Lifts for cars

[Paul Rollins <psroll@domain.elided>]

I believe the best one is the old, single post, in-the floor, hydraulic
frame lift, that every service facility had twenty years ago. It has
numerous advantages versus these two and four- post, above-the floor
lifts and very few disadvantages. I know people who have both styles.

Advantages:
    Takes up less space. When you park a car over it, it takes up no
more space than no lift at all.    Most of us probably need all the
space we can get. These above-the floor units take up a lot of floor
space beyond the width and length of the car.

    Eay to work on suspension, brakes, wheels and tires, as they are not
supporting the car when it is off the floor.

Easy to install (believe it or not). Only need a hole in the ground and
a narrow, shallow trench to the air-supply source. A 5 hp (110 volt, for
N.A. users) compressor on a 60 gal. tank will operate one very well.
Don't need an extra-thick, reinforced, concrete slab.

Cheap. Gas stations are taking them out to convert the old lube room to
a mini mart. The lifts are going to the dump. Find a local business that
services this equipment in auto shops and they can probably find one
that is being removed.

Disadvantages:

Hard to do clutch and transmission work on front-engine, rear-wheel
drive cars.

Not portable. Harder to move when you move to another house, but
probably not as hard as it seems, if you have a professional move it.
Above-the-floor units are tough to move,too.

Doesn't roll around the garage. How often would one move one of these,
anyhow? Could one move an above-the-floor unit with a car on it?

Can't store another car under it. Probably the only strong benefit of
the above-the-floor, unit. But, the above-the-floor unit only does this
with an above-average ceiling height.

Paul Rollins

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