Garage Work Pits,who has them?

[west coast]

Hey guys, with all this talk about lifts, I thought I'd check and see if anyone has one, maybe some pictures and comments on how you set them up and how well they suit a home garage
Thanks, George

 

[A_Pmech]

I have a pit in my shop. I built it mainly because I prefer working in a pit to using a lift. Plus, a lift wastes all kinds of space which I'd rather use when I need it and requires a tall ceiling, which makes the space harder to heat.

The pit is about 6' deep and 14' long by 32" wide. It is built from 8" high-density concrete block with a 6" floor and rebar on 8" centers with three bond courses in the walls.

The covers are 2" square tube by 1/4" wall with expanded metal on top. They fit flush into 2x2x 1/4" angle bolted every 24" into the foundation, with an 8" by 1/8" steel apron. I have air, electricity and lights down there.

I have a rolling platform which rides on the angle-iron side frames like a railroad car. When I need to swap transmissions or whatnot, I install the platform onto the rails and install my transmission jack into the platform.

It also doubles as a storm shelter.

 

[Steve from Socal]

Pits are great for heavy equipment but they can be very dangerous and have replaced by lifts in most shops. I don't know that a home owners insurance policy would allow one and in the states OSHA has some rather lengthy policy on them.

Steve

 

[e-tek]

I have a pit in my 2-car garage. It was put in (illegally!) in 1970, by the PO. It's useful, but my lift in my new shop is WAY better. I didn't like getting in/out for stuff. Right now the snow tires are stores in there. Good for Tornado's I guess!

 

[billspit]

I too suspect no insurance company is going to let you have one at a home. A co-worker's husband bought an auto repair shop several years ago and his insurance company gave him so much grief, he had it filled in.

 

[west coast]

P mech that is a nice setup you have,I didn't think about the insurance aspect of this, all the quick lube joints use these in their shops! I just thought it might be a good alternative to a hoist, I don't have the head room for a full size lift and not sure that the portable lo-rise one would be what I want,thanks for the response

 

[Mike83]

Fuel fumes are heavier than air = bad if you are stuck in a pit under a car.

 

[sberry]

A pit is better than none and is useful but I really think the 2 post lift is the deal, dont have to climb into it. Its hard to beat being able to walk under or roll rigging under it. It isn't something I would go to the effort and expense considering the alternatives.

 

[A_Pmech]

FWIW, my insurance agent didn't bat an eye at the pit. He thought it was great, actually.

YMMV

Part of the reason why I dislike lifts is I don't like standing under things rigged in the air. It goes against everything I was ever taught about rigging and lifting. NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES stand underneath the load. With no CG markings on the vehicle, it only further reinforces my lack of interest in lifting them 6' off the floor, especially from beneath! It just gives me goosebumps getting under one.

My father gives the best reason of all to have a pit: You can't hide from your wife with a cup of coffee under a lift.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Pits are great for heavy equipment but they can be very dangerous and have replaced by lifts in most shops. I don't know that a home owners insurance policy would allow one and in the states OSHA has some rather lengthy policy on them.

Steve

If you know of prohibitions to service pits, like as not you are speaking of Cal OSHA which is different than federal OSHA. California is one of OSHA's State Plan States, meaning they can, have, and continue to go regulation crazy, much more so than the Federal OSHA states such as Kansas. My point being, in the Federal states service pits are not outlawed so to speak, as long as the company guards against obvious hazards such as the fall hazards.

 

[Steve from Socal]

If you know of prohibitions to service pits, like as not you are speaking of Cal OSHA which is different than federal OSHA. California is one of OSHA's State Plan States, meaning they can, have, and continue to go regulation crazy, much more so than the Federal OSHA states such as Kansas. My point being, in the Federal states service pits are not outlawed so to speak, as long as the company guards against obvious hazards such as the fall hazards.

I did not say prohibition, I said there are a number of safety issues that have to be met. Many quick lube places have pit here, I never said they were not legal. There are many heavy equipment shops that have pits as well. That said between confined space, explosive atmosphere and, fall hazards "most" shops don't use and or fill the pits they have. Kansas may allow you to have a pit in a commercial setting or perhaps on a farm, I doubt any municipality would approve one in a residence.

Steve

 

[Uncle Buck]

I did not say prohibition, I said there are a number of safety issues that have to be met. Many quick lube places have pit here, I never said they were not legal. There are many heavy equipment shops that have pits as well. That said between confined space, explosive atmosphere and, fall hazards "most" shops don't use and or fill the pits they have. Kansas may allow you to have a pit in a commercial setting or perhaps on a farm, I doubt any municipality would approve one in a residence.

Steve

Sorry, misunderstood your intended message. I would have to agree, I am sure at any location governed by municipal codes, I think in most areas a residential pit would be a very hard sell these days, at least if you want the code enforcement departments vote of approval.

