Yes, it IS possible to use a mid-rise lift to pull a trani from a front-engine car

[rsiegel]

I'm posting this here rather than in the BMW forums because this site probably has more information on mid-rise scissors lifts than anyplace else on the web.

After building my new garage (which is basically a big shoebox with one door at the short end, and has 8 1/2 foot ceilings), I bought a Bend Pak MD-6XP mid-rise scissors lift. Although I'm frankly disappointed with the fit and finish of the Bend Pak, it has been great for working on the 911. Of course, as many folks have noted, all the important stuff in a Porsche is at the back end, so it's an ideal car for a mid-rise lift.

But what about using a mid-rise lift on a conventional front-engined rear-wheel-drive car? Doesn't the lift itself block the trani? Many threads have posed this question, but none have answered it.

I have.

It IS possible to pull a trani from a front-engine rear-wheel-drive car on a mid-rise lift. I just did it on my 1973 BMW 2002tii. It may violate your norms of safety, so I don't advise it, but it can be done. There are a couple of tricks you have to know. I'll tell you the tricks, but again I really don't recommend that you do this.



There are two main issues. The first is getting the trani to clear the top of the lift. The second is getting the jack to clear the base of the lift.

First, it is essential that you position the car so that the nose of the car is over the part of the lift WITHOUT THE HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS. That is, put the nose of the car over the end of the lift that has the wheels. This end of the lift has far more clearance than the other end. Plus the wheels actually skootch back when the lift does its thing.

Next, to get the trani to clear the lift, you have to asymetrically put the car on the lift. In the attached photos, you'll see that the rear arms of the lift are slid all the way to the back of the lift, are sticking straight out, and are holding up the rear subframe mounts of the car, whereas the front arms are sticking forward. This puts the rear wheels basically even with the back of the lift, but the front wheels are about 18" in front of the lift (see photos below).







Let me be clear. I DON'T RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO THIS. But I shoved the car every which way and it was substantially more steady than when I had the back of my 911 up on jack stands in order to drop the engine. If I lived in a quake zone I don't think I'd have the chutzpah to do this.

The next problem is that even if the trani is not physically blocked by the top of the lift, the BOTTOM of the lift blocks the backward motion that you need for the jack -- you need to be able to roll the jack backward to separate the trani from the engine. The trick here is to build a surface that is above the piece of metal that connects the two legs of the lift between its wheels. What worked perfectly for me was a pair of old steel wheels (one on each side of the base of the lift), covered with a thick aluminum plate. I'm sure that heavy plywood would've worked fine as well. The jack then sits on top of the plate. In this way, the jack -- which has wheels -- can roll on the aluminum plate and not be blocked by the base of the lift (see photos).





Finally, it was helpful to have a furniture dolly (a solid one -- not one with a hole in the middle) that was exactly the same height as the aluminum plate. In this way, I could roll the dolly behind the plate, and just pull the jack and trani right on to it, then roll the whole thing back. Of course, this could've been ameliorated by simply having a much longer aluminum plate, but we all work with what we have.


Be aware of a number of things:

1) With the car this far forward, this is fundamentally an unsafe weight distribution. So, again, for the third time, I DON'T RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO THIS.

2) There is a trade-off that comes with increased height. The higher the lift is, the further back the wheeled end of the lift gets skooched (when it's all the way up, hell, you may not need the platform at all), but then you have to lift your floor jack that much higher, and as you know, when you pump the jack up, the jack plate pulls slightly back toward the jack handle, effectively putting the wheels of the jack further backward. The idea is to get the car as high as you can for reasons of comfort (sitting up beneath a car is a joy that one appreciates more as one gets older), while still being able to reach the trani with your jack. If you have a transmission jack plate adapter, that adds a good bit of height to the jack, but also can cause clearance problems of its own.

3) The alternative to doing this whole wacko exercise is to put the car on the lift, get it nice and high so you can sit upright beneath it and comfortably remove absolutely everything except one bolt, then let it down, roll it foward off the lift, and jack up the front of the car the conventional way and put it on jack stands. This is undoubtedly safer.

3) Because of the problem with getting the jack to reach the trani when the lift is up high, I didn't have the lift all the way up, and thus wasn't able to sit upright beneath the car (this is the whole reason to use the lift). In fact, I was nearly as twisted and contorted as I would've been had I just rolled the car off and jacked up the front. This was more an excercise in determining the edge of the envelope. And I may not be able to use the lift for putting the trani in, as I'm upgrading to a 5-speed, and it's substantially longer than the 4-speed, so it may have trouble clearing the lift.

4) If this whole approach concerns you (as well it should), and if you have the ceiling height for a post lift, buy one. There's no question that it's a more flexible tool than a mid-rise.

Good luck. As I say to my teen-agers, don't do anything stupid.

[ianc]

Hey, do you recommend this be done?

J\K. Seriously, I doubt anyone will sue you saying 'But.. rsiegel said it could be done'!

Nice job, and thanks for the post,

ianc

P.S. You have too many toys.

[Tim Hancock]

The other end actually has the most clearance as there is no cross member there. You would have had tons of room to get at the tranny at that end. The only difficulty is coming up with a jack to lower the tranny. I have a couple of wood platforms that I can bridge across to set a jack on (kind of like your rims and plate you used, but set-up 90 degrees to your's sitting just outboard of the side legs).

[yelcab1]

Rob,

That is the ultimate hack from the Hack Mechanic himself. Good to see the garage you have been writing so much about. I am thinking of a post lift myself. I have 12 feet of clearance.

[rsiegel]

Hey, Tim, I don't know if you remember, but you and I swapped e-mail back in November. I was building the garage and having the floor poured, and wanted to build a box so I could inset the lift into the floor. You were kind enough to measure the outer dimensions of yours. Because my garage is a shoebox, not a one-bay-door-per-car garage, I decided against inseting the lift because I thought any attempt at placement would wind up being wrong (right choice, too), but I was always grateful for your help.

As per the images below, I agree that clearly the other end of the lift -- the end above the hydraulic cylinders -- is the end with the gap, and is clearly meant for access. But the cross-member I was talking about wasn't the cross-member up there -- it's the cross-member on the floor. This is pretty low to the ground; with the steel wheels, I clear it with about 6" of height. How high do you have to build your platform at the other end in order to clear the cylinders?

--Rob

[CBRacerX]

Rob,

I always enjoy your Roundel columns, seeing you here is a hoot. H'mm, not if I said that or my father did. Anyway, bravo on the creative use of the mid-rise lift. I had to go from a 13' high 4 car separate garage with a Rotary 2 post lift to a two car standard ceiling attached garage when I got married. (please don't start)

After moving and selling the Rotary (sob), I bought a Mohawk mid rise (48" max) lift. One 3.6 transplant and one 993 clutch job later, I'm convinced it is the best solution for the man who can't have everything.

Bravo!

Chris


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