member could negate that tendency. If you are still interested then I think I would mount something like that to see just what would happen. A air cooled VW case itself it pretty light weight, but when all the components are added, you have some weight and money tied up here so do you feel comfortable with a $5 engine stand. If you are for some reason yanking across the grain on something like a bolt, the non-locking wheels are going to want to follow you. I would hate to hear that you got hit by a car out in the street/freeway as you and the engine migrate that way during a hard, fully concentration filled build session.

I am very uncomfortable with a jam style of stop for the rotating part of the stand. My stand is also like that and two things happen; 1) when you rotate what you have mounted on the stand; e.g., engine or transaxle, the cantilevered weight effect is for the rotating unit (mass) to start working itself forward toward coming out if the stand mount. You then have to lift the mass and push it back into the stand (personal experience here). 2) If you get sloppy and don’t open the lock all the way, the lock will start to wear a slot in the rotating mass over time, time being how much you leave the jamming part in contact with the tube). I have had to weld the slot to reinforce it a couple of times (slotted when it was give to me and it wore when I used it; sloppy me!). I would prefer to have a more positive locking arrangement also; remember, the mount to the engine is very low which is OK when you start, but when the engine has all it goodies attached so it becomes very top heavy. On a 4 point mount stand, you can adjust the mounting/weight distribution somewhat (gotta be real careful here and maybe I shouldn’t have mention it) and those newer gear driven heads look really safe. The two mount to the side bit that the VW engine stands usually/must have have always bothered me but I guess it is the nature of the beast.

The three leg thing, until Turbo brought it up, I think it was only in the back of my mind as I have been very careful moving the stand when it is loaded but then I think I would be the same way if it had 4, 5, 6 or more legs though.

Anyway, probably more than you wanted but my $.02 on the subject.

Lee

[DWP]

i bought a table top stand and mounted it on a three leg unit just like that. One slight problem!!!! The legs were not wide enough!!!! The whole thing wanted to tip over sideways.
We have my sons engine on there now with a large block of wood to hold it up.
DWP