I've been trying to figure out how I can support the car off the ground so its easier to work on. I was thinking of 30" or so. I've seen some tall jack stands, but they don't have a very wide base. There's no engine in the car, but hat and the tranny are the only part not installed. I was going to borrow a scissor jack, but it requires 230 and i only have 110 in the garage. any ideas? Blocks under the wheels?

Always fear death ....

John

EZ-carlift several of us on the board have them, work great requires a drill to move it up and down.

Ezcarlift website

Its not cheap, but I hav gotten 5 years use out of mine, and it is stable, I feel safer around the car.

No experience with Quick Jacks by Ranger

I've seen big jack stands on one of the threads, tried to do a Google search. No luck.

Try a search here to try to find the thread.

Dave

If it's your property and attached to the house, it's very easy to get 220 volts (actually 240) into the garage. Even easier if there is a subpanel in the garage. Might want to hire an electrician buddy if electricity scares you.

http://homerepair.about.com/od/electricalr...40v_breaker.htm

look up JP Stein and his plywood boxes that go under the wheels

Yup. JPs boxes kinda freak me out, but he used them for years and they work. Can't argue with success.

I think my grandfather made these.

Harbor Freight has some tall heavy stands. I have a set and they are nice. 30" high. I still use a back up

Tons of people use wood. Somewhere I have a couple pictures of guys that built ramps out of wood, and then stored their 914s above other cars.

no

Yes
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Link:
Giant stands

JPs boxes....

Very stable.

Isn't a dryer plug 230v? get a long dryer cord and borrow the lift. How long is the question.

I made this from some 4X4s and 4 casters.
You can even have Home Depot make all of the cuts and you just screw it together.

I thought I had a better photo of the stands I used under Ben's 6.

I love my Bendpak MD-6XP scissor lift. It runs on 110v and costs less than $2k
http://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/specialty-lifts/md-6xp.aspx

Those plywood boxes are a safe bet if you have some skills with precision fit and some geometric smarts.

The stands that hold up giant fish tanks are made from plywood.

The 125 gallon tank in my living room is held up by what most of us would call "a bunch of 1X3s".

Depends on your intended use?
Looking to raise up for one time major repair?
Looking to raise frequently for service?
Need to keep the wheels on?
Ok to remove wheels/suspension?
Then there is the lifting operation itself.





Lets you move the car around the garage. Make sure you install the large rubber caster wheels (as shown). I used the little ones at first and had ball bearings flying around the garage.
But can't really replace floor panels with this setup.

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If you don't need to remove the tires cool setup. Stands would nest after use and not take up much space for storage. Lets you replace floor panels etc.

Make some Box Cribs - easy & cheap. Don't use Pressurized Wood!

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Anyone ever see these in person or use them?

http://www.myliftstand.com/

Those are cool. The price must be a big secret? How can you sell an item without a price? How difficult is it to list the price? Makes you wonder about the product if the manufacturer can't list the price? Maybe they don't know the price? Maybe they don't want to sell any units? Maybe they run a credit report before they give you a price? Maybe it's free? For F*&%&^$ sake whats the price???

Googled and looked through several other forums and finally found someone who states 530$ set of four plus shipping.

Too late I have moved on.

No matter how you support it, you still have to be able to safely lift it that high. Seems like, by the time you buy a BIG jack and tall stands, you might as well have a lift.

cm

After you spend money and time on building that stuff you'd be cheaper off installing an outlet....

When you finally buy a lift you will slap your forehead and say, "why didn't I do this years ago."

Mid rise scissor lift. One of my best investments. I higher ceiling might have been nice though.

My B in Law just picked a used one up on CL for 150$

Stephen and others that have purchased the EZcarlift....please let us know your experience with this unit and what accessories you got and any thing you would have done differently.....this is really a cool product....you can reply to me direct if you don't want to post openly......Thanks....John

I spent $1400 on a 2 post lift, $300 on tax/shipping, and $300 for a pro to install it. Worth every penny especially since I'm doing a /6 conversion. Up and down with the push of a button - life is easy. It's pretty much a lifetime investment too!

$50 worth of 2" square tube and a borrowed MIG welder. The casters are from my 4 post lift.

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My problem was getting it high enough. So I put the tub on jack stands and then put an extension under the frame rail that also was plugged into the jack point hole so it wouldn't wobble.
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Then when that was lifted up I had about 30".
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Yes, having the car on just two jack stands was a bit of a balancing act. I treated it like a horse (as though I know how ) . One hand on it all of the time and not under it, or even close to under it.

Now I can wheel it around. The advantage of plywood is it resists racking forces and when put together right has it all - racking, tension, load and works as a beam. But, you have to make them right. My previous car sat on a pair of 1/2 in plywood stands that I can knock down in a minute to flat pieces.

