Tips on hauling a Hemi out of the woods.?

So I need some tips on how to transport a Hemi engine out of the woods. There's this Hemi that's in a car deep in the woods. I have permission to get the engine but I'm need some ideas on how to do it.

The engine is still in the car and there is no way that the whole car can be moved. The ground is pretty soft and the car is sitting at an angle. Moving any heavy equipment (like a tractor) to the car is not possible, it will all have to be done by hand Caveman style. Multiple people will obviously be necessary but any other tips would be appreciated.

 

Sounds like you're gonna have to break it down into sub-assemblies to get it out. The short block might be able to get lifted out by a come-a-long over a handy tree(if there's one close enough). You might look into a toboggan to haul it out where it could be loaded.

Might be tough going, but could be well worth the effort.

Roger

 

You'd be AMAZED at the places you can make a Bobcat go. Rent one for the day. That'd solve two problems: getting it out of the car, and getting it out of the woods.

Second option: Go to Harbor Freight and buy four of the air-filled tires/casters. Weld them to short lengths of box tubing (stubs) that will slip inside the feet of your engine hoist. You now have an off-road engine hoist.
Since you'll need to make a day of it, you'll end up making several trips from the truck to the car with your engine hoist, a shovel and a chainsaw (to cut through any trees that are laying in the most direct path). You should also figure on a couple lengths of 1/2-inch plywood. Maybe even 3/4-inch. Rip them one down the middle, so it's 2x8, and another in half so it's 4x4. You'll use these to roll the hoist on, and set the hoist on when lifting the engine. A rake to get leaves and debris out of the way isn't a bad thought either.
and a cooler with water...you're going to be there a while.

A swap meet wagon, with air-filled tires, would also come in hand, as will a piece of rope, so one person can pull while the other pushes. At some point, one of you WILL be pulling while the other pushes.

Finally, take the engine out in managable chunks, not as a complete unit. Intake, water cross over, generator and exhaust manifolds probably weigh 100pounds together. Make SEVERAL trips back and forth, and take lots of breaks if you need to. Just get started early.

If you've got a buddy who does any 4wheeling, ask him to help: like the bobcat, you'd be surprised at where a guy with a 4x4 truck can go. I've seen them drive through dense woods where there are no trails.

If you go that route, you might be able to get one of those pick-up truck mounted hoists for in the bed. That'd make life easier, too.

If you have to buy anything to make this happen (swap meet wagon, casters, plywood, hoist), just figre that it's what the engine is going to cost you. If you end up spending $200 to get the engine out, you're still getting a pretty cheap Hemi.

Brad

 

I was going to build something like this to pull a 283 from a car in the woods... but it's just a 283 so it wasn't worth it.



My thought was to use a 4-wheeler (ATV) to pull the cart/hoist into the woods. Use a chainfall to pull the engine and just drive it out.

Never did it, though...
I made something very similar for a log home builder and he uses it to move logs that weigh alot more than an engine & tranny...

Good luck.



JOE

 

you need some sort of wood skid with a metal bottom and a rounded lip in front, kinda like a sled that will hold the engine. then just drag it through the woods with a winch or rope on a car and a pully or something.

to get it out, you might wanna get a portable engine lift and then a BIG tired 2 wheel cart. and a big piece of ply wood for the engine hoist to stand on. maybe even take most of the engines parts off, heads intake ect.

 

Look up "stone-boat"---

 

To seperate the engine from the tranny, cut out the hump in front of the seat (tinsnips?). You'll then be able to access the top tranny bolts. you'll also need something to support the trans when you get the motor loose. The torque convertor will stay with the engine.

Pulling a Hemi block on concrete is scary enough... a single Hemi head, fully assembled, weighs 119 pounds.The full block weighs 700lbs. But it seems a lot heavier when the hoist is bouncing from the weight! To pull the heads you'll have to remove the spark plugs and then the valve covers. You'll then want a pretty strong breaker bar to remove the head bolts. The heads are slid over locater pins which could be stuck.

Good luck!! I'd say forget it, its not worth it... But it is!!

 

I think you should make up a wooden sled that you can pull with manpower thru the woods, big enough to put a cherry picker on. Drag it back to the car, get the motor out of the car, then get the motor on the sled and drag it back out. If you have it built decent it should be easy to drag around with a few guys. Basically an upside down hood with a heavy pallet screwed to it.

A winch attatched to a truck would help drag the sled back out too if you have enough cable on it.

 

draggin ass had it right. Get a sled of some type. Build it and get you a quad and drag it out.

 

Do you have a four wheeler? Throw it on the hood and use it as a sled. Or winch it out.

 

an old hood or trunk lid is a great sled, burn some holes in it too strap things down and to pull it with.. get torches and a jack cut the motor and get the car on its side let gravity do the rest

 

..an old hood from almost any 50's060's car will work as a sled, cut a couple holes in the front to hook a log chain onto...works great.

