Overhead Support to Pull the Engine

At the chemical company where I work, we use steel pallet racks and since I do not have an engine hoist, I decided to straddle the car in my garage with two 8 foot tall, 48” deep pallet rack uprights, and four 8 foot steel crossbars.  The racks (McMaster Carr 4940T552) are rated for 8260 pounds per shelf and I also purchased a heavy-duty drop in pallet support  (McMaster Carr 5217T66) with 2400 pound rated capacity.  This support will allow me to easily slide the lifting point on the crossbars from left to right.  Two crossbars are located at the top and two at floor level with one in front of the car and the second behind the front wheels.  This setup should be very strong and stable and I will borrow a 1 Ton chain hoist from work when I am ready to pull the engine.

I also found that after I removed the bolts that secure the hood supports on the underside of the hood, that the supports then lie flat into the engine compartment.  This then allows the hood to be opened to a full vertical position that is actually over the windshield !!  I am hoping to not be forced to remove and then later replace the hood.  So far, so good.

Safety Note: The crossbars attach to each upright with three mushroom shaped pins. I know from experience that the crossbars, if twisted, can suddenly pop out from the uprights, so I added a bolt at each support point that prevents the crossbars from disengaging the uprights.