Dumb question: How is this any better than just rolling the car over on to its side without the $700 gizmo? Okay, I guess it is kinder on the wheel bearings and such. But otherwise, you are still subjecting the chassis to the same forces as just rolling over.

Dumb answer.... I like my bumpers, fenders, doors and so on looking nice when I put the car back on its wheels after working on it.

"Just rolling it over on its side" usually results in a car looking like its been sideswiped.

Not always true! I rolled my $50 '72 Beetle (complete with fenders pretty much held on with Bondo) one night on it's side and the only noticable damage was that the mirror glass popped off and my stereo knob broke off when my friend panicked as he tried to clamber up and out thru the passenger door whilst stepping on me and kicking my stereo knobs! (It was a good thing too as I was grounded at the time and was not supposed to be driving that night while my parents were out to dinner) :D :D

Then your left with a mass of metal laying on the garage floor to trip over the other 300+ days of nonuse.:(

No, the KwikLift breaks down very small actually.

Anyone have that Kwiklift? That might be a seriously awesome idea. I currently have two of the five available garage spaces in our building, one is for my MB, the other one is for whatever P-car I have "under the knife" at that moment (I call it my "repair bay"). Supposedly the wife will get it some day, but I think she's given up trying. :)

Anyway, that KwikLift would be FANTASTIC for such a use. Even if I wanted to park a car in the garage that I wasn't working on, couldn't I just drive onto the platform and just not bother lifting the car? I mean, who cares, right? You're just "storing" the lift under the car for a night.

If nothing is in the garage that would be a hinderance, but if you're parking your car on it then it wouldn't be so bad! My 911 is only used on nice sunny days and sits in the garage the rest of the time!

My other concern is security of the garage. If the garage is locked up then fine, but if you are sharing spaces with other families or its not totally secure then I would not leave either device out.

If the Kwiklift is essy to take down then its also easy to steal if not in a secure garage. Sounds like either device could be taken down and locked up.

I know 89911 and he has a home and nice garage! That wouldn't be an issue!

Was thinking about Jeff, above.

Yea, it's a concern of sorts - it's a shared garage but the two guys I share with are both great about keeping stuff locked up. After all, they have expensive stuff in there too (my one neighbor has a Harley Road King, the other has a BMW 3-series and a beautifully-restored 1970 El Camino with a 502 engine and a crapload of mods - he's got about $60k into it). The guy's a former Navy SEAL and U.S. Marshall too. Not the kind of guy you want to screw with. :) So I think a lift would be safe. Plus they'd have to figure out how to get it out from under the car. Plus I have CCTV monitoring in there anyway.

Anyway, I'll look into that lift - that sounds like it'd make wrenching sessions a HELL of a lot simpler - especially for the sort of things I have coming up (an engine swap and an oil pan gasket replacement - ugh).

I'm seriously considering a Kwiklift. I'd like to hear about it if anyone gets one.

+1 on the quick lift idea! I have limited overhead room and this would work for me too!

I almost just placed an order but I'm going to sleep on it. $1,500 is a lot of money and it'd be kinda' hard to hide from the wife. If I still feel this good about it tomorrow though, I'll order one.

I'd really like to hear from someone that has one already though. That thing is a wrencher's dream (a wrencher that doesn't have his own house and a spare $5,000 sitting around for a hydraulic lift, that is!)

Work on a group buy. I would not mind having both to tell the truth.

I have plans to make one myself. The design is simple and rock solid.

Problem is I don't have anything worth working on right now. Wait......the Vanagon! :D

Any chance I can get a copy of the plans?

Thx,

Joe

Anyone here grown simply tired of wrenching on their car? I'm planning an addition on my house and had dreams of installing a lift and adding heat and cable, etc to the garage. Now, I'd rather drive the car and let someone else get a stiff back or neck. Sure, I'll still change brakes and tires for DE's. The rest of the stuff no longer get me that exicited. Ok, I'll admit it, I'm getting old!:eek:

Get the center of weight close and you can turn most things..http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1175835809.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1175835830.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1175835856.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1175835885.jpg

Sure Joe, I'll see if I can get my brother to CAD them up. The one thing I struggled with is how high is high enough? I have two ideas, one is a fixed height (30" +/-, sound about right?) and the other has progressive "saddles" that you can raise once the car is on. I lean toward the fixed approach if for nothing but simplicity.