Anyone have any experience with a lift like this for the MINI??



http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=46604

 

I looked at it and even downloaded the manual. It will lift to a max height of almost 40 inches. It'd be helpful for a lot of jobs. It is a much cheaper alternative to a real lift. A real lift needs a ceiling of about 14 feet, whereas this would work in a more conventional garage. Some vehicles may not go all the way up, but it's better than a jack.The thing weighs about 750 pounds, so it's a handful to deal with. I'd like to go to the local HF Store and see if they have one in stock to look at. You must either park atop it or have enough space to store it when you're not using it. Also, the instructions are vague about lowered height. 3-7/8" to top of plate sounds good, but 7' to top of saddle causes concern for all but trucks. It is unclear if they collapse or fold up. I'd want to see one in person before I drop $900.

Look at this one too
http://www.rotary-lift.com/Products/...ifts&series=vl

I'm sure that the price will be astounding, but it appears to be the original that the Harbor Fright was copied from. Maybe the better pics will help you decide.

Due to a lack of foresight, my shop is too small and has 8' ceiling. I plan to look closer at the HF Unit.

Rawhyde

 

Thanks for the info. Yeah 750 pounds isn't lighweight! . Hmm, it's a little over $1 a pound.

I would assume this isn't something I'd leave in my garage and just drive over it when I wasn't using it?? (due to the mentioned height issues). Hmm, maybe I really will still need to buy a new house if I want a place to work on my car--or just keep using jack stands.



Thanks!

 

Well, this was my solution. Bend-Pak MD-6XP. 750 lbs.? Pfft. Try 1,200! This was not specifically for a Mini, but I definitely needed to make a platform for it so I could park over it. But, I love it. Worth every penny.

I weigh all of 135 lbs., but with the cart/pump thing, I can move it around my garage without too much huffing and puffing.

Be careful about specs; on mine, the main platform may be fairly low, but the attachments for the swivel arms and the hydraulic rams stick up above that. There are several safety stops, but I normally use the first one. I can lift the car up quite a bit past that, but not quite to the second stop in my 8.5' garage, but I've got junk hanging that gets in the way.

Also, mine runs on 110V on a normal 15A circuit, and it came with nice rubber lift pads that could be set at something like 1", 4", and 6" above the arms; nice if you want to have more clearance for exhaust work, etc.

http://www.gesusa.com/product_info.isg?products_id=165

Those guys have sales once in a while, where they can knock off $100-$300 from the regular price.

 

Back when I had money, I did a lot of research on this topic, because I moved into a house with two existing garages, and both of them have 8 foot ceilings. Here are a few candidates I found. Of course, the more I like a given model, the pricier it seems to be...

I have bookmarked several more links than those listed below, but unfortunately, many of those have ceased to function since I originally found them.

As I was searching for a lift to fit my garage, the primary criteria for the candidates were:

1) Safety! What safety features does the unit incorporate to ensure that it will keep the car in the air and off my fragile person?

2) Minimum drive-on/loading/lifting pad height: especially important with lowered MINIs.

3) Portability: can the unit be easily moved from bay to bay in a multi-car area? Does it break down for transport?

4) Floor strength requirements: does the unit require a minimum slab thickness or concrete pressure strength for safe usage? Does the work area require any special preparation, such as installation of post anchors in the wall or floor?

5) Storage: does the unit break down for storage, or can it be left in place and the car parked over it with ease?

Although a lot of companies offer four-post lifts suitable for hobbyist use, I did not include links for those here, as many of these require a 10 foot or higher ceiling for best utilization.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with any of the companies listed below, or any direct experience with use of portable lift models. (As a line tech, I only had fixed 2 and 4-post models at my disposal.) Hope this post is informative and helpful!

Finkbeiner portable lift:
Schweeet Teutonic engineering, but expensive!
No fixed vertical posts, no drilling and setting of floor anchors required.
Allows full unrestricted access to underside of vehicle, like a traditional
two-post lift. Lifts to a height of 1.8 meters.
Available through Maywood Garage Equipment



American Custom Lifts:
Single-Post lift model ACM1-7:
Specs are listed at the model type link above.




Mohawk Lifts:
Offers two models of scissors lifts:


Bend-Pak:
Offers a variety of specialty and scissors type lifts (Too many to post photos here)

Rotary Lifts:
Their main professional auto service products page lists scissors type, double scissors, and low-mid rise models. As above, too many models to list here individually.

KwikLift: Realistically, one of this company's products is probably all I actually need in order to do the work on my car that I'll actually undertake myself. There are lots of options available to ease many common automotive maintenence tasks.

It's just hard to accept that fact after having had the luxury of working on cars raised a comfortable 6 feet in the air, and I miss those days...

Motor on!

 

We have a sicissor lift like that in our shop it is what I use to work on my MINI.

The MINI has the rubber stops already in place on the frame so I just drive my MINI over top of the lift make sure I am centered on it and hit the lift button. No need to set up anything at all for the MINI at least. Most cars are not like that and you have to go under the car, my lift straddles a pit so this is easy, in order to find the correct lift points and place rubber pads/arms into position.

 

Do you guys with the scissor lifts find you can get around underneath the car fine? It seems that the scissor part would get in the way of exhaust work but I've never seen one in action.

Badrice, I like how you made the platform. I was wondering how I would have a lift in my garage and still park the car in there. Can't believe I didn't think of something so simple.

