XS650 engine extraction thingy.

toglhot

Active Member
This is an engine removal, tilting, lifting, extraction thingie I made. The XS650 motor is a very tight fit in the frame, In their wisdom, the Japanese decided if you need to work on anything but the alternator or clutch the engine should be removed from the frame. But removing the engine from the frame is not an easy job as there’s only mms to spare between frame and engine parts., so, a fair bit of wiggling, twisting, manoeuvring and lifting is required. It can be done by hand, but as the motor probably weighs somewhere around 160LB and there being very few places to grab the thing it isn’t easy, particularly when you are as old as me and also have fused fingers no elbow joints and a back riddled with RA and OA. .

Commercially available engine cranes can be used, but due to the tight tolerances between engine and frame and the amount of manoeuvring required, getting the engine out without scratching and chipping the paintwork is virtually impossible without padding the frame with carpet or inner tubes. So, I made this thingie that tilts, lifts and rolls, and this is how it works:

First remove front, top and rear engine mounts and disconnect all the electrical connections. I also removed the carbs and starter motor. They probably didn't need to be removed, but just to be safe and give a better visual of the lower engine mount, I thought it wise.

Then attach the thingie to the engine via the front mount and the upper rear mount, take the strain and remove the long lower engine bolt and the lower rear bolt, tilt the motor forward a few degrees and lift the engine several mms then roll the thingie forward several mms.

Tilt the motor forward again a few more degrees until the rear rocker mount sits under the highest point of the top frame tube mount and the lower frame mount sits between the starter motor mount and the lower engine mount, lift the engine again until the lower engine mount will clear the starter and engine mount, that leaves two or three mms clearance between engine and frame, top and bottom, then roll the thingie out the right hand side about 60mm so the rocker box mounts clear the top frame tube. Finally, lift the engine a few mms again until the sump studs underneath will clear the frame and wheel the engine away from the frame. Hey presto, engine out, no padding required for the frame, and no scratching the paintwork. It took around 10 minutes.
The engine can be left in the thingie for top end repairs, and alternator and clutch repairs.
 

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As someone who has lifted a few XS650 engines in and out of the frame, I wish I had the foresight (and more importantly the skill) to whip one of these up.
 
I lay the engines on their side and place the bare frame over them. That's a nice piece of equipment but I really can't justify the time/expense of building something I would rarely use.
 
In my younger days I could have grabbed the engine with one hand, held the frame in the other and pulled them apart. Unfortunately, we all grow old, so that's out of the question now.. I really had no choice but to fabricate something that would work for me.
Some time in the future when I've finished with the bike I'll try to find a home for the thingy.
 
I'm going to be 72 in a few months, stand 5'6" and weigh about 163. That's why I no longer pick up engines of any kind and sit them in the frame. Lay the engine on it's side. Fit the bare frame over the engine. Fit a few bolts to hold the engine. I use my motorcycle jack to sit it back up. I do everything "engine lifting" with my motorcycle jack and cheap Harbor Freight furniture dollies.
 
Well and good, unfortunately it's not just the frame I need to lower over the engine, the bike is assembled and I'm not going to disassemble it to fit the engine in place. Aside from that, my fingers joints are fused and I have no elbow joints left, so, lifting a bike with engine intact off the floor is out,of the question.
 
Though I've only ever personally owned one xs650 (well a 1972 xs2), I've somehow managed to have to store or move at least 3 of these engines for several members here via the DTT postal service. I've always said that if you made a mold of an XS 650 engine and cast it solid out of lead, it still wouldn't weigh as much as a factory engine.

Very cool piece of equipment you fabricated there!
 
I use a HF hoist in the rafters with a ‘j’ shaped hook to move engines. The hook straps to the engine and the 11’ of hoist wire give good range of motion. Fine tuning the fit is done by raising or lowering the lift table.
 

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