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I'm about to start building my 2270 T4 (yes, I know I've been saying that for a year) and my engine stand is a cheap EMPI bench stand mounted on a homemade frame. Long and short, I don't trust it.

There's a guy on TOS that makes yokes that fit into a V8 style stand here: VW Alley. I'm thinking of buying the 3-arm yoke - I don't see where extra arms make much of a difference once you have the steel half-ring.
Anyone have any experience with these? Between shipping and buying a base stand it's quite an investment for what may be a single engine build.

Roger

An opinion:

The extra arms could help spreading the loading weight around especially when rotating the engine around on the stand. The connection ring should help doing part of that load sharing also.

An additional arm (s) could help there also but also could make access to stuff harder. The builder should be able to share the differences in design also.

Lee

I've been thinking about this and putting a V-8 engine on a bench stand bothers me also (it is the "bench" part that bothers me most) as benches are not all built the same. That is potentially a lot of weight on a bench top (assuming I am reading the term "bench top" correctly) that is not built for something like this use. On a roll-a-round stand notice the length of the single tube facing forward, this is for handling the weight of the engine when mounted on the stand. The side wheels do not stick as far out.

Also, having the holes between the arms bothers me also. Add to that that having "special fit yokes" could mean that you may end up with having several "yokes" eventually.

There are other things that I see that my "curiosity" wonders about. They may be OK but....

On a stand with arm that are adjustable (in "spread") allows their movement both directions (hole pattern dia. and angles) plus the end bolt tubes where the bolts to through helps give some extra room for installing things line the flywheel and clutch assy.

Just for giggles, I also have 2 engine stands that I use for mounting the VW Bug pan on allowing me to rotate the pan 180 degrees when working on it by itself.
Hope this helps.

Lee

I'm with You, Lee... on the bench mount thing. I always thought it would be a great idea IF the mount was mounted to a bench, that was mounted firmly to a wall and engineered to support the weight. I looked at the bench mount versions years and years ago thinking it would be nice to just pull it and put it away (takes up little room when dismounted from bench). But like you, I kept asking myself how much I trusted this arrangement unless I engineered things to make it work safely. I went ahead with the full floor stand unit eventually and never regretted it. Always wishing it were more storable, and I also engineered a cheap catch pan arrangement on the lower legs so I could catch oil draining from the case where I knew it would always leave me a little to deal with. Once you have it set up right, the rolling stand makes the most sense if you do more than one engine ever in your life.

Thanks SCOTTRODS

To say a bit more about the engines loading on a roll-a-way engine stand, if you notice the upright pole is set to lean back some but with an engine on it stands up straighter... weight inducement. And again, the longer front leg is absorbing more loading.

I have seen (at least one time} where the stand, with engine on it, almost rolled over when a/the wheels hit a seam or crack in the concrete. Again, that load sitting so high can be Mother nature's way of getting even (for what... ???)

Lee

Follow-up:

First, to clear up some misunderstandings. I am *not* trying to use a "bench mounted V8 stand." The stand I have now is an old EMPI bench mounted VW engine stand with a floor standing frame, similar to this:



Only less sturdy and without wheels. (I'll try to post a pic of the actual stand at some point.)

Suffice it to say I don't think my engine stand can support a fully dressed T4 engine without risking cracking the case. So I am buying a domestic V8 style floor stand, specifically this one:
and replacing the yoke with the one in my first post.

My main concern is that the yoke I want to buy has a 2" nominal pipe (2 3/8" diameter) to fit in the socket on the engine stand, replacing the V8 style yoke. But I don't know if the stand I'm buying has the proper sized socket - unfortunately they did not have one set up in my local TSC for me to measure. So I may end up returning it and going back to square 1.

I use a typical engine stand (3 wheel but 4 wheel is better). Then a fabricated a conversation cradle using square section tube. The 4 arms of a typical engine stand can be adjusted to pick up the stock mounting points but you don’t have clearance for a flywheel. Adding an adapter gave me that space.

Note: mine is super ugly but functional

Bruce.m wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 9:34 am I use a typical engine stand (3 wheel but 4 wheel is better). Then a fabricated a conversation cradle using square section tube. The 4 arms of a typical engine stand can be adjusted to pick up the stock mounting points but you don’t have clearance for a flywheel. Adding an adapter gave me that space.

Note: mine is super ugly but functional

Any way you can post pics?

If you promise not to laugh, I’ll get a photo tomorrow

Actually this is probably enough to see what I’ve done.




On the left is the stand with it four arms pointing down (it’s turned 1/4 turn in the photo so all pointing towards the camera). These all bolt to a single length of square tube. Two other tubes Tee off that tube and link to a shape like flat bottom Vee (\_/) made from three pieces of square tube. Finally a length of steel strip braces on one side (underneath in the photo) as it had some flex. With a T4 I’d maybe add a brace on both sides.

Bruce.m wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 10:01 am Actually this is probably enough to see what I’ve done.




On the left is the stand with it four arms pointing down (it’s turned 1/4 turn in the photo so all pointing towards the camera). These all bolt to a single length of square tube. Two other tubes Tee off that tube and link to a shape like flat bottom Vee (\_/) made from three pieces of square tube. Finally a length of steel strip braces on one side (underneath in the photo) as it had some flex. With a T4 I’d maybe add a brace on both sides.

Not bad at all. If I had a welder I'd copy it.

Just a follow up: Finally got the stand together and the yoke I bought fits like a glove. Now all I need to do is drill holes for the rotational stop pin.