 

Chris, can you get a Jeep within 150ft or so? I know lots of people with winches and Jeeps. Myself included, but mine is down for repairs right now. I also have lot's of gear and tackle for this kind of thing. PM me if I can help.

 

I can't imagine anywhere you can't get a four wheeler. Most would have a winch that would be usefull for pulling the motor. Those cheap ass yard carts will follow right along behind, I have seen them hauling deer (up to three) out of the rough woods no problem this way.
CHAZ

 

Lots of great ideas out there. I would take a set of cutting torches & a good saws-all and just start cutting until the Eng. & trans. are in the open. Then you can take it apart and pull it home. allsteel30ford

 

my brother has a small tractor with a boom attachment he's pulled 460's out of fords with it

 

I say if the car is scrap, then cut the front clip off...or at the very least cut the fenders and fenderwells off...it'll make life a lot easier when trying to take that motor apart...and bring some bags for all of the bolts and such to go in...don't lose any bolts, it sucks trying to find new ones...if you can get the tranny off and the radiator support and grille off you can roll the motor out frontwards onto the nice soft ground...then just roll the motor onto a skid and pull it out with a 4 wheeler...there's no way 2 people are going to push a 700 # motor very far through the woods on a sled, especially after finally getting the damned thing out of the car...heck, if you can cut the front clip off and leave the motor attached to the framerails, you can just drag all of that out of the woods with a 4 wheeler and disassemble everything later...

 

Unless you're in a total swamp, my '51 Ferguson tractor would make it into 'da woods....I'd just cut the car in half at the firewall , and engineer a bolt on tongue and trailor it out.....

 

For what it's worth, once you get a little snow on the ground those kiddy plastic sleds will work - double up a pair of them. We moved a complete 455 Pontiac that way a few years ago, to get it around the front of the house, just dropped it in and we pushed it. Didn't hurt them at all - but it wouldn't work in deep snow or really rough ground. That said, I do still keep one of them for winter junkyard crawls.

I'd bring in a 1200 watt generator (50 lbs) and a sawzall and grinder w/ cutoff wheel, or a demolition saw (big metal cutting rotary gas powered saw, starts and runs like a chainsaw), and as someone else suggested cut the car right apart at the cowl. Both of those options are fairly easily carried items.

Once it's loose, a hood or deck that curves up on one side is your best bet for a skid, poke some holes in it and use one chain to tie the motor on and one to pull. Don't forget, too, that the lower you attach your chain to it the more level and easier it should pull for you.

I would think a 4-wheeler with chains or a small tractor could pull it out that way - not a garden tractor, a real tractor, but a little Massey or Ford would do it.

If you take the whole front of the frame with it, you can just chain it so the chain stays in the middle of the bumper or frame (a long one around the back of the tractor and hooked to both A-arms would do it) and it will follow you nice and straight that way.

 

i wanna see a pic...........please

 

Up here in MN, you would just wait for the ground to freeze (maybe another couple weeks or so), then you could drive out there and take the whole car.

Besides, someone got the car out there in the first place... drove it or pulled it... you have to be able to get it out.

Ben

 

ben, not if the car has sat there for 10 years or more...trees do grow in the woods buddy...hehehe

 

Video this whole ordeal and post it here as a tech piece. Should be inspiriational and entertaining all at once. I want to see this happen.

 

skidder & horse, they use to move boulders alot bigger then a Hemi that way.Get a tripod engine lift & carry it in to get it out of the car, its only 3 pieces of pipe.
JimV

 

Thanks for the tips boys. I'll let you know how it works out. The Hemi isn't in it's original car. I don't really want to say what it's in because one would never suspect that this particular car had a Hemi in it and it is visible from the road (barely). The land owner is kind of paranoid about some of the other vehicls that he has around the proprty as well. I can understand his concern and I will respect his wishes.

The property needs to remain as undisturbed as possible (owners request) so four wheelers and tractors are out. I think that if it were disassembled, three or four guys could haul the block out via chains and bars. Kind of like carrying an Egyptian King. Getting it OUT of the car is going to be the trick. I'll let yo know how it goes.

 

Yeah, that's what the chainsaw is for. I guess what I meant was that it can't be at the bottom of a cliff, or in the middle of a lake... right? It had to get[\i] there somehow...

I dunno... get a newer 4-wheeler with front and rear differentials, and you should be good.

Ben

 

Skids?
Travois behind a dog team or a horse?
You guys heard of the wheel?
Put the broken down to short block engine in a 55 gallon drum and roll it out.
I move engines around the back yard and up motorcycle ramps into truck beds on my old skate board single handed.

 

drag the whole car to your house take it out with safety and ease. then take the car back and drop it off. easiest and fastest i guarantee it(probably).

 

I agree with the 55 Gallon drum method it will work and take some 2x4's along to help shim around the block. Also a wheel barrow for hauluing those heads and the other stuff in and out of that place.