I went with steel because it is very strong and in the end you take it apart with an angle grinder and make something else.

I bought mine about 8 years ago. It was when I was first diagnosed with RA, and I could barely move anymore. But I still liked working on cars, so I had to come up with a solution. everything in my fleet is pretty small and lite. I have 2 Miatas, a Jetta, Cobalt, Honda Civic CX, and a my farm truck. I never put the truck on the lift, I can just slid under the truck anyway.

I love the lift, as I can move it around or move it from the shop to my garage if I ned to lift a car up there. I have only done that once. I have two different sets of spacers. I would like to add a third to give me more room on the 914 engine drops. IT goes way taller than I have ever needed to lift the 914, 26" claimed hight is more like 30" once you count rubber pad and hockey puck. My old engine was carbed I could put the engine in with the carbs on. I had a cart I built to slide the entire engine assembly into and under the 914. I have replace transmissions in cars pulled engines, and have done a ton of work. I use it almost every day I work in the shop. I love this thing.

I would like to have another one for when I detail cars, as it makes it so easy to clean the lower parts of the car.

I would like add drive over ramps and the scale adapters and a few more spacers. As I would love to get my lawn mower up in the air. And another one to get more clearance in the engine bay of the 914.

It made it super easy to put my 914 up on my rotisserie and then it has an adjustable lift hight on the rotisserie can handle the rest.

Look on Craigslist, I found a scissor lift last year, uses 110v for only $700.
Safer than any jackstand, quicker up and down.

This has pretty much been covered, but as a summary of sorts I have to say get whatever sort of lift your budget can accommodate. Unless it literally keeps you from being able to buy food for your family, you will kick yourself for not doing it sooner.

I bet 99% of the people here work on their cars because they enjoy it. Lying on your back in the dirt is _not_ conducive to enjoyment. Sounds silly but it took me years to realize that. My only regret after getting a lift was not doing it sooner.

Admittedly, I'm spoiled. Back when I had more money but no time to be scouring Craigslist and the like, I splurged on a Nussbaum 2 post.

Gratuitous pic. Funny how shop looks so huge in the pic and now I can barely walk through it to do anything. Need to to get out there and clean up.

Afterthought - To answer the actual question, I also have the really big Harbor Freight stands from my pre-lift era. They were very stable with a 911 on the highest notch.

The lever type stands scare me a little now so I would probably jury rig some kind of lock/latch for the lever.

Looks like Harbor Freight is a player now too... Decent reviews...

http://www.harborfreight.com/6000-lb-capac...lift-91315.html

Hmm... Looks like for lower cars you need to build ramps...

Just don't take any short cuts in terms of safety. True story. A neighbor of mine died under his mustang last year. More accurately, they took
Him off life support after two weeks in the hospital.

I have a 4 post that is awesome. It has built in sliding jacks if I need to get wheels off the ground. I also picked up a nice snap on scissor lift for about $900. It is made by wheeltronic and built like a tank. Not as convenient but still safe and effective. Two post lifts are great but make sure your concrete will support them, a lot of residential concrete is too thin or too weak.

How do you get it high enough to get up on the rollers?

I use 2 X 6s and 12 X 12 concrete blocks and a floor jack. It takes about an hour to get it down. I only used this dolly for the restoration. I don't plan to put it back on the dolly.

With a stripped tub it took two of us to lift on side and put in on the rotisserie.

So....
Get two strong people and pick it up to put the wheels on boxes or put the car on tall jack stands.

I don't remember the number but I recall a tub is 400 lbs stripped....figure another 150 with interior and glass.....just a guess.

It was shockingly easy....really.

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any pics of your lift? any concrete concerns with a 4 post?

I think a two post lift is just about perfect. That is exactly what I would have if I had a bigger garage. I allows great access to everything and will lift the car high.

what are peoples opinions on storing a vehicle under a 2 post lift?

All true. I think on most they need 4" of concrete at 3000 psi. Keep in mind though that is for the rated capacity of a lift which is often 8000-10000 lbs. We're lifting less than 3000 lbs. They also make base adapters to put in an additional 7 floor anchors over a wider area if you're not sure of the concrete integrity. But the thickness definitely needs to be enough.

Lots of interesting ideas. I have limits that I didn't explain. We live in a condo and the garage is in a different building. Not close enough to run a extention from the house ( it would need to be awful long and a heafty guage). My ceiling is normal for a garage, so I'm not thinking I'll be walking under the car. Would be happy to be able to use my creeper and have some room to move. I don't have the jack brackets on the sides of the car any more. They were cut off years ago. I'd like to be able to pull wheels off. Looks like the EZcarlift is a good option. The Quickjack looks pretty good too.