How long does it take to hang an engine?

flyingcheesehead

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iMooniac
I'm curious...

How long should it take to hang an engine on an Archer? Assume it's back from the engine shop, and sitting in the crate but ready to go.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I'm curious...

How long should it take to hang an engine on an Archer? Assume it's back from the engine shop, and sitting in the crate but ready to go.

If I have done a great job at getting all the other parts that go with hanging an engine. it takes me about 4-6 hours to get it running.

But I can't do it and deal with walkin traffic or stop to BS with friends or customers.

Those things are what my customers expect me to do. So Some days I am a little rude. and Explane that I am on someones elses time clock.

"so Please excuse me"


and shut the door.

then I can getter done.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
How long should it take to hang an engine on an Archer?

I saw it take over a year to hang an engine on a Cub once. Not sure what the disagreement between mech and owner was but it was sickening to watch the warrantee expire while in a crate on the shop floor!
 
Kent,
I suspect that the answer you are experiencing is something like:

It depends on how motivated your mechanic is.

?
 
I helped a mechanic hang a factory reman on a T210 in a Saturday morning. We flew it that afternoon (~6 hrs including lunch break).
 
Your question, and the answers, deal with just hanging the engine. When the engine is removed, there may be other things that need attention like rebuilding the baffling, replacing some wiring that is now much more accessable, maybe painting the firewall. You got good answers to your question. Is that the question you needed to ask? My baffling needed rebuilding and my alternator output lead was so brittle that it snapped off near the lug that attaches it to the alternator.
 
Hanging the engine on the mounts is the easy part. Making sure all the other stuff is airworthy is the hard part. If I take it off and mark all the stuff, clean the hardware and be left alone about 6-7 hours. Usually when I am working someone comes in and wants to borrow something of ask a question. I have this posted on the wall now.

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flyingcheesehead said:
I'm curious...

How long should it take to hang an engine on an Archer? Assume it's back from the engine shop, and sitting in the crate but ready to go.

Assuming I did the dismount and all my parts are organized on the bench ready to go, if I walk in the shop in the morning and get at it with minimum distractions and nobody pulling up for this or that "minor" job, I'll be doing the return to service flight in the late afternoon. Typically that doesn't happen and it's tommorrow after lunch to fly unless I promissed it to you in the morning, then I work till late to wrap it up.
 
larrysb said:
It took quite a while hanging my engine back on my Cherokee 180. Had the mount sent off for repair, had to put on new exhaust system, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The most time consuming things was installing new baffle seals and putting on the myriad of adel clamps to hang the hoses and wiring on the engine mount. No ty-wraps on my mount.

It would go faster if it is an engine swap - the reman is sitting right there and you are swapping off one engine for the other. Presuming everything is in good shape, a day or two in a well-equipped shop. But if you pulled one and sent it off and got it back a couple of months later, then you have to round up all the supplies and hardware and do a little figuring out where this and that came from.

Also might want to do some other things, like put on new engine controls and that takes time.

It took me and a A&P 44 hours to do the whole job. But were working out of a hangar, the weather would not cooperate and went well beyond just an engine swap.

The two engine swaps on my Baron took about 25 hours each. There's a lot of stuff to hook up on these engines. On the other end of the spectrum, I've seen a swap on something like a J3 take little more than 5 hours.
 
NC19143 said:
If I have done a great job at getting all the other parts that go with hanging an engine. it takes me about 4-6 hours to get it running.

So in most places, a couple days should do it, it seems like.

If you happen to be stuck in Willmar, MN, Willmar Air Service will be happy to make it take 12 days. :mad:

I shouldn't complain too much, it took 'em six weeks to pull it off. :rolleyes:
 
These other posters are pretty accurate. I've had several engines hung on my trainers. If the engine is there in the crate, for a simple a/c like a 172, for example, it can be 4 hours. If the oil lines have already been checked or rebuilt, the baffles, exhaust, accessories [like mags], etc. etc., that's about it, then a flight around the pattern [or a few] and taxi in to check for oil leaks, etc., it is still less than one day. This is assuming the mechanic is dedicating the time to do it all at once. I've seen some folks work an hour or two, move over to do an oil change or battery service for someone, come back, etc., and drag it out for a week.

What I do is talk to them, the shop. I make sure all the ducks are in a row as I wait for the engine to arrive. Are my exhaust system, heater, oil cooler, mags, baffles, etc. all checked and certified to go? Battery serviced, new engine mounts here [the rubber things, not the pipe frame part]. It goes amazingly fast and much easier than an automobile engine. [If there are turbos, etc., we're talking more time.]
 
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