Lift modifications Thread- Lets see them!

[MistrGoodwrench]

I have an Atlas 4-post lift and my C8 Corvette Z06 fits underneath it just fine, but I haven't put it on top of the actual lift yet because of the width of the car. The runways are fine, even if the tires overhang just a little, but my main concern is when loading the car on the lift, scratching the wheels on the pulley cover areas/brackets given it's like a 1/4" clearance on each side.

Has anyone modified or added anything to their 4 post lift to alleviate this problem? Some ideas I had were adding padding somehow, or adding a wooden block right next to each pulley so that the car drives over that area instead of the wheels coming next to it. But looking for other ideas too.

The only solution I see (short of buying another lift) is to raise the entire runway enough to clear the vertical part of that pulley area. If it's done in all of the attachment points the same height/method shouldn't affect the lift operation at all. Maybe some thick wall tubing 2x2 or 2x3?

 

[e015475]

My C8 tires hang outside my 4 post ramp a couple of inches on each side, but there's still a few inches to spare till the wheels hit the pully covers. With the front camera, it is still relatively easy to get it centered up and on/off the lift. I put a line of tape on the floor to line the 'beak' of the front spoiler to instead of lining up the hash marks on the camera display with the edges of the ramps and that helps too.

With the ZO6 being 3.6" wider, I can see how it is going to be very tight.

Is there a way to make the pully covers removable? - you'd only have to do it in the rear since wheels never come close to the front covers. On mine, the distance between the cover and the pully sheeve is almost 2", so removing it should give you the distance you need.

It wouldn't be hard to make a plate to bolt to the rear of the ramp with some sort of shoe to guide the rear tires and protect the pully when the factory cover is removed.

In any case, you're going to want a 'spotter' and I hope you have a significant other that's capable and understanding - I dread asking my wife (the last argument started by me saying "put the damn phone down and tell me which way to turn". She responds by moving her hand in the air like she's steering the car with her phone still in her ear and I can't tell what she means - it went rapidly downhill from there)

 

[whateg01]

...

It wouldn't be hard to make a plate to bolt to the rear of the ramp with some sort of shoe to guide the rear tires and protect the pully when the factory cover is removed.

...

Can the pulley covers be modified to give extra clearance? And extra inch and a half on each side would surely help

 

[racecougar]

4 Post Lift: Methods/Materials to Protect Car Wheels from Scratching on Raised Edges Near Cable Pullies?

I have an Atlas 4 post lift, and have an order in progress for a C8 Corvette Z06. The car is 80" wide and my lift has a "drive through width" of 80.5" so it's going to be a very tight fit (1/4" on each side) to avoid scratching the wheels on the edges circled in red below. So I was thinking...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[adsinnott1]

Under car lights on my 2 post lift and a laser for centering the car. The laser beam line goes the entire length of the shop (just cut off due to a car being in the air.

 

[crazylunker]

Under car lights on my 2 post lift and a laser for centering the car. The laser beam line goes the entire length of the shop (just cut off due to a car being in the air.

you have more tricks than just lights, thumbs up to the winch and urinal.

 

[Diesel Dan]

Under car lights on my 2 post lift and a laser for centering the car. The laser beam line goes the entire length of the shop (just cut off due to a car being in the air.

What magnetic lights are those?
Also thinking about incorporating a line laser like that.

 

[Swanny1953]

Under car lights on my 2 post lift and a laser for centering the car. The laser beam line goes the entire length of the shop (just cut off due to a car being in the air.

I stole your idea for the laser with slight modifications. I’m using my Bosch laser level set on the top of my cabinets.



I measured the center of the lift ramps from the wall and then transferred the measurement to the top edge of the cabinet. I can set the level there when I need it.
I haven’t used the setup yet as the Cameo is on the lift for a couple of items, but the laser appears bright enough to work.

 

[aka Larry]

Under car lights on my 2 post lift and a laser for centering the car. The laser beam line goes the entire length of the shop (just cut off due to a car being in the air.

More info on the laser setup? Looks like just what I need for my lift.

 

[adsinnott1]

What magnetic lights are those?
Also thinking about incorporating a line laser like that.

The lights are just flood lights from amazon and then I ordered some magnetic threaded standoffs from amazon as well. I also mounted the electrical boxes to the lift columns with the magnetic stand offs as well. The magnets are super strong.

Links:

Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C23QV1HN/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[adsinnott1]

I stole your idea for the laser with slight modifications. I’m using my Bosch laser level set on the top of my cabinets.



I measured the center of the lift ramps from the wall and then transferred the measurement to the top edge of the cabinet. I can set the level there when I need it.
I haven’t used the setup yet as the Cameo is on the lift for a couple of items, but the laser appears bright enough to work.

