Matt,
I just went through this whole schmere myself with my 1200 Cub Cadet. I have a Harbor Freight electric hoist to do the lifting, and that was a huge benefit to me.
On top of my engine, there is an "L" bracket that fastens into the head. I assumed (yeah, I know what that means!
) it was a factory installed thing for lifting the engine. As a former sailboat owner/skipper, I still have some sailing shackles left over after I sold my last boat. I think it was a 5/16" D shackle - stainless steel with captive locking screw. I mounted this into the hole for the "L" bracket, then hooked the Harbor Freight hook into the stainless steel shackle. Hit the button on the lift and get it to the right position to remove the bolts for the engine ISO mounts.
About 10 minutes later, I'm replacing the mounts and going back with the new mounts. I did pay for the fancy dancy ones that are some serious $$$$. The instructions say to torque them to
8 ft/lbs. Fortunately, I had a 3/8" torque wrench that measured in in/lbs, so I was set.
Word or warning: You'll think you had to break your fingers and arms in several places to get those locking nuts back in place. It is very tight around those areas. Once I had everything cinched in place and torqued, I let it sit for a while, cooled off some, then retorqued everything three more times before saying, "enough is enough". I'll keep a check on it like the book says to do. Oh, on the two mounting bolts at the rear of the engine: I had to use a small shafted straight edged screwdriver to hold the locking nut in place and screw the bolt from the bottom of the chassis to get them started. It's hard to do, but it is doable.
My lower back is fused in two places, so this limits my mobility a great deal. If I can do this the very first time in my life, then I'd think most anyone with normal abilities can do the same thing with proper patience.
SS