Engine Lift Points

The last time I pulled a Silver Diamond motor ten years ago I didn't have a factory manual to show the recommended lift points so I made a chain attaching plate that bolted up where the fuel pump goes and another for the area at the back of the head where the manifold bolts on. It seemed to work well and the motor was balanced coming out and going back in. Now I see that IH recommends the front and rear right side head bolts as the attaching points. It seems to me that the motor would lean as soon as it clears the mounts and would also be at an angle when it came time to reinstall it. I guess I'm posting this to see where any of you who have pulled the motor attach the chain?

I was watching one of the car rebuild show on the tube the other day. They hoisted a V8 with the carb mounting studs on the manifold! A little off topic, but it made me cringe!

Even when engines have factory lifting eyes on them, they rarely balance even and level. The thought is that the engine will be lifted on a "single line" (even if there are two lift points the cable or chain would come together for a single lift point attachment to the lifting device) and that final adjustment can be made by a single man guiding the load.
I made an adaptor to lift my 855 Cummins, from a single line, and even though the engine weighs in close to 3,000 lbs fully dressed, it is easy to push it around to line up the mounts.
There is also something to be said for having one corner lower than the rest of the engine. This allows that corner to be aligned to a mount, with a line-up bar and then the rest of the engine lowered slowly while aligning the other mounts. If even and level, all points must be aligned at once.

CB, what you're saying makes a lot of sense so I'm going to give that a try this time and use the head bolts as the mounting points. I took some time this afternoon to fab some connectors out of 2 x 2 x 1/4'' angle iron. I cut them 5 1/2'' long and drilled two holes in the bottom so two head bolts will pass through it to hopefully spread the stress load out a little more and then drilled one hole in the side for the chain connection. I will have one front and one back in that fashion.

Dilbert, No such thing as off topic in any thread I start as I am happy to see them wander wherever they want. It seems to me at one time I remember someone selling a square plate with a hook welded on to pull V8 engines like you described. That wouldn't be my first choice either.

It was hard won knowledge, I was left alone with a crane and a multi axle modular trailer I had to break down and load with the extra axles. Since I didn't have a swamper to help, and I 1st was very careful to make all 4 lifting points equal, I could never get the jeep and axles on the trailer straight. Every lift, the wind would catch the load and it would start to spin! I finely out of desperation and dimming light, lifted them off balance, then I could drop one corner on the trailer, then extend the boom or swing the crane to position the load. Once I learned the trick, I had the trailer loaded in 15 min!