I like this. The only downside is having to grab the level to turn it on. Does not matter if cars aren't moving on/ off the lift very much. I wired mine to a timer switch by the man door/ door opener button that I press when I open the bay door to pull a car in. Goes off on its own after 5 minutes.

 

[adsinnott1]

More info on the laser setup? Looks like just what I need for my lift.

Link to laser posted below. I also wired it to a timer switch by my man door/ door opener button that I press when I open the bay door to pull a car in. Goes off on its own after 5 minutes.

Amazon.com

 

[aka Larry]

Link to laser posted below. I also wired it to a timer switch by my man door/ door opener button that I press when I open the bay door to pull a car in. Goes off on its own after 5 minutes.

Amazon.com

Thanks!

I was also looking into some type of timer setup. I can probably add some type of switch to the bay door in front of the lift to activate the laser before moving the vehicle in. You have any info on your timer setup? Link? Schematic of the connections?

 

[adsinnott1]

Thanks!

I was also looking into some type of timer setup. I can probably add some type of switch to the bay door in front of the lift to activate the laser before moving the vehicle in. You have any info on your timer setup? Link? Schematic of the connections?

The laser is powered off a plug in the ceiling. The plug is powered from a switch box by the man door. It is just a simple bathroom/ light timer that I got at lowes. I thought about a motion sensor etc... but decided that I had to press the button to open the bay door anyway and that it would not be any trouble to hit a timer switch button at the same time in the same location of the shop. It's nice that it goes off on its own after a few minutes.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Eaton-Digital-Countdown-Lighting-Timer/1002943550

 

[ToolsRCool]

I widened one my lift,s 1 foot to lift my tandem boat trailer and store it .

Just joined, reading past threads.

Any pics of this? I am considering doing the same for a single axle boat trailer, with boat on it.

 

[aka Larry]

The laser is powered off a plug in the ceiling. The plug is powered from a switch box by the man door. It is just a simple bathroom/ light timer that I got at lowes. I thought about a motion sensor etc... but decided that I had to press the button to open the bay door anyway and that it would not be any trouble to hit a timer switch button at the same time in the same location of the shop. It's nice that it goes off on its own after a few minutes.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Eaton-Digital-Countdown-Lighting-Timer/1002943550

Thanks for the all the info. Looks like this is my next shop project.

 

[aka Larry]

Thanks to adsinnott1, I got my laser alignment setup for my lift on Saturday.

 

[575cat]

Just joined, reading past threads.

Any pics of this? I am considering doing the same for a single axle boat trailer, with boat on it.

Sorry no just extended equalizing adjusting rod and made a new hydraulic hose 1 foot wider , floor pan style hoist , also flipped arms over outboard motor cowl almost touched 12 foot celling a lot of room underneath

 

[gamescastspencer]

I really liked @racecougar ’s axle adapters for his bridge jack, I decided to make myself a pair. I arrived at a 22.5° angle as that straddled a 2.5” tube to a 4” tube well.


and they even work. I plan to adhere some Garlock to the faces of them to give a little cushion and hopefully protect a nicely painted axle tube.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Nice

 

[pbon]

First class work!

 

[lolaetype]

Some minor modifications I've made to my MaxJax.

I mounted the hydraulic unit on the wall and made a rack to hold the lift arms in case I want to store them out of the way. The lift pads conveniently sit on top.



I made a holder for the lift pad extensions.



Since I've pretty much permanently bolted down the lift I made a bridge out if EMT that carries the hydraulic line over the car. Clean with no trip hazard.



To minimize another trip hazard I made a cover for the near side hydraulic hose.



I made handles for the lift arm pivot pins. Bent some round stock, ran it through holes in the flange of the pin and zapped it with the welder on the underside.



Used Plastidip on the lift safety lock release arms.



Put adhesive backed foam padding on the columns to help protect the car doors.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Nice

 

[TerryH]

Very cool thread! Thought I'd share a couple of things we did on our new to us Tuxedo 8k. We moved it in one piece which was an extravaganza. lol...



Anyway, obviously I never leave anything alone so the mods began. I bought some very slim led fixtures that link together from Amazon. Used the magnets that were posted here in an earlier thread to attach them to the runways. They are small enough that the jack tray slides right on by them and the drip trays just lay on top of them.

Lights: $64 for 10 lights https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XJXPWFL?tag=atomicindus08-20

Magnets: $10 for 36 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XG5VNQD?tag=atomicindus08-20

I used 4 fixtures on each side. I soldered an old extension cord into the side with the switch so both sides are controlled by that 1 switch. The lights came with xtra pig tails and cords with switches.

I bought a coiled extension cord from Ace to power the lights.

Cord: $18. https://www.acehardware.com/departm...-cords-and-power-strips/extension-cords/36116

I had already picked up a heavy duty power strip from Harbor Freight which I attached with more magnets. I got this particular one because I needed the 15' cord length.

