I think that's a great looking design. Did you layer up some plywood into laminate structure? I'd like to learn the details.

Picture of mine made out of 6x6, 4x4 for the feet, and 2x6 and 2x4. Top beam is 3 2x12s.

Homemade one off of craigslist. 6 inch square posts, 6 inch I-beam and a 1 ton hoist and trolley. I think your gantry is going to have to be at least 12 feet high. Take some measurements. Mine is 12' and it clears by 2 inchs. remember the average engine is going to weigh a 1000 lbs. Be Safe!

Hey jason, I copied your plans last year but haven't pulled my motors yet. How do you get that thing raised?

His is virtually identical to mine, and while I can't speak for how he did it, I attached a tow strap to the top beam when it was laying on the ground. Pulled the tow strap and as the legs dug into the ground pulled/tilted the gantry up.

Pretty much the same here but instead of digging into the ground we butted the legs against something solid and heavy and walked it up. While one holding it upright I went around and attached the leg supports. It's quite the task getting it up.

I have the same engine sling and I cant use it because I lose a foot of lift. Still using chains.

Might want to search used forklifts also...
much handier than gantry and can be found for 500-1000 readily.
you will be surprised how much you will use o e if you have it.

just a thought....

I do a lot by myself and love the I beam and chain fall only cause of the extremely tight tolerances at times. I have a loader I was going to give an attempt with blower motors however with the worn hydraulics etc it made it difficult so I just removed the intakes, blowers etc and strappped a chain from head to head and only had an inch or two left. I really like the ibeam and chainfall however with our 12' ceiling leaves me limited.

Regardless your right about the forklift as long as long as it doesn't maintenance you cause usually the cheap ones for sale are mostly cause their about worn out. My biggest problem with forklift and or front end loader is the throttle man. Fingers can be reattached but crushed skulls can be detrimental.

I will I'll be facing the same here soon with my 12 meter and really prefer to install complete if at all possible. Lot of good ideas here. I do like the forklift over the two loaders I have. Forklifts can be very handy. I grew up on a farm. I will post a pic later how I got engines in truck on pallets that I sold last year. My bay with the ibeam and chainfall was occupied.

All good points on the forklift...

you can still utilize a chain fall with a forklift in order to work alone.
also I find electric units are very cheap due to the cost of the batteries which usually fail before the unit. One could place 3 or 4 12v batteries in place of the large industrial steel case units for short term work...
a 5k electric that has many hours left in the drive and lift can be bought for 500$ in alot of cases...
I find a forklift useable for many different things compared to a gantry, nothing wrong with a gantry mind you....