I need to bring my IO-540 home from my mechanic's hangar to my garage for storage. I'll be transporting it in the back of my pickup with canopy.

Anyone have a photo or example of a cradle/transport for a big Lyc? It is the most awkward thing to manhandle.

Should I build a wood cradle and orient it as it would hang on the aircraft? Ok to rest it on the sump? Case just aft of the prop flange?

It's a difficult thing to build without the engine in front of me at the moment.

We put all engines on a tire, not on a rim, on top of a pallet at school. You can strap the engine to the pallet and it’s pretty secure. We moved them with a cherry picker, but if you had a forklift that would work also...

Wa180 wrote:We put all engines on a tire, not on a rim, on top of a pallet at school. You can strap the engine to the pallet and it’s pretty secure. We moved them with a cherry picker, but if you had a forklift that would work also...

Be careful setting it on the sump, even on a tire. They can be pushed up and damaged. Colopilot can attest to that.
Contis are easier because the base mount system makes it easy to build legs down to a pallet. A lyc would be a bit harder. I would think something going up to the engine mounts and up to just behind the crank would work well.

I'm moving a TCM IO-360 in a similar way (not as big as a 550) but the same headache.
Everyone I've talked with says to set it on a used tire and strap it down for the ride.

Yes I was the lucky recipient of a dented sump on my IO520, though to be fair that was after it was shipped from Wasilla to Denver like that. A short trip may be ok. Many support points are always better than one, and definitely strap it down a few different ways, good and tight. If you can get anything under a hard point that's good, but I'm not sure what is on your engine that would work. Definitely don't brace it on the cylinders.

Phone Bob Barrows. He designed the Bearhawk to pack rebuilt motors to his customers. Bearhawk or pickup all the same. I bet he has a simple system.
KenW

Upside down on a tire is the standard way it seems like. I can’t say I’ve seen a big Lycoming transported for sure, but as long as the fuel spider is off I’m assuming there’s nothing to hurt?

Zane, you're in the Portlandia area as I recall.
It might be an idea to stop by and talk to the folks at Premier Aircraft Engines at Troutdale.
I'm sure they must ship engines pretty regularly.
Maybe they have a mount/crate arrangement you can borrow or rent.

Found a photo of how Mattituck used to do it. This is the same method Brian from Steve's Aircraft recommended to me yesterday. I guess this is how Lycoming factory also mounts them to the pallet. I guess I need to make a bushing for the mount ears, maybe out of wood.

I'd be inclined to put a thick hunk of old rubber tire between the wooden shipping frame and the mounting brackets. The larger turbine engines delivered to the hanger are isolated from the shipping frame on double coiled springs but that might be overkill for a lighter piston engine.

Mapleflt

Flip the engine over and put it on a tire

There is another way. I just had to move a PT6 from Tulsa to Dallas and through a series of miscommunications they didn't retain the engine skid. So for an expedient, we used the foam insert for a Garret engine. The foam was the expanding type you put in a bag and let it expand around what you want to protect. It wasn't the exact shape, but close enough. I put some 2" (4" total) closed cell foam under that. So if you look around and find somebody that receives equipment and has some of that foam, they just throw it away. use that as it will mold to your engine. I put the extra foam on the bottom just in case. It worked super and the roads from Tulsa to Dallas are nothing to be proud of. Having just returned from South Africa before I did that, I felt the roads in Africa where in far better shape.

Zane, what you pictured is the way Bob ships his engines, and the only way I've seen them shipped around here. If you contact an engine company, they might have a set of brackets you can borrow - they tend to have lots in stores! Get a pallet from anywhere local, strengthen it with some 2x4 if required, then bolt the brackets on. Man-handle the engine with 4 or more people. Fairly easy, just don't drop it!
I have heard the tire thing, not with my engine please!

It's a little harder when you don't have a pickup truck..

Transporting an engine across the country via motor freight is one thing. Across town in your pickup is a somewhat different task.

MTV

mtv wrote:Transporting an engine across the country via motor freight is one thing. Across town in your pickup is a somewhat different task.

MTV

Right. You just need to pad it sufficiently, keep the weight from concentrating on any point, strap it down a good bit, and avoid the potholes. Nobody will fault anyone for taking every precaution with an expensive airplane engine, but you don't need to freight-crate the thing for a quick drive and a cautious driver.

Zzz wrote:Found a photo of how Mattituck used to do it. This is the same method Brian from Steve's Aircraft recommended to me yesterday. I guess this is how Lycoming factory also mounts them to the pallet. I guess I need to make a bushing for the mount ears, maybe out of wood.

This is so much better than putting it upside down on a tire that I'm surprised that anyone would suggest that after seeing the photo.
Besides transporting, it also looks like a good way to store the engine.
Why make wooden bushings, just use the rubber isolators ("Lord mounts") that go in the mount ears.

hotrod180 wrote:Why make wooden bushings, just use the rubber isolators ("Lord mounts") that go in the mount ears.

I guess because they're $179 a piece for the Lord rubbers, and it's not really a fun part to own right now.

hotrod180 wrote:

Zzz wrote:Found a photo of how Mattituck used to do it. This is the same method Brian from Steve's Aircraft recommended to me yesterday. I guess this is how Lycoming factory also mounts them to the pallet. I guess I need to make a bushing for the mount ears, maybe out of wood.

This is so much better than putting it upside down on a tire that I'm surprised that anyone would suggest that after seeing the photo.
Besides transporting, it also looks like a good way to store the engine.
Why make wooden bushings, just use the rubber isolators ("Lord mounts") that go in the mount ears.

Off topic but now I really want to paint my motor.

Does red make it go faster !!!