This worked for me. Looped a chain through holes and used grade 8 bolts to attach the chain to itself. Picked the back of the car off the ground with the hoist and removed the rear wheels. Lowered the car so that the cradle rests on the legs of the hoist, removed the struts, and disconnected everything for drivetrain/cradle removal. Picked the rear back up, placed the jack stands, and rolled the hoist out. Looking at the angle of the car on the jackstands always made me uneasy.



We experience a mild earthquake between the dates on the photos, but even so I would never put more than a hand under the car. Had to add the orange hoist to lift the engine onto the stand.



There have been safer methods to do this listed in this thread. Thanks for the new ideas.

quote Originally posted by fyrebird68: I just pulled the motor - here's my setup. It's nice - there's no cherry picker legs in the way of the dolly. BTW, this WONT pick up car AND motor. I used the floor jack for that!

I actually did something similar to this but instead i took a 4x4 and sat it on top of the ceiling joists...wrapped a chain around it and hooked my chain hoist (not a come along) to that.....i'll never do it any other way from now on....worked perfectly...i even lifted the whole back end of the car, motor and all, just to test before attempting and it lifted the whole rear end up...i don't have any pics but i think it's pretty clear

Lift it up by the cradle, put jacks, tires, logs, metal cages, cinder blocks, all your jack stand under the car to support it then unbolt cradle and let it down gently. Worked pretty well a few times for me. I am guilty of using the latch but only when the motor is out! Just to reposition the beast. After i cut my trunk i wrapped a few chains around the strut tower brace or whatever you want to call it and that worked perfect for everything.

Well it looks like I accomplished my goal (somebody searched and found this thread ). There are a lot of good ideas in this thread. Depending on the equipment you have available you can pick what you feel most comfortable with.
I did have a parts car that had obviously been lifted by the trunk latch, Not only was the latch bent pretty bad but the metal that the latch bolts to was obviously distorted. I wish I had taken a picture but that car is long gone. They probably lifted with the cradle and engine still in.

As long as I have a cherry picker I will use the method I showed to start the thread assuming the car is not rusted ( I would not knowingly buy a rusted one)
As far as being stable I accidentally proved the method I used is VERY stable. I had the front of the car on ramps doing other work and decided to leave it on the ramps when I went to lift the rear to install the engine. I did not chock the backside of the front wheels and was not paying close attention as I raised the car. Instead of the cherry picker moving toward the car the cherry picker was pulling the car back. All of a sudden the car came rolling down off of the ramps with the rear end about 3 feet off the ground. Scared the **** out of me but the car barely wiggled. It did not sway from side to side in the slightest. The "tin" where the hook were connected had absolutely no detectable distortion.

Use whatever method you think is safe for you but please be careful and remember to watch the front of the car too