With that said, I saw a most impressive pit years ago with built in air outlets, florescent lights built into the walls, shelves to hold tools along both walls, and covers that were easily removed to allow access to the pit. That guy lived out of town so I guess he just made up his own rules as he wanted them. I will say though that pit left me with the impression than if I were living beyond the control of code enforcement officials I would not hesitate for an instant to choose a pit instead of a lift, it was very cool indeed.

 

[Steve from Socal]

Pits have there place but, for doing work on cars and light trucks class<3 a lift has many advantages. A pit exposes the center of the vehicle but, lets say you have to remove a driveshaft. With a pit the wheels are still on the ground so to do something like turn the shaft you have to jack up the back of the car. A lot of newer cars have fuel filters, timing and drive belt and other things quite far off the centerline of the car, these are had to get at in a pit. Even a mid rise lift in most cases offer better access than a pit IMHO.

Steve

 

[c39er]

I have one. Made it safe as I could. Exhaust/fresh air /phone/ carpet/ and wall beer pockets too. Exhaust system is on anytime I'm in the pit with lights on-which is always. A real summertime bonus is its real cool in the summer! Have other lifts too. I use em all.

 

[Plombob]

I have one. Made it safe as I could. Exhaust/fresh air /phone/ carpet/ and wall beer pockets too. Exhaust system is on anytime I'm in the pit with lights on-which is always. A real summertime bonus is its real cool in the summer! Have other lifts too. I use em all.

Wow! Nice garage. That's what I want when I grow up.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Wow! Nice garage. That's what I want when I grow up.

I think many guys get turned off just by the thought of an old school pit, but I know I would not turn down one just as he showed in my small garage, it would be very handy! Hard to argue with the pic he showed of his, nice, clean, and well organized.

 

[e-tek]

Fooms ina pit - reely??? I bin using my pit for lotsa yeers and hav not hadda singel problum. Wate - what wus da topic agin??

 

[west coast]

C39er,thats what I was looking to see,very nicely done garage.
George

 

[-B-]

I always felt comfortable in a pit changing a clutch pits are nice, only limit is suspension work when the car needs to be lifted by the frame.

 

[Torque1st]

I always felt comfortable in a pit changing a clutch pits are nice, only limit is suspension work when the car needs to be lifted by the frame.

That is what a pit lift is for...

 

[gsport]

i'd think it would be a little to claustrophobic down there for me..

 

[Jared]

i would rather a pit for lots of jobs, sounds like there are all kinds of weird insurance regs in the us dont think they would have a problem with it up here.

 

[nate379]

The one shop I worked at had a pit (as do most older shops) and it opened up under the shop into the basement which was under the office area. There was enough room under there to put all sorts of stuff.

I don't see how an insurance would deny. How would they even know?

 

[chadman]

Also to be OSHA legal you must have explosion proof lighting. My buddy looked into this. He said one light fixture was over $1000.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Also to be OSHA legal you must have explosion proof lighting. My buddy looked into this. He said one light fixture was over $1000.

The NEC classifies pits in commercial garages as hazardous areas, but as far as I can tell there's nothing in there that applies to home garages. Still, I wouldn't do one without proper ventilation and wiring techniques.

 

[keflaman]

The place we rented when we lived in Iceland had a pit in the garage. It was a bit primitive, but had fluorescent lighting and was a good size. I actually prefered it over the lift many times as I could roll the vehicle back and forth when working on driveline/suspension. Other times when I had to run back and forth, it was more convenient and quicker for me to jump out of the pit and into the vehicle than to wait for the lift to go up and down.

The down side was when the vehicle was coated with snow/ice and water would down onto the pit floor which was a mixture of dirt and gravel.

I wouldn't mind having one again, but my priority for the new garage is a lift.

More so because it's getting harder to lug my fat @$$ around

 

[kbs2244]

Every oil change place I have seen uses pits.
I have never seen one at a tire place.
What kind of work do you do to most?

 

[keflaman]

Every oil change place I have seen uses pits.
I have never seen one at a tire place.
What kind of work do you do to most?

If you're asking me, I'm talking about my garage at a private residence. In Iceland I worked on my own vehicles and it slowly morphed into a hobby business.

My specialty was/is "automotive handyman" and I've done the same thing here in Italy. I've had fun, it paid enough to buy new tools (aka, "toys" according to my wife) and I learned a lot, but now we're returning to the states in three weeks and...she says I have to get a "real job".

Just to stay on topic, I'd say my experience with a pit was mostly positive and was the best all around fit for what I needed.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Also to be OSHA legal you must have explosion proof lighting. My buddy looked into this. He said one light fixture was over $1000.

The NEC classifies pits in commercial garages as hazardous areas, but as far as I can tell there's nothing in there that applies to home garages. Still, I wouldn't do one without proper ventilation and wiring techniques.

The place we rented when we lived in Iceland had a pit in the garage. It was a bit primitive, but had fluorescent lighting and was a good size. I actually prefered it over the lift many times as I could roll the vehicle back and forth when working on driveline/suspension. Other times when I had to run back and forth, it was more convenient and quicker for me to jump out of the pit and into the vehicle than to wait for the lift to go up and down.

