I'm trying to get an idea of what a I-258 Jeep engine weighs. It's all heavy duty cast iron. I want to pull it out with the intake and exhaust manifolds on. The reason I need to know is so I can plan the best way to pull it (considering boom pole on tractor, or reinforcing garage rafters and using a come along).
I just spent an hour on google and I've come to the conclusion that the weight of a 258 AMC is classified in the interest of national security. I found one guy's website that had a list of engine weights and it had an AMC 6 cyl. at 500#. It, however, didn't say what engine. I would call a rebuilder and see what the shipping weight of a longblock is and add 100# for the manifolds and accessories. The small block Chevy weighs 535 to 575.
Did you check into rental of a Cherry Picker? Around here they are pretty cheap. The local Ace rents them for $12 for three hours, $24 for 8 hours. That's hard to beat.
When we were building stock cars(street stock asphalt), I saw a couple people who broke rafters pulling small blocks. It cost more in house repairs than buying a cherry picker, which they wound up doing anyways.
I know of a guy who has an I-258 & 4 spd powering an old D-4 Caterpillar. Pretty savvy and he says the jeep engine and tranny weigh right at 650#. In fact his problem is not lack of power but lack of weight to hold the tracks on the ground during a hard pull turn. A cherry picker is so much easier to work, move around , etc
Good luck, Dave
bgott - "I just spent an hour on google and I've come to the conclusion that the weight of a 258 AMC is classified in the interest of national security." [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Thanks for the effort! I looked all over too. I checked some places on the web that sell short blocks and long blocks hoping they would reveal the weight via shipping charges, but they all said to call for shipping charges. I have the factory AMC owner, service, and shop manuals for this Jeep and the engine weight is not in any of them. I also have several books on Jeeps about the history and everything, but none list the engine weight.
I have mostly used a chain-fall and come-along attached to steel beams for engine pulling in the past. Now that my barn is done with a cement floor I use a cherry picker for everything. I purchased a 4000# unit at Parts America on sale for $119.00. It folds up to the size of an ironing board and still wheels around. The nice part about it is the ability to move it around while pulling or installing. With the fixed beam idea, you usually have to move the vehicle if things don't line up or have three people to hold things in place. The down side is the hydraulic piston does not give the control a chain-fall offers. Safe, very safe though.
Haven't done it yet. I'm a "planner". I plan way ahead on everything. Then, other higher priority things come up, etc. Probably won't get to it until late summer or winter now.