Last Thur I hung an engine on my 1957 Massey Ferguson tractor - I was amazed, I used an engine hoist and a chain - I pumped up the hoist and eyeballed the alignment and pushed it in, bumped into something that was too far away from where I needed to be - Went and looked things over, The bell housing is part of the tractor and it doesn't have any inspection holes - I swagged the alignment, bumped the hoist a n'th and pushed it back in - I bumped up against something again - I grabbed the engine, huffed and puffed and wiggled it a bit and it slid all the way home - I looked around and there wasn't a darn sole around - I bolted the engine on and moved on to another project that popped up - I tried engaging the clutch and I had nothing - I could turn the engine over with a big ratchet on the pulley, I went back and played with the clutch and I remembered that I had takened the bolts out of the cross shaft - I pulled the engine out and reinstalled the cross shaft bolts - I put a jack under the engine hanging on the hoist and called it a night
Yesterday morning I went out and got the tools ready removed the jack and pushed the engine in - I hit the whatever at the same place as I did before - I wiggled the hoist, then the engine, pulled the hoist back, checked the alignment, measured every the height - Said a Voo-Doo chant and pushed the engine back in - From noon yesterday until noon today I spent 6 hrs wiggling, jiggling, cussin and fussin and got no where
I took a 2 hr break got some lunch and fussed myself into a tizzy
I went back to the garage and dug my lift table out - I marked the center, set some blocks and jacked it up under the engine - I took the hoist off and went to work eyeballing everything and pushed it forward - Hit the same damn thing - I got out my long screwdrivers, cheater bars and slid them thru the bolt holes - Ta Da everything lined up, hut the level on, on the money - I worked until 5 went in and fixed supper about 7 I went back out and same old, same old - I got a paint stick out and painted the nose of the trans input shaft - It was marking the top of the clutch shaft - I tried to lower the table but I couldn't control the amount of movement - Played around and got it back to where it was marking as before - I cut some 2x4s and made some wedges - I started at the front and tapped the wedges - All the time I was making the adjustments I was turning the crank and putting pressure on - Same, same - I went and had a ciggie - I pushed on the table and it slid in about two inches - That had to be the splines engaging - I pushed and bumped and couldn't make any progress - I got out some big C-Clamps and clamped where I could so I would loose any thing - Wedges, pry bars, and blue smoke got the engine close enough that I could start some bolts - Tighten a bolt adjust a c-clamp, again and again - I leaned over the table to get a bar and as I did that I leaned on the fan snout and the engine slid right in - It was aligned so good that I could finger tighten almost every bolt - When I got them all tightened I put away my tools, turned out the lights and locked the doors
I had a snack , a smoke, played with the dog and came back to the puter and wrote this lament
So there I was trudging across the trunda, mile after mile --------------

 

That was beautiful.

 

Well after reading that I hope I never have to pull the engine on my MF135!

 

I love it when a plan comes together.

 

Baa waa da bum

 

I like a success story!

 

some days you're the windshield...
some days you're the bug...

congrats on the install... I've had those days too.

john

 

walked in the garage this morning and smiled

Dave the MF 135 is not that much different - I have the front loader and the main brace for that is mounted right behind the break, two jack stands and all was secure - the front sheet metal is taken off including the dash/battery case, next the gas tank, then the radiator - The last little bit is the front axle assembly - I took the control arms off at the back so that I wasn't tripping over them - Moving them anywhere was like moving a sow in heat and a boar with a yard stick between them

 

Great, now I have a working visual...

 

You Sir have been gifted with a bushel and a half of perseverance, and that is undeniable. Im not the best reader but I was so engrossed in your story that I read it four times. Congratulations on a job well done.

 

...right down to the parish of St. Alfonzo!

 

That effort deserves a beer. I will have one in your honour....(hic!)

 

Split my 8N a few years ago for an engine overhaul. Used my bobcat for a hoist out and in no problems. Some people have all the luck.

 

Dick, you should write a book...

 

That would have gone into the Horror section