The down side was when the vehicle was coated with snow/ice and water would down onto the pit floor which was a mixture of dirt and gravel.

I wouldn't mind having one again, but my priority for the new garage is a lift.

More so because it's getting harder to lug my fat @$$ around

You can satisfy the lighting issue the same way it is done with a good many paint booths by planning well and recessing the lighting into the walls, then covering the bulbs with tempered, glass sealed at the edges. That would isolate the explosion hazard from the space, and meet the requirements of NEC for businesses. Actually that does make a lot of sense, with the dense vapors collecting at the lowest point. Of course for the home shop there would not be any requirement, OSHA, or otherwise, if you were beyond the reach of code compliance officers, and the pit could be done safely as described above.

 

[kbs2244]

My post was ment to make the orginal poster think about what kind of work he would be doing and what would work best for that kind of work.

Pits are pretty cheap and have almost zero maintance costs.
But they only give access to the center line stuff.
And the tires stay on the ground.
So they are good for lube and exhaust and such.

Hoists let you get the weight off the tires so you can swap them etc.
They also let you get to the center line stuff.
So they allow more flexability to do more different things.
But they take up room, require high headroom, are expensive, and need some maintance.

 

[John G]

Having the electronic infrastructure for a pit makes sense.

Any recommendations (of experience or otherwise) for pit dimensions? (Esp. short dimension for optimizing it for narrow track, smaller cars and bigger stuff)

And/or air-handling specs? Recommended air-change spec or cfm?

Maybe run the air through a chiller and a heat coil for the times you have to work in extremis. Although it sounds like cooling isn’t a problem

I guess that the ultimate would be to have the intake vent up 18-24” on the back or at least down on side away from any door openings and put the exhaust on the outside of the opposite wall?

4-6” diameter (or equivalent) ducting? I guess that could go even bigger if here is a long run to an outside wall.

Anyone put a flush urinal in one?

...a beer tap? Run the line through the chiller!!!

Thanks for any info.

John

 

[vlpronj]

Hoists let you get the weight off the tires so you can swap them etc.
They also let you get to the center line stuff.
So they allow more flexability to do more different things.
But they take up room, require high headroom, are expensive, and need some maintance.

My thoughts on this-
With a pit, you don't need to lift the vehicle any more than necessary to work under it - it could be done without a full-on vehicle lift. Not that I'm encouraging jury-rigged lifts, by the way. And if something fails (not that a lift should have a catastrophic failure), and the vehicle falls, it falls 6-12 inches, not 6 feet (unless it somehow falls IN THE PIT!)
Just my 2 cents, and I have to say I'd be happy with a pit OR a lift.

 

[kbs2244]

You don’t have to over engineer it.
While gas fumes do fall, the most ventilation I have ever seen while a guy was working is just a drugstore fan set on the shop floor and blowing down into the pit.

If you are worrying about accumulation while not in use, I would start with the fan from clothes dryer.
Unlike most fans they have the motor out of the air stream so any fumes will not go through the motor.

 

[rocketman]

The oil change places don't actually have individual pits but a large room under the service bay with openings for access to the vehicles. I'm sure they are ventilated and I know they use them for storage of the filters and such as well.

 

[Steve from Socal]

If ya'll want to see how a pit feels, build a 36" wide 66" tall box and set it under a car on a lift. For some things they are fine, for others they are no good.

Steve

 

[LCD]

I have one that I put in when I built the garage 30+ years ago and use it for a variety of auto repair jobs on my cars and trucks. When not in use I cover it with timber planks cut to fit into the recessed area of the floor so I don't loose any floor space. Never fell in and haven't blown myself up because of gasoline fumes. The plywood in the pic is a shelf I use to cover a portion of the opening to lay tools on when I am working. I have spilled some oil in it over the years but I keep it cleaned up and vac'd out when I have finished using it. I'm glad I built it.

 

[A_Pmech]

LCD:

Power Wagon?

 

[LCD]

1953 Dodge M37, I have two, one I restored and one I just got and will be putting back on the road.

Also:
It's a operable Onan 10KW PE95K Army generator that I restored sitting in trailer, powered by a Willys flathead 4cly 134 engine.

Carter

 

[A_Pmech]

Ahah, I figured it was an M-37 / Power Wagon from the looks of that rear end and the wheelbase. The NDT's kinda gave it away too.

Nice work!

 

[c39er]

I have one that I put in when I built the garage 30+ years ago and use it for a variety of auto repair jobs on my cars and trucks. When not in use I cover it with timber planks cut to fit into the recessed area of the floor so I don't loose any floor space. Never fell in and haven't blown myself up because of gasoline fumes. The plywood in the pic is a shelf I use to cover a portion of the opening to lay tools on when I am working. I have spilled some oil in it over the years but I keep it cleaned up and vac'd out when I have finished using it. I'm glad I built it.

Kinda the same picture-different states!