Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Hey, can anyone tell me the best way to lift a 1948 327 with a cherry picker? I would rather not have to take off any head nuts

Coil the spark plug holes support all the weight? I wouldn’t imagine that they would?

I wouldn't risk using the plug holes. You're talking nearly a 1000lbs of weight.

I used Harbor Freight tow or recovery straps along with a load leveler on mine. Leveler was probably not necessary but used it anyway. Draped the straps so the cherry picker was as close to the engine as possible while still being able to loop and catch the engine at both the vibration damper and bellhousing areas. Straps I used were not quite long enough to go twice around so a single loop and tied off sufficed. You want to take advantage of any creases or protruding bolt heads you can find to hold the strap so it does not try to slide. If you are pulling the trans at the same time then you may want to move the strap and cherry picker more toward the rear and catch the rear strap somewhere in the trans area since the engine will be seriously off balance with the trans weight in the rear.

I lifted the last two that I loaded by wrapping a .375" chain around the engine and guesstimating the center of mass. I did use protrusions. It worked okay, but we were lifting from long-term storage and loading onto a trailer, so there were no obstacles or transmissions involved.


I would say based on my experience, for maximum control, bite the bullet and remove two head nuts and fasten the chain there and be done with it.

A little backstory; in the past I have just used the head studs and it worked great, I already pulled the engine and rebuilt it, now I’m looking at reinstallation. The reason I don’t want to remove the head studs is they have all been torqued down already and when the engine got painted they got painted over as well. If I remove it I will feel like I have to clean all the paint off of everything to get accurate torque readings.

Also the transmission will be attached when I go to reinstall.
I was looking at it and was thinking I might use straps to help protect the paint and run them from the thermostat housing area to one of the starter bolts and another place on the bell housing, would this work if I can get it to balance right?

Or would it just be better to cradle the engine with a couple strap’s running underneath at the balancer and the end of the oil pan?

Did you already run the engine and retorque after running? If not, you'll probably have to. So paint touch-up will probably be needed anyway.

No I have not yet done that… I suppose your right I hadn’t considered that as a factor yet.

I would not even considering doing it any other way than the head bolts.