So I don't know where this belongs. I put it in "Framing..." because I'm building a structure, sort of. If it's in the wrong place, hopefully a mod will move it. I need to pull a 454 CID engine out of my motorhome. It needs to come up out of a hole in the floor (similar to removing an I/O engine from a boat...I thought of putting this post over in the Boat forum). The engine needs to come out into the interior of the vehicle - cannot come out the front. I then need to cherry-pick it out the door. Fully assembled engine is about 700 lbs. The good thing is that I'll be pulling a disassembled block out first (around 400 lbs.). I also have an extra, fully assembled 350 engine to test with (the 454 weighs a bit more though). I built this: Mock-up before I braced it: The main beam is 2 2x6 glued and screwed together. Legs are 2x4s. I had considered doubling up the 2x4s but it seemed like overkill. The gussets are 1/2 plywood. The beam rests on 2x4 perches screwed and glued to the legs. It's hard to tell from the pic, but overall height is just under 5 feet (58 inches). My issue is bracing for lateral movement. I was thinking of diagonal braces bolted to the 2x6 beam and screwed to the plywood gussets. Wondering if that would be enough? Or should I put diagonal braces from leg to leg. The issue with bracing the legs is that the block is longer than the depth of the rig. Braces could get in the way of lifting the engine out of the hole. Any suggestions and/or pointing out obvious defects in my design would be appreciated!

Hello, I am planning to put a 180 gallon aquarium (could weigh about a ton on a 2'x6' footprint) in my living room soon, but I had a look inside the crawlspace and much to my disappointment, the floor joists are only 2x6's. :wall: If the weight slowly sag's the floor, and the tank becomes out of level, the water could put pressure on the tank seams, eventually causing them to fail. The last thing I need is 180 gallons of water on the floor. The crawlspace is quite cramped. There is only about 12" give or take from the bottom of the joists to the ground. I was hoping to take advantage of this and just build up some support from the ground to the bottom of the joists. I am trying to do this myself as simply as possible because the aquarium set up is going to cost quite a bit as it is. That said, I'm really not looking to pull out the insulation and start sister joists, or dig to pour concrete footers. It's going to be a bit hard to work under there as it is. What would be my easiest option? I wish I could just find some short threaded posts and use about 8 of them concentrated directly under where the tank would be, but the shortest I have found is 12"-16" and they are like $30 a piece. I am just not sure the best way I could "build up" support from the floor and make it the exact height needed to reach the joist and support it. Thanks for any advice. Frank