You gotta get one of these. Save your money, and do it if you have a space. This thread is not to make you feel jealous or bad,but to encourage to do one of the neatest things you can do for a car hobby. Here is what I have done in the past three weeks.

1.Dart: Tightened the oil line to the oil pressure gauge, cleaned the oil, grease and grime from the bottom of the engine, cross members, and transmission. Tightened all the oil pan bolts, which were all just a bit loose. No more lying on my back on the concrete.

2. Dart. Polished and waxed the wheels with the car up on the lift. No more getting on my knees.

3. Primed and painted the aluminum front, lower air dam I had built for the underside of the engine. It is black now, and not the visual distraction it was when first made. Did all this standing up.

4. Changed the brakes on my daughter's Matrix. No more getting on my knees.

5. Miata: Changed the oil. I had never done this before since it is so low to the ground, I could not get a floor jack under the front. They tell you in the owners manual not to attempt to change the oil filter yourself.

6. Miata: Cleaned off the accumulated grime from the undersides. I am still not finished with this task.

7. Dart: Painted rear leaf springs. It still had red overspray on them from when the car was painted last. NO MORE GETTING DOWN ON MY KNEES! Yay!

8. Miata: Polished entire car while on the lift. Again, it is so low, you simply cannot get to the lower panels without getting down on your knees. Cleaned and polished chrome plated alloy wheels that came on car. No more getting down on my knees.

I have a 9' ceiling in my garage, which is not ideal, but workable. With the dart all the way up as high as it will go, the undersides are at a comfortable working height when I sit in a roll around office chair of the type you can buy from Ikea for $25. I cannot believe I never thought of this before. It was worth the delayed gratification of buying nothing else for the car for six months.

If you can, do it. Every car hobbyist's garage should have one of these. In the long run it can more than pay for itself.

SAm

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Despite your preemptive warning, I'm still jealous...

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vm

what no stinkin photos !

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slant six's RULE!
http://www.usajon.com

Sam......I'm not so sure you didn't fail to mention "not getting down on your knees" enough. Care to say it one more time?

I know how you feel, though. A few years as catcher on a softball team, climbing comm towers for a 1/2 dozen years, 21 years in the Nat'l Guard, it all takes it's toll. It might have been fun getting here, (I'm 55), but now that I'm here, it's not quite as great as I thought it would be.

Roger

Thanks a bunch Sam; I now have an incurable case of lift envy…

Bill

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

How high is your ceiling in your garage? Mine is 9 foot, which turns out to be workable, but far from ideal. I would say 10-12 feet would be the ideal. If your ceiling is only 8 feet, then you could still work on the suspension and lower panels, but you might again end up on your back under the car to do the lower end of the engine, transmission, or rear. In that case, a two post lift might be more flexible, since you could not store a car under it anyway.

Sam

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Sam, does your lift have wheel attachments? If your driveway is level and strong enough, you could dolly that thing outside on nice days and crank it up!

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Never seen a Valiant I didn't like!

It does, but the manufacturers warn against using it on asphalt, which is what my driveway is. It is also not level for the first 30 feet or so outside the door.

Sam

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