Power strip: $18. https://www.harborfreight.com/6-outlet-power-strip-with-metal-housing-yellow-62437.html

I zip tied the cords to the hydraulic line and attached the switch to the runway with magnets. I also used a Harbor freight magnetic towel holder on the post so those would be handy.

Towel holder: $10 https://www.harborfreight.com/magnetic-paper-towel-holder-69321.html





These little lights are pretty amazing. Nice and bright but not harsh. I really like the frosted lenses. I think those help a great deal.



Lights are really, really good. Shamlessly showing off the bottom of the Maverick.

e



This is nothing but the lift lights. Kinda cool.



I'm too cheap to spend the money on a bridge jack so I opted for a 6k lb. rated air jack from Vevor from Amazon. These jacks have expanding steel tubes inside them so they are quite stable. The jack without air is 5.5" tall and can lift to 15.5". Fits perfectly in the jack tray. Obviously would still use jack stands to support the car once it's jacked up but the jack itself works great.

Air jack: $87 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CM932HY5?tag=atomicindus08-20









Th Mustang goes right on the lift forward or backward but not the Maverick. The V bands on the exhaust catch the front rail on the lift. I made up some 2x12 ramp extensions to compensate for the step down to the driveway and space the lift ramps up farther to get the clearance for the Maverick. It goes on either way now.



Both cars have to be backed on the lift to clear the garage door. I thought for sure that I'd have to get high lift door rails but it works as is. The only thing I had to do for the Mustang was make a paracord lasso to hold down the antenna.









The cars stack either way. Overall I'm super happy to have the lift. And I had fun getting everything leveled and doing these simple mods.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Paper towel holder will absolutely void your warranty.

 

[TerryH]

Paper towel holder will absolutely void your warranty.

Usually warranties are automatically voided as soon as I buy anything just because it's me.

 

[kngelv]

These little lights are pretty amazing. Nice and bright but not harsh. I really like the frosted lenses. I think those help a great deal.



Lights are really, really good. Shamlessly showing off the bottom of the Maverick.






I'm too cheap to spend the money on a bridge jack so I opted for a 6k lb. rated air jack from Vevor from Amazon. These jacks have expanding steel tubes inside them so they are quite stable. The jack without air is 5.5" tall and can lift to 15.5". Fits perfectly in the jack tray. Obviously would still use jack stands to support the car once it's jacked up but the jack itself works great.

Air jack: $87 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CM932HY5?tag=atomicindus08-20









Th Mustang goes right on the lift forward or backward but not the Maverick. The V bands on the exhaust catch the front rail on the lift. I made up some 2x12 ramp extensions to compensate for the step down to the driveway and space the lift ramps up farther to get the clearance for the Maverick. It goes on either way now.

I tried using an airbag jack with jackstands and it was a pain in the ***. You can't use jackstands with the jack handles perpendicular to the car like you have in the picture. You must be parallel with a jackstand on either side of the airbag jack. It's extremely unlikely that the jackstands will be in a good position to hold the weight of the vehicle so you end up needing something like a 4" x 4" piece of wood to span the jackstands. Pictures below. I have two jack trays and it was still a pain. That's why I bought a rolling bridge jack. So much easier.

James

 

[TerryH]

I tried using an airbag jack with jackstands and it was a pain in the ***. You can't use jackstands with the jack handles perpendicular to the car like you have in the picture. You must be parallel with a jackstand on either side of the airbag jack. It's extremely unlikely that the jackstands will be in a good position to hold the weight of the vehicle so you end up needing something like a 4" x 4" piece of wood to span the jackstands. Pictures below. I have two jack trays and it was still a pain. That's why I bought a rolling bridge jack. So much easier.

James

Thanks for the info. I'm going to remove the handles. I won't be doing anything other than whatever the Mustang and the Maverick need. I seriously doubt that I'll spend the money for the bridge jack but we'll see how it goes.

 

[gregs]

You could use something like this.

3 Ton All-in-One Jackstand/Bottle Jack

This patented all-in-one unit is the only portable jack designed to safely lift and hold both regular and unibody cars and trucks. Safely lifting unibody cars and trucks using factory-approved concave or flat jack points is easy with this versatile 3-ton all-in-one Bottle jack. Searching for...

www.powerbuilt.com

 

[txvwnut]

Very cool thread! Thought I'd share a couple of things we did on our new to us Tuxedo 8k. We moved it in one piece which was an extravaganza. lol...



Anyway, obviously I never leave anything alone so the mods began. I bought some very slim led fixtures that link together from Amazon. Used the magnets that were posted here in an earlier thread to attach them to the runways. They are small enough that the jack tray slides right on by them and the drip trays just lay on top of them.

