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Rope access changed my whole approach to engine swaps
I was at a shop in Portland last month helping a buddy pull a V8 from a classic Mustang. We had the car on stands, struggling with the bellhousing bolts for like an hour. One of the old-timers from the shop next door walked over and asked why we weren't just using a rope sling from the ceiling joist. Said he's done it for 20 years never dropped a thing. Felt stupid honestly. We grabbed some climbing rope he had and looped it around the engine then over a beam. Took us 15 minutes to pop that motor out once we had tension right. Now I'm ditching my engine hoist for small block swaps. Anyone else trust rope over a chain or stand for this stuff?
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kevin_williams6d ago
That old-timer walking over is basically every shop story ever... I once tried to be smart with a ratchet strap and a tree branch in my backyard. Let's just say the branch won and my wallet lost pretty bad.
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the_daniel6d ago
The "branch won and my wallet lost" part got me. How bad are we talking here? Like did you have to replace the strap AND something else or did the branch just snap back and take out a window or something? I gotta know the full damage report because those ratchet straps can be pretty sneaky when they let go.
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