Engine stands were developed to give mechanics the ability to tear down an engine without having the roll it around on a bench. The stand were designed to suspend the engine in the air and allow for the mechanic to roll the engine over with the turn of a handle. This made access to all of the parts of engine simple, thus making the tear down simpler. You need to know how to use the helpful tool though. It looks complicated at first, but it is actually pretty easy.
Remove the engine with an engine hoist and roll the engine over to the stand.
Lower the engine until the area where the transmission mounts to the engine is level with the engine stand.
Spread out the arms of the stand--the free moving metal pieces--and push bolts through the holes in the arms and finger tighten the bolts into the area where the transmission is bolted to the engine. Use a ratchet and socket to tighten the bolts.
Remove the engine hoist from the engine once it is securely bolted to the stand.
Roll the engine by simply pulling the locking bar from the middle of the stand and turning the handle on the outside of the stand. You will notice that there are several locking holes so that you can lock the engine in different positions while you work on it.