Lights: $64 for 10 lights https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XJXPWFL?tag=atomicindus08-20

Magnets: $10 for 36 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XG5VNQD?tag=atomicindus08-20

I used 4 fixtures on each side. I soldered an old extension cord into the side with the switch so both sides are controlled by that 1 switch. The lights came with xtra pig tails and cords with switches.

I bought a coiled extension cord from Ace to power the lights.

Cord: $18. https://www.acehardware.com/departm...-cords-and-power-strips/extension-cords/36116

I had already picked up a heavy duty power strip from Harbor Freight which I attached with more magnets. I got this particular one because I needed the 15' cord length.

Power strip: $18. https://www.harborfreight.com/6-outlet-power-strip-with-metal-housing-yellow-62437.html

I zip tied the cords to the hydraulic line and attached the switch to the runway with magnets. I also used a Harbor freight magnetic towel holder on the post so those would be handy.

Towel holder: $10 https://www.harborfreight.com/magnetic-paper-towel-holder-69321.html





These little lights are pretty amazing. Nice and bright but not harsh. I really like the frosted lenses. I think those help a great deal.



Lights are really, really good. Shamlessly showing off the bottom of the Maverick.

e



This is nothing but the lift lights. Kinda cool.



I'm too cheap to spend the money on a bridge jack so I opted for a 6k lb. rated air jack from Vevor from Amazon. These jacks have expanding steel tubes inside them so they are quite stable. The jack without air is 5.5" tall and can lift to 15.5". Fits perfectly in the jack tray. Obviously would still use jack stands to support the car once it's jacked up but the jack itself works great.

Air jack: $87 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CM932HY5?tag=atomicindus08-20









Th Mustang goes right on the lift forward or backward but not the Maverick. The V bands on the exhaust catch the front rail on the lift. I made up some 2x12 ramp extensions to compensate for the step down to the driveway and space the lift ramps up farther to get the clearance for the Maverick. It goes on either way now.



Both cars have to be backed on the lift to clear the garage door. I thought for sure that I'd have to get high lift door rails but it works as is. The only thing I had to do for the Mustang was make a paracord lasso to hold down the antenna.









The cars stack either way. Overall I'm super happy to have the lift. And I had fun getting everything leveled and doing these simple mods.

Ten foot garage ceiling?

 

[scootermcrad]

There's some really interesting and clever ideas here! I especially like some of the adapted lifting hoists on the 4-posters. That gives me some ideas.

Something I didn't see here (unless I missed it) was alternative uses for a 4-post for work space. Anyone with a small shop/garage repurpose a 4-post lift for a liftable work and/or storage space with a work bench? I have been thinking about something like this until I get a new shop built. Would be a little clunky to step UP to, but if you're desperate for space, it could serve as a great flexible option.

 

[Paul_VR6]

On my four post I just use the jack stands on the ramps and position them on the stock jack points. Never had an issue.

 

[racecougar]

On my four post I just use the jack stands on the ramps and position them on the stock jack points. Never had an issue.

That sounds like you're referring to unibody cars. That works for those, but doesn't for many of the older rides we work on (example below).

 

[kbuhagiar]

Anyone with a small shop/garage repurpose a 4-post lift for a liftable work and/or storage space with a work bench? I have been thinking about something like this until I get a new shop built. Would be a little clunky to step UP to, but if you're desperate for space, it could serve as a great flexible option.

A couple of years ago I flopped three 4x8 plywood sheets end-to-end (for a total of 12x8) on mine and set up set up a temporary Lionel O-scale train layout. Kept it on there for about six months, until I needed to use the 4-post as a well, you know, lift.

It worked really well - I was still able to park one of our daily drivers underneath.

I wish I had some pictures of it.

 

[Paul_VR6]

Ah frame cars, we call those trucks here I have a piece of thick c channel I use across the tops of the jackstands if needed.

 

[TerryH]

Ten foot garage ceiling?

Yes.

 

[TerryH]

A couple of years ago I flopped three 4x8 plywood sheets end-to-end (for a total of 12x8) on mine and set up set up a temporary Lionel O-scale train layout. Kept it on there for about six months, until I needed to use the 4-post as a well, you know, lift.

It worked really well - I was still able to park one of our daily drivers underneath.

I wish I had some pictures of it.

Dang! I would have liked to have seen that!

 

[gregs]

Yes.

Whats going on with the steering rack mounted so far back?

 

[kbuhagiar]

Dang! I would have liked to have seen that!

Well guess what - I was talking to my wife about this and she remembered that she had taken a couple of pictures when I first started building it. This was the first or second day, before I ran much more track and switches. The track is on top of a layer of brown indoor/outdoor carpeting. At one point I was able to run three trains at once.

 

[whateg01]

Whats going on with the steering rack mounted so far back?

Looks like a "special" rack that lets the tie rods connect closer to the pivot for the lca.