I keep seeing these lifts rated for 1500 pounds that are sort of like two bars that lift to maybe 18 inches. Made for a snowmobile or a quad. I figure a bar welded on the end to parallel the cabin longitudinal/sill and lift with one of the things on each side. Might back up with jack stands but it would end the dillema of I wanna put the jack stand where the lift is, and it would lift the whole car all at once.

So. Has anyone tried it and is willing to admit it?

Well...

So long as you were lifting a 914, and the lift was stable, had pins to lock it in place, and you could match the speed of the two lifts to raise and lower it - seems like it might work.

But it also seems that it would just be easier to buy a 2 post lift or a mid rise lift.

Zach

I used a pallet jack to lift my car. At 4" at a time it took forever.

I was figuring on 2 people. $89 x 2 and each weighs no more than 100 lbs. Does have safety bars and lifting to 18 inches is as high as I normally go anyway. Trying to reduce investment and total tool mass. I am in my own way most of the time already. It just seems like someone woulda tried it already.

I have one and use it for taking an engine and tranny out. I would not trust it for anything else and it is a Craftsman.

Get two floor jacks, high lift ones.
Cheaper (harbor freight) and you will actually use them for other things later on and not look at two motorcycle lifts for the rest of your life.

I have one of those lifts and I found that two floor jacks with the motor mounted on a dolly while raising and lowering one side of the car,then the other is actually easier because you can get it at a certain angle to eliminate the engine tin hitting the suspension point by having one side a bit higher than the other....

Get a dolly that all four wheels swivel, then as your lower the car, you can push the dolly side to side to get past that suspension bolt that you will hit.

I have also found that the whole process is far safer in my opinion than holding a motor way up in the air...

The car weighs little with no motor...so its all safe, slow and simple.

Rich

Rich

I've thought that myself before but the vertical limit waived me off.

I use my motorcycle lift on the 914 all the time. Slides under super easy with a board across it, put the jack stands in, repeat on the other side. No problems. I figure if it can pick up my road king and hold it up for 6 months in my garage, it can pick up half my car for a few minutes

Get one of these.. I have one, works great.Click to view attachment

I just bought a used one just like that for $600

Jeff

What is that? Looks like its a nice solution.

It's a low rise sissor lift, works well, mine has a 6000# capacity.
You can find them on Craigslist used, search, car lift.

Thought about the motorcycle lift idea a few times, just never willing to spend the money, don't need two motorcycle lifts if it didn't work....don't own a motorcycle anymore. But in theory, and weight capacity, two should lift a 914.

If you try it.....post pics/video.

Jeff

Only you can answer that. It's your life.

How stupid is it?

My wife is enthusiastic about my buying a floor jack and I can afford one.

I know about these. It isn't the cost, it is the size. They weigh in at many hundreds of pounds, most close to a half ton. I have a one car garage that the entire houshold travels through with sacks of groceries and not looking where they go. Somehow we just can't seem to use the doors like normal people. The ceiling is 8 foot.

The lifts are essentially wide body floor jacks and I have also thought of using plain floor jacks themselves, but they would be tippy.

I wanted to get the car about 3 feet up to put on roller stands. I got them on jack stands as high as the pair of floor jacks would go and then here is what I did to get them up high:
Click to view attachment

Not for the faint of heart - I did it alone running back and forth between the two jacks. I got the balance right by moving a bottle of antifreeze forward and back on the front lid!
Here is the end result. It wasn't quite as silly as it first looks because the frames were pinned into the jack points. The sideways tipping is what the floor jacks were vulnerable to.
Click to view attachment

I never even thought about moving under it, and I treated it like a horse, never taking my hand off and ready to move fast. But really, I am too old for this stuff.

One advantage to a real lift is that the two sides are linked together preventing a side fall even if due to a mechanical failure. Safer if something goes wrong

Thanks. That is worth thinking about even if I do go with the idea. I can make up the linkage.

I notice that there are a lot of single post lifts emerging that are like high lift pallet jacks. They have a long pair of forks that you can in some models drive over, with moveable pads, or you can roll it in from the side. Gives about 50 inches of lift. Anyone sue them here?

This is exactly what I am talking about except it comes in two pieces instead of one. Sort of like you take each side and put it under the car, and of course they aren't as long. But the build and mechanisms look almost exactly the same. The one that first caught my eye was at Home Depot (I try to avoid it) but the quality at HF looked better and so was the design.
It creeps me out, but I have worked them hard and put em away wet and I haven't gotten an HF tool to fail yet. And I feel so guilty, except the American brands have the same sticker about made in, well not in the USA.

what is your ceiling height in the garage?


Whatever it is, subtract 48" and that is how high you can lift a 914.

I got a drive on two ramp lift, best money I have ever spent.

rich

Well, i am getting good advice. My ceiling would give me about 45 inches, or maybe 40. I was wondering since it looks possible if anyone had tried it. From a rating perspective, the math says 3000 pounds, so i figured it might have been done. Getting and using the lift isnt the problem. Having it gone when i am not using it really is important for me.

You will use a lift for everything....on a stool

That's why people were burying them in their concrete.

Que someone who has a picture of that handy....

Hows about a pic?



TIA

I have seen a thread with detailed photos of how this was done but I can't find it now!
Click to view attachment

Old picture...but been using these for years

:drool: I want one,....my precious..

Jack Olsen used a lift table. it's on pelican and garage journal

Yep that was it!

Found it Jack Olsen Lift

Inspired!

Well now, this is exactly what I mean. I can store those babies out in the shed, or under my project car when I don't need em. Thanks! I would probably add a few modifications for safety and stability.

To quote the very creative Mr Olsen:
"If I had even a traditional scissors lift in the parking space, I wouldn't be able to work at those benches without tripping over all that apparatus. A MaxJax would eat up too much space as well -- it'd be especially frustrating when it wasn't being used. And the same goes for a four-post -- the trade-off with floor space is just too high."

My problem exactly. Whatever space the car will be lifted in will also be walked over by an oblivious spouse with too many bags in her arms, so if it is going to be installed it has to be smooth and out of the way when not in use.

Cutting the concrete is an option, but at this point I would need to save a lot of time with the lift to make up for the time spent renting and using the saw, digging the hole, adding rebar and probably some utility while I am at it, and then wheelbarrowing in the concrete with finishing. Also I am not keeping the house forever (could be a selling point for some though). Hmmmm....