Pit Stop

[oilyrag]

Years ago, garages used a pit to work under a car. I'm presently building a garage and thinking seriously about putting in a pit instead of a lift. Cost should certainly be cheaper and no maintenance. What are some of the things to look out for? Size? Depth? Access? Safety?

 

[HOTFR8]

I did that not so long ago when I extended the building. You do need to make sure a pit is well ventilated. A link below will take you to 'Sheddwellers' and you can see it being dug out.
You also need lighting that will not create sparks. I recently changed the pit over to LED.

 

[xyster101]

A pit can fill with gas fumes. Probably should have cement walls to keep a collapse from happening. Always a risk of you, a kid or your car tire falling in there.
A cheap lift is under $1500. That seems similar to digging and pouring a pit. Unless you have a 8' ceiling


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rburke65]

I'm betting that you'd have less in a 2 post lift vs a pit. Plus better access to a vehical, mower, UTV, etc.

 

[Stuart in MN]

This is a pretty common question here - the problem is the forum search engine doesn't work well for searching on words that are three letters or less. It's better to use Google to search: go to Google and enter the following phrase.

site:garagejournal.com "pit"

 

[gorilla]

One of my friends has a pit, it's a real pia to work in. To me the worst part is the width just no room to move around. The only thing their good for is changing oil. With a lift you can set the car at the best height for what ever job your doing, you can roll your tool cart up close and you don't have to crawl out of the damm thing when you need a part or something.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Years ago, garages used a pit to work under a car. I'm presently building a garage and thinking seriously about putting in a pit instead of a lift. Cost should certainly be cheaper and no maintenance. What are some of the things to look out for? Size? Depth? Access? Safety?

Besides the particular aspects of safety, check with your AHJ. There are sometimes taxes and zoning issues involved.

Tommy

 

[gungatim]

we put a pit in my FIL's garage. for all the work and hassle it would have been almost as cheap and a whole lot easier and more useful to have just done a lift. which is why I did the lift route in my shop...

cons we ran into:
while digging, it filled with water, had to pump while pouring,
forms are a PITA and bowed out,
you need to pour a bathtub so it doesn't keep getting wet,
dripping water/snow/fluids are a pain to keep out/clean up,
it gets dirty with sand mud debris and dust so sweeping is a pain
it's dark and full of spiders,
you have to make it really long if you use stairs, otherwise a ladder is a PITA
you need steel edges and grates for when not in use,
safety factor of fumes,
running air/power,
pumping out oil from oil changes if you drain it in a drum,
completely useless for brakes/tires/suspension, transmission work,etc.

 

[c39er]

I built one too.
Water table 4 feet down. Built the pit slab on drain rock with a 4" drain that drains all the water away from the pit area.
Pit was built with concrete block straight as an arrow and 100% dry 365 days a year.
Fresh air supply and quality grating over it. It's really a nice brightly lit garage shop pit.
I built it to do it and did it right.
I have a 4 post lift directly above it now days.
I still am proud i built the pit.

 

[oilyrag]

Thanks for all your comments. I'm thinking that the safety issue is a lot bigger than I thought. A gasoline leak could get real nasty with a spark and no way to get out. Back to the drawing board.

 

[RVDan]

My dad dug one a lot of years ago. Don't have the height for a hoist, figured a pit would be just as good.
Nope.
It's like twice as much work climbing in and out to get the next tool you need, and really the only thing it's good for is taking out a transmission or changing oil.

 

[gahrajmahal]

I worked in one at U-Haul as a young man. It had steps. We installed hitches there. It was wide but had two pillars there to use ramps if you wanted. We just put stops at the edge and let the rear of the vehicle hang over. Other shops without the pit just built extra long ramps about two feet high and worked from rolling stools. I didn't hate using it as it allowed me to stand and it was fast. No concerns if I had placed the lifting pads correctly or not as with a lift.

 

[RWorth]

I've worked out of pits in the past, never a fan, about the only place I see them working well is for alignments. I'd go with out beer for a year to get a 2 post.

 

[timbitca]

My uncle has one at the family farm. He also has 0$ of insurance on the property. The pit is one reason behind it, and he was willing to fill it in but then the insurance said that they would also have to remove my aunt's kitchen wood cook stove that's been there for 100 years. That was a big no-no so they live without insurance.

 

[Aberdale]

The 3 car garage I currently have has a pit in one bay that was already there when I bought it. It has always had about 12" of water in it. I just keep it covered, and have never used it and have no intentions of ever using it.

The pit is for sale, if there's anyone that's interested in buying it. I should probably just fill it in to reduce any liability.

 

[GH85Carrera]

Around here is you try to get a permit to put in a pit it is just denied. The fumes and possibility of ground water contamination from waste oil is just all they see. We put in a storm shelter and the permit was approved in minutes. I could in theory take the metal lids off of the storm shelter and work down there but it would be a real pain. I put in a scissor lift and put it down into a shallow (9 inch deep) pit to get the lift below ground level. That is great for working on the cars.