Brad

 

Well, I have two VW Beetles, and the lift frame is actually quite short compared to the floorpan, so there's ample space in the back for muffler work, and in the front for engine/suspension work. Have not tried a complete exhaust system change with the lift, but I would think there is plenty enough clearance there, and the frame isn't solid, so you can reach through to wrench on stuff.

I find most of my work is taking off the wheels to swap track wheels, or do brakes, or change suspension parts, or work on the motor, and the scissor has been great. Best of all, it takes up no space, other than the platform that I need for my car.

 

Wow awesome stuff here Badrice and IndygoMINI. Man, I'm droooling now. LOL. Great setup Badrice with the ramps!

 

Found more pics to show you the kind of front and rear access you might see...




And if this doesn't make you get your credit card out...

http://home.comcast.net/~acro-nut/Lift.wmv

Just imagine the sound of this bad boy in your garage! Arr Arr ARRR! Couldn't wipe the smile off my face the first time I turned it on!

 

Whoaaaaa, don't post any more pictures. OMG, OMG!! LOL Droooooooooooool

 

I second the kudos for the ramp system, Badrice! I may have to head to home despot for some raw materials! That last set of shots also surprised me- the lift chassis is a lot narrower than I thought, so a MINI should have little trouble parking over it.

Octaneguy, here's more drool-fodder, in quicktime format:
Finkbeiner in action

** topic drift **
If I ever do get a lift here at home, I'm ready to record more envy video. Got a VacuCam for Xmas from the parents. I'm going to hook it up to a Canopus ADV-55 portable FireWire converter and burn footage straight to a laptop HDD, if all works out. Of course, finishing the video rig won't leave much extra cash for garage hardware, will it?

decisions, decisions

 

This is going to be a hard one to resist. I was thinking I would have to wait until my girlfriend and I build a house in about 5 years to have a lift in the garage. My garage is tiny, about 18'x20'. I could build the ramps over the lift and still be able to park the car in there at night.

 

It's futile. You know you need one. It's for safety, right?

Of course, getting one may be another problem, unless you know someone with a fork lift. Typically the trucking company will shove it to the end of their truck and say "ok, take it." Even if you order "liftgate service," they'll put it on the gate, lower it to the ground, then that's it. I lucked out; I do have a friend with a fork lift. I know a business who bought the Harbor Frieght lift (and now wishes he bought something like a Bend-Pak), and he had them back up to a loading dock, and they dragged the thing off the truck by hand(!). I think you could get a utility trailer and have them use the pallet jack to roll it from their lift gate to your trailer, but I haven't verified that. In any case, make sure you are clear how the delivery will happen. The GES site has pictures of how the lifts are packaged for delivery, fyi.

 

Badrice,


You're just cruel. Did you know that?

Seriously, that is a pretty cool setup you have. I'm thinking about getting something similar.

My shop is pretty small. 24x20 with the 20 being the nose to tail dimension of the car. I also have a column that is in the way, so my effective size of my bay is 12' wide x 20' deep. I think I could live with the low profile lift, but I'm not too sure about the ramps. I think that they'd work, but that I'd have to remove them as soon as I lift a car so I'd have room to work on it.

I'd really like to see one in place and try it out. Even the cheapie from Northern is ~$900 and the prices skyrocket from there... That's a pretty sizable investment to make until you're sure it'll do what you want.

One more truism to add to the list:
You can never have a shop that's too big.

Whenever I get around to building a new house, it'll have a monster shop so I can have a real lift.

Rawhyde

 

LOL!

Well, my garage is just a regular 2-car garage STUFFED with junk. I've never had to move the ramps to work on the car, but it's not hard to do. I could've made them shorter, as well, so they don't intrude into the forward work area. When you can sit up under the car to work on it, the ramps don't really get in the way. No more slithering around on a creeper or a piece of cardboard.

I thought a long time before committing myself, but the Beetles are kind of tough to jack up without damaging them, and I pretty much have to move one car out and use the whole garage to lift one with regular floor jacks. Not to mention the hassle of unearthing my jacks, jack pads, and jack stands every time.

Now, if I decide to do something, I just reach under, swivel the arms to the jack points, and hit the button! My only issue was trying to get something that'll lift my Suburban as well. I haven't gotten around to trying that yet. Pad-style lifts were out since the Beetle rockers hang below the pinch weld, and because they wouldn't work on the suburban frame.

My justification was that it really is safer, it's quicker, and considering how much I save on car repair, this was worth the investment. I helped a friend change a clutch with the lift. We had both done many clutches before with the usual jacks and jack stands. With the lift, it was SO much easier! In fact, with this car, we weren't sure if we would've been able to do it without the lift. Would've been a lot more cussing, that's for sure!

 

Cool deal on the VacuCam! Burning straight to a laptop HDD should work fine! With a large enough drive (12GB/hour) you won't have to worry about tape length or starting/stopping the cameras to conserve tape. What powers the ADV-55?? A/C or D/C? Anyhow, it's better we take this discussion over to Camera/Video area on NAM. Also let me know your parents name via PM, so I can look up what they ordered for you.

 

I like the big wooden ramps. You could get even more lift with floor joists, or truss's.

As far as lifts, here's another option to consider. These are the coolest floor jacks I've seen:

http://www.drivewerks.com/catalog/to...Hydraulic1.htm

Dave.

 

Yup, good idea on the wider lumber, but then my car with a low-hanging skid plate and coilovers (2-2.5" ground clearance) only needed this much to clear the lift. Also, if you make the ramp any higher, you can't swivel the arms out over them without raising the lift first.

Here is another interesting lift thread sent to me by a buddy with a 911. Check out that garage with the lift pit!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...hreadid=190582