I was at the junkyard in Tacoma and saw a guy pull a whole engine with a come-along and a shopping cart

I went out to Pull-A-Part last weekend looking for a throttle body for a 2006 Civic. While I was walking back, I saw this older guy in the Honda section. He had a beat-up shopping cart with a piece of plywood on it and a come-along hooked to the roof of a wrecked Odyssey. He was just cranking that engine out, slow and steady, right into the cart. No engine hoist, no fancy rigging, just basic tools and a lot of know-how. It took him maybe twenty minutes total. It made me realize we get so used to having the right tool for every job that we forget how to improvise. That guy saved himself a rental fee and probably got the motor for a couple hundred bucks. What's the most creative fix or pull you've ever seen in a pinch?

3 comments

3 Comments

murray.abby1mo ago

Pull-A-Part" is the chain, but that's a great story about the shopping cart engine pull.

kimg571mo ago

My buddy once swapped a motor using just a skateboard.

logansmith21d ago

That's nothing. I once saw a guy move a whole transmission using a kid's wagon and a rope.