Quote:
Originally Posted by clill
Since you had a two post before I will be interested in your opinion of the 4 post after using it awhile.
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So I'm knee deep into my first project on the new lift, and thought I'd update you all with my experiences. The project was to pull the third member out of the rear axle to inspect and repair (metal in gear oil) and it involved getting the back half of the car up in the air and secure while lowering the rear axle enough to get the third member out from under the mufflers.
What I have found is the pad extensions for the chassis jacks are either too short or too long.
The long extensions won't fit under the frame at ride height and the short extensions won't lift the car high enough to get my jack stands under the frame.
There are a couple of different options to fix this and I'll probably implement them both. First a shorter set of jack stands (preferably with a flat pad type top) would make this a LOT easier and second, a set of extensions machined about halfway between the long ones and the short ones in length would also help.
Here is what I ended up doing for now. I used two of the short extensions on each side and lifted the car from the #4 body mount position (right in front of rear tires) high enough to get my jackstands under the frame behind the rear tires. I then moved the chassis jack forward far enough to get out of the way and lifted it up high enough to just support the middle part of the frame as a safety measure.
At this point the car was very stable on the ramps and the axle was hanging low enough to get the third member out.
As far as doing the work once the car was lifted...none of this was an issue. I have plenty of room to move around both in between the ramps and outside of each ramp. My arms are long enough to reach in from the outside if needed and the ramps go plenty high enough that I never banged my head, not even once.
I like having a place right there to set tools and parts, this is especially handy when working alone and need one hand to hold a part and can set a tool or two close by to reach for with the other hand.
The lift is VERY sturdy and goes up and down with no binding or issues. Very pleased with it's operation.
I did have one other issue I had to address. The rolling jacks were almost impossible to move forward and back and especially if they got twisted sideways just a bit. It took me a while messing with the adjustments on the wheels before I finally figured out it was the wheels themselves binding up. There is no bearing or anything, just a solid wheel riding on a stepped solid axle, bone dry... Any sideways pressure on the wheel lodged it against the step on the axle and locked it up.
I pulled every wheel off and put a coat of wheel bearing grease on the axle stub and step and reinstalled them...the jacks glide almost effortlessly now up and down the ramps. HUGE difference...
As far as working in the rest of the shop, it's been great as well. The AC keeps it very nice in here even when it's brutal hot outside. I hardly ever even turn the lights on as there is a lot of light that comes in thru the (6) 48" x 48" windows up high on each wall. And the floor surface is just awesome. It cleans up great and is pretty tough as well. I dropped a control arm from about 5' high on it yesterday and while it put a mark in the clear coat on the floor...just rubbing my foot over the mark made it mostly disappear. I'm sure at some point the marks, scrapes, and gouges will start to add up but the easy thing is a simple coat of clear coat over the top will fix it right up again.
And no Greg...it does not hide whatever is dropped on it... It is very easy to find the nuts and bolts my fat fingers drop to the floor.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
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