What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Engine hanging...

miyu1975

Well Known Member
After much reading I had hoped and expected hanging my engine would be more enjoyable an quick than it has been.

At first I thought "there is no way these holes will line up". We spend a good 4 hours yesterday, and at 11:30 pm...we called it a night with the last bolt still not lining up correctly and no gleamer of hope. With much brute force and leverage we somehow got 3 bolts in, (although two of the them will have to come again)...:mad:

With my fustration, I decided to rest and go back to the plans and documents before proceeding. In doing so I now realize that 2 of the 4 bolts are longer and need to go one the bottom and I now realize that I initially have put all the mounts on the same direction, which is wrong...I have the top on correctly and bottom backwards. Hard vs soft, soft vs hard

So this afternoon, I plan to remove the one bottom bolt and flip the bottom mounts so the hard mount is on the inside and put the washer there too...

Also, I realize that the bottom mounts' washer goes on the inside (between the engine and mount), it doesn't look like there is a big washer on the outside too though, although that seems odd to me....is that part correct.??

I shall overcome this...:rolleyes:
 
Ryan,
Take it as a good training and preparation. Review everything again, remember sequence, mark your bolts, mount rubbers and washers and do it one more time. You will smile at yourself later how easy it was.
 
Wow, I never thought it would have been that difficult! Is that normal? Perhaps the engine mount is a tad off spec?
 
First: Stack your bottom mounts loose, just a couple threads on the nuts. Dont try to get the isolators in their pockets. Then lift & assemble the tops the same way. Snug the lowers & tap isolators into place while lifting the towards the uppers. As you get tighter use a hammer & prod to tap the uppers into their pockets. Once all 4 are knocked into their sockets you can tighten lowers, then uppers. If you have to fight too much, you're tightening something too soon.
 
read the engine hanging guide

found in the firewall forward section of this site. An excellent aid.
Bill Brooks
Ottawa, Canada
RV-6A finishing kit
 
One other suggestion. Do you have the tail up to level the plane? Trying to mount the engine "uphill" is a pain. Level and secure the tail, and that should help you to get things lined up.
 
Ryan,

i hung my engine couple of months ago with the help of four other guys who had some experience with it. the first try was to do it like the engine hanging article suggested, beginning with the top bolts.

no way, we were not able at all to line up the holes even a little bit close. after an hour or so of frustration we did it just the opposite way. we put in the bottom bolts first and then the top bolts. and this way worked just great. within 5 minutes or so all bolts were in.

it's hard to explain why but i am very sure that starting at the bottom is the much better way to go (or better say to get them in at all). at least in my configuration. (IO-375/dynafocal 1, rv-7)

Kay Stecklum
 
Last edited:
Make sure you don't forget the washer between the lower motor mount and the engine case.... missing that note cost me several hours or wrestling with a hung engine to insert the missing washer and the lovely privilege of rebuilding my front baffles.....

The plans also do call for a washer under the head of the bolt... can't remember the exact part number

Good luck
 
One thing I didn't see anywhere and gave me trouble when I re-hung my engine: make sure the tail is fixed in position. I put a sawhorse under the tail and tied it down to bolts on the floor. Before I did that, moving the engine around simply moved the tail around and didn't really help in aligning the holes. Afterward, it was fairly simple to horse the engine around relative to the mount.
 
I've hung two engines entirely solo, quickly and without problem. That is not bragging Ryan but please.....bear with me. My success may speak to the manner in which I approach the job. By my way of thinking, make weight and enertia work FOR you. The best illustrative example I can give you is this photo of my solo engine hanging experience on the -8. Note that the angle of the dangling O-360 engine closely approximates the angle of the engine mount:

il8tjo.jpg

From that point on, it merely became a question of backing the engine into the engine mount, getting reasonably close to the cups and bolting it in from there. Personally I did not see a nickles worth of difference starting with this bolt or that and even more telling, I did not use drift pins either. Ditto my experience with the O-320 fitted to the RV-6A.

Especially important if you chose to work alone like I do....if you have to temporarily add weight to one side or the other of the dangling engine to get it to rest at the proper angle, by all means add that weight. The important thing is while on the hoist, to get that engine to rest reasonably close to matching up the angle of all four cups on the engine mount before you start trying to jockey all that mass into place.
 
I hung my RV9A engine with the help of one person. When it time to hang RV10 engine I got one help too. Both times it took about half an hour to get the engine on. One day after I have the IO540 hung on RV10 I realized that I need to take it off. This time it was all solo. I did get the engine back on in one hour. The trick? I used an engine leveler. As others have said that it is important to get the engine match the angle of the mount. The leveler made the job much easier. A smaller engine may only have one hook to hold on and the leveler needs two.
 
Thanks all for the advice...I did reread the Illustration How to Hang an Engine today...several time..and well after spending most the day at my in-laws I was able to squeeze in about 2 hrs tonight. My helper was gone so I was solo.

First I had to undo the 3 bolts I already had in and completely dismount the engine. I had to do this in order to remove the bottom mounts and put them in correctly....I tried wrestling with them without taking out the top 2 bolts but they weren't budging...so off it came. Now solo with a dangling engine I was (somehow) able to get the top 2 mounts in without much trouble, the 3rd bottom right bolt went in fairly easily...BUT the fourth No Joy. But it is MUCH closer this time. I am using a mirror and flash light and can see the bolt is about 7/8 visible. I wore myself out for the 30 minutes here. so I am calling it a night and will retry in the morning. I am feeling much more confident at the point. And yes I did remember those washers on the bottom mounts in between the engine and mount. Thanks again everyone.
 
With much delight I am happy to say I have won this battle. This morning I was, again solo, (getting use to that) able to finally get the 4th and last bolt in. It wasn't easy.. thanks again to everyone who chimed on this thread, I really appreciate the advice.

:D:D

P1020267.JPG
 
Back
Top