Lift shopping info

[Willie_B]

I thought I would pass on some good to know info about scissor lifts and our little cars.
When looking at what's out there some things to consider are how the car will be lifted. I did not know till after I got mine the sliding side arms are mounted to the outside of the main frame assy. so they will not adjust inside that point. So I cannont get to the front subframe to lift, I have to lift from the bottom of the front hub area.
There are others that have to sliding arms on top of the frame and they can adjust a much wider area and will get to the front subframe. Minidave has one like this. The downside to this is the lift will be a bit taller.
Mine came with 4 rubber blocks that have been great to have as I can lift with rubber and not metal points.

[MiniDave]

I lift Buzz from the "corners", where the vertical part of the inner wheel well meets the floor, if the A panels and supports are in good shape it's a strong place to set the lift points. Lifting under the subframe would spread the load out better, but this works too.

Brad, if you decide it's not going to work for you I feel confident you can get your money back out of it easily......might even make a little.

Most scissor lifts look like this, I hadn't seen one made like Willie B's before.....

[Willie_B]

To get our cars over the lift you will need ramps to run beside it. I made mine from 2x6 8' long. To get the height I needed I added pieces of 1/2" ply on the bottom and also a 2x4 across the end for a wheel stop. You will probably need more than 8' for the bottom of the car to clear the cylinder. The total length of mine is 11', the rear 3' is separate as I can remove it as needed so I don't trip over it. I added a section of rubber floor mat to bottom that sticks out 12" on the lead edge. This will help hold it in place as the tire will have weight there first before going up onto the wood. Without that you will most likely push the ramp away. Don't forget the rear track is narrower than the front when you decide on the location of the ramps. After I got the final location for mine I used a marker to draw the locations on the floor for both ends. This way if you move the ramps out of the way for another vehicle you get them back where needed.

[Willie_B]

Most scissor lifts look like this, I hadn't seen one made like Willie B's before.....

That is why I thought this would be a good idea. To show what I got and help others know what's out there before buying.

[MiniDave]

I agree......

In my case, my ramps are made from doubled up 2x's, so I get 3" of height - on some really low cars it's still not enough and they can drag....having the longer approach ramps like Willie B's would help with this, but my garage doesn't let me do this. On top of that my driveway is sloped, so the car is coming up on the lift at an angle too....

[Jims5543]

I keep reading this thread title wrong... therefore........