Car moving assistant!

[Q*bert]

I've been working on my garage for a while now, and I finally got my MaxJax up and running.

My main goal for all of this is to have an easy way to work on my cars and especially on my 1973 240Z that I'm preparing for a engine and transmission rebuild.

The Z is in good cosmetic shape except for the engine compartment, so my plan is to pull the engine and clean up under there while I do a light rebuild and fix some nagging problems.

The problem is that my driveway slopes down from the garage, and getting a non-running car in and out requires lots of help (a driver and 3 pushers.) So I needed to come up with a way to move the car by myself whenever I wanted without having to bribe my wife and kids yet again.

Well, a Harbor Freight flyer showed up with a great deal on a remote controlled winch on sale for $69.99 ($56 after 20% coupon.) It occurred to me that I might be able to sit in the car and steer while I remotely controlled the winch to move the car in and out. I figured I could use my battery charger to power the 12 volt winch. I drilled some holes in a box beam to mount the winch on and used Wej-It concrete anchors (same as the lift except smaller) to bolt it to the floor.

It really works very well, so I'm not embarrassed to share it now. No one would have heard about it if it didn't work! Here are pictures of the final product:

 

[930dreamer]

Looks good to me, good job.

 

[Cryptic1911]

haha that's awesome. great solution to your issue

 

[CUSTOMMANCAVES.COM]

Brilliant! I just hope that remote works every time you press the button...otherwise that Z will become a +2 model.

 

[Stick Figure]

I'm still thinking i would keep a spare hand around to turn off the charger if the remote failed. my neighbor also has a similar setup that he uses with great success. Myself I've been holding out for a winch that will work with my 4runner for off road reasons as well as could be used for things like this, and those cost a bit more.

 

[Rentawrench]

It would be Best to use a battery ,a unexpected load could
"pop" the breaker in the charger. I've used a Jump pack an carry it in my car incase someone needs a jump.
Also IF your moving something without brakes put some wheel chocks out to Stop movement.

Shop looks nice

 

[Interex]

Yep, I've thought of doing this very same idea with my HF remote controlled winch. I'm planning to put the winch on a hitch plate and weld a receiver to a box beam bolted to the floor like yours. I would put the receiver up near my work bench so it's out of the way. This will allow me to make the winch easily removable when I'm not trying to pull a car in.

Lets see some pics of the Z!

 

[alberto]

Nice set up, I like it.

BTW, what is it you are using as a floor liner?

 

[Zeke]

I, too, think a battery in parallel with the charger would be better.

 

[Q*bert]

It would be Best to use a battery ,a unexpected load could
"pop" the breaker in the charger. I've used a Jump pack an carry it in my car incase someone needs a jump.
Also IF your moving something without brakes put some wheel chocks out to Stop movement.

Shop looks nice

I think you guy's are right about using a battery. I have a jump pack that might do the trick. And I do use rubber chocks (HF of course!)

Thanks for the comment on the shop. It's getting there!

 

[rwhite692]

I have that same winch, and it has come in really handy on all sorts of little projects.

I usually have it mounted on the front of my car trailer to load/unload cars.

Also have used it in the back yard to move a giant uprooted tree stump (just powered it with my portable 12V jump-start battery box)...having the remote is great.

For the price, you can't beat it.

When (if?) it ever dies, I'll toss it and buy another.

 

[Q*bert]

Lets see some pics of the Z!

Unfortunately I don't have any good ones here at work, but I do have this, complete with garage dog:

And here's my other baby:

 

[Q*bert]

Nice set up, I like it.

BTW, what is it you are using as a floor liner?

That's the G-Floor that I bought a couple of years ago from Sam's Club

At $300 or so for a 22' x 24' garage, it's actually very nice.

I like it a lot. Unfortunately, my wife hates it because it's ribbed and "hard to sweep."

That's just the opening I needed, so in the spring I'll either go epoxy or RaceDeck!

Honestly though, the G-Floor is a really nice inexpensive and easy option.

 

[Interex]

How do you feel about the working room on the drivers side? I'm getting a Maxjax soon but I'm not sure how far I want to mount the post from the wall.

 

[gatchel]

As far as safety is concerned...

You could use a battery disconnect switch (used on race cars) mounted to the winch mount with an elongated rod connected to the switch handle that comes out from the winch mount towards the car at a slight upwards angle for a distance of 1 or 2 feet and then bent so that is is straight up to make contact with the bumper of the car. This way if the winch keeps winching the bumper would push the rod connected to the disconnect switch. The continued forward movement of the car would roll the rod upwards and forwards eventually shutting off the switch/winch.

When you are backing out of the garage make sure the brakes work...

 

[saabman]

Looks good (the car too)

One point about winching though, is to attach as you have done to the car is a recipe for disaster in other contexts (although likely safe here). If there were any significant load the the winch had to overcome it would tend to pull the two ends of the attachment cable towards the center (distoring the attachment points on the car).

 

[Q*bert]

How do you feel about the working room on the drivers side? I'm getting a Maxjax soon but I'm not sure how far I want to mount the post from the wall.

It really depends on where you mount the passenger side post. I have two mounting locations for that side. In the pictures above I am using the most narrow location that I use to lift the two sports cars or the Civic. With it there you can park another (small) car next to it, but there's very little room then on the driver's side.

With the passenger side post in the wider position, I can lift our minivan or BMW 5 series and there's plenty of room on the driver's side.

I really love the MaxJax and I can't imagine not having the flexibility I have with this setup.

 

[Q*bert]

Looks good (the car too)

One point about winching though, is to attach as you have done to the car is a recipe for disaster in other contexts (although likely safe here). If there were any significant load the the winch had to overcome it would tend to pull the two ends of the attachment cable towards the center (distoring the attachment points on the car).

That's a good point. For what I'm doing, the stresses are probably low enough that it doesn't matter. But if I were to do things properly, I would put a spreader bar in the harness so the cables pull straight on the attachment points.