I would find this car lift an unnecessary expense. For most "normal" jobs
underneath my factory MGB-GT V-8, jack stands under the rear axle and the
front box sections just behind the wheel wells do just fine.
When I pulled the engine and trans a few months ago, I disconnected the
front mounts and underside umbilicals (slave cyl, starter wiring, etc.) from
underneath, then I lowered the front end onto its wheels, but jacked the
rear end up about 2 feet onto stands. This left lots of room for working on
the tranny mount and driveshaft, and was perfect for engine removal (since
there was lots of room in back for the tranny to tilt downward on removal.
One of those lifts that gives you walk-under clearance would be helpful, but
only a 20" lift is not worth the money to me.
Cheers,
Paul Kile
> ----------
> From: DANMAS@aol.com[SMTP:DANMAS@aol.com]
> Reply To: DANMAS@aol.com
> Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 1998 4:52 PM
> To: suchak@mediaone.net
> Cc: triumphs@autox.team.net; spitfires@autox.team.net;
> mgb-v8@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: car lifts
>
> In a message dated 98-10-28 16:28:12 EST, suchak@mediaone.net writes:
>
> > Hey, here's a low tech alternative... Pull the front end up on car
> > ramps and stick a floor jack under the rear. Same net result, easier
> to
> > store and you get to keep your 900 bucks. Easier to slide in and out
> > from the sides too.
> >
> > Am I missing something?
>
> John,
>
> What your proposal is missing is about 10 inches in height and a little
> convenience. Wheather or not that's worth $900 depends on the availabilty
> of
> spare cash for "funsies" and/or how often you need to work under a car.
> For
> me, $900 is rather hard to come by, but divided up among 8 other folks,
> $100
> is do-able. Naturely, sharing it with others makes it a little less
> convenient, but it still beats working with only ten inches clearance.
>
> The typical ramp has a lift of around ten inches, and jacking up the rear
> will
> usually require putting stands under each end of the axle, or in the case
> of a
> TR6, under each of the trialing arms. It is certainly one way to do it,
> and
> pretty much the way I do it now, but I can't help but think the kwiklift
> would
> be much more convenient. That extra ten inches would be a great help for
> many
> undercar tasks (on a TR6, ten inches of wheel clearance works out to about
> 15
> inches chassis clearance).
>
> For those folks on the mgb-v8 list, having one of these would be an
> invaluable
> help in getting the engine installed.
>
> If you try to raise the ramps, then you have to increase their length, or
> the
> car will scrape as you go up. If you increase the length enough to get 20
> inches, you're going to be just about where you would be with the kwiklift
> -
> almost as much cost but without the convenience.
>
> This is not the perfect answer, as there are some times when you want to
> lift
> the frame and have the wheels free, just as there are times when you want
> the
> car supported by the wheels, but it looks like a good compromise to me. I
> have
> worked under cars by just pulling one side up on a curb and crawling
> under.
> I've also hitch-hiked through Central America, sleeping on park benches or
> on
> the ground. If I had to, I could do either one again, but I'd really
> rather
> not. At my age, convenience and comfort are becoming more important than
> they
> used to be.
>
> Dan Masters,
> Alcoa, TN
>
> '71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
> '71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion -
> see:
> http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/index.html
> '74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition - slated for a V8
> soon
> '68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
>
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