Built a lift...

[carnut169]

Finished this project up last weekend & thought I'd share.

Homemade stand on wheels supports the car at a height that will not cause back problems, and it lifted via chain hoist. I installed the hoist on a trolly which rides on an 8" aluminum I beam. You might notice a clam on the beam- this keep the car from moving around when I raise it up. The pole is only needed (and I'm not sure it even is) when lifting the whole car, then it can be removed.

Whole deal cost around $300 (hoist, trolley, I beam, brackets to mount it, wood, fasteners, etc). I'm looking forward to working with this!

[83vdcsr]

I have the same set-up, except for the I-beam, Just a hook on the roof. Works great.

[quattro2.8]

I was thinking of getting some guys in our maint shop to weld me up something... Does the timber hold all of the weight safely? That would be a far easier way to go!

[DaveW]

Actually, the wood looks fine - I'd be more worried about the castors collapsing.

[carnut169]

I purchased the castors with this in mind and they are rated at 400lbs each. The stand is made of 4x4 Redwood, and the 2x4s that hold the two 1/2s together have thick aluminum renforcements. Stand should be just fine.

[DaveW]

So your car plus the stand only weighs 800 lb total? If the floor is at all uneven, or the stand is not completely square, most of the weight will be supported on two diagonally-opposite castors with the other two mostly unloaded...

[Douglas Brenner]

The hoist is great! I started out with a chain around a beam and one of those cheap ratchiting come alongs. My experience with casters is that small ones are fine on a flat clean surface. The problem is when they hit debris or a crack in the cement. Just be careful and slow when moving it and you shouldn't have any problem. Your back is going to love you for this!
www.brennerfabrication.com

[carnut169]

Dave-


The stand is quite light, but I'd guess the combo comes in at around 1,000lbs. The floor is not perfectly even, but the stand will flex a bit and it seems like all of the wheels are supporting weight- although its probably not an even spread. I will move it slowly- and since the engine is about to come out, the weight will drop a good bit. I've got some really stout castors that are not currently being used but they have 6" wheels so I'd have to cut down my stand for them to work... you are making me paranoid so that might be my project this afternoon!

[EPRacer]

Gentlemen:

As an architect I really want to caution you about connecting a hoist onto residential roof structures that were never were designed to carry a concentrated, dynamic load like a 1000 pound race car swinging around. Now, having said that .............

Looking at Shawn's photos you can see open wood rafters above, but he has used the aluminum beam to span from some structure across to some structure. It is difficult to see what the beam is bearing on, but from the exposed brace that runs back into the wall, I hope it is a wood column or several wood studs nailed togeather transfering the load to the floor. If the hoist is close to the center, then the load the beam support sees is half the total weight which is manageable by doubled up studs. I am counting on any residential garage that has crown mold to be well built.

If you are going to attempt this at home............try to have the load spread over several trusses or joist or rafters or what ever you may have. It is also a good idea to brace the trusses, and to have additional studs down to the floor.

Shawn, the only thing I would suggest is some bracing from the top of the beam diagonally back up to the joist to keep the beam from rotating. The same principals used in triangulating the frame of a race car for stiffness work in carpentry also. I may not be able to discuss suspension loading with Dave W., but my advice is to use common sense and ask the help of a carpenter.

Shawn, I hope that is a gallon jug of sweet tea in front of the TV and not some home brew "liquid traction" compound.


Lyn Pollock
Fort Myers, Florida

[DaveW]

Sean,

I'm always looking at things with a critical eye...

I didn't want to be a wet blanket, but, obviously, the last thing you'd want is for a castor to fold under and the stand to tip over.

What might be a good idea is to make triangulated brackets that fasten to the outer sides of the legs and extend out to widen the base so it'd be less likely to tip. You might have to put tension straps between the legs to prevent them from spreading. This castor arrangement has another advantage - the bottom of the legs can stay close to the ground for an additional safety factor.

[Dale Carter]

I also contemplated a lift from the ceiling in my garage. The ceiling is finished with 2x10 rafters. I was going to span about 10 feet of rafters with doubled 2x10's to attach a lift to. I was always afraid of what the flexing of the rafters would do to my finished ceiling. Getting the car up to a workable height has always been a problem. I recently purchased an ATV jack (1500lb capacity) from Sears Craftsman Club for $80.00. Once the car is rolled up on my scales (4 inches high) it slides right under and lifts up to 24 inches with a hydraulic foot pump. I slide my steel 24" horses under and let her down. Works like a dream. I think I will modify the jack platform to reach the centerline of the car better (needs about 4 inches).

[carnut169]

Thanks guys...last thing I want is anything falling.

Lyn- The garage is a tank... I should know, since I built it myself!
The beam is sitting in U shaped arrangement of welded angle iron. It cannot rock at all. Each side has 6- 1/2" lag bolts that go into the wood beams on each side. The side on the right is a double beam (2x8) with a 2x6 at a 45' angle for support. The other wooden beam is a triple (2x8) but I put a 10,000lb support pole (used for jacking floors) under it while jacking- you can just see it in the photo. Both wooden beams are supported by beams themselves which have triple studs on which they sit. Make sence? Probably not, so here is a quick sketch, looking from above.



Before the support pole was in I did lift the car and heard some creaking- probably nothing, but with the support pole & 45' piece it made no sound and seems solid as a rock.

Does this seem sturdy enough?

[Purple Frog]

Not that it matters to me, it's not my car.
I'd prefer a bit wider track on the rollers. And I'd go to the bigger diameter rollers.
You could put little feet under the crosspieces that almost touch the floor. Then if a roller fails, it won't drop much.
I'm thinking with the big rollers and a winch that may be the easiest way to get the car down that steepas% driveway of yours.
I was concerned because in the picture it looked like I could see light behind the end of the aluminum beam. Maybe fasten that crossbeam to it's hangers with a itsy-bitsy AN bolt?

You can tell there isn't much going on because I have so much time to critique your work. Of course I lift my whole car using a 4x4 laying across 4 trusses, 10 feet out from the closest wall. Who am i to say anything?

[Greg Mercurio]

Sean/Dave: My arythmetic may be as fuzzy as my head but (4) 400# rated casters will give a 1600# gross weight rating or 1.6 safety factor. I think you'll be ok. I'd avoid side loads though. :~)

Might consider boxing in the ends and one side with some plywood and glue/screw for stifness.

Merry Christmas to all and a safe 2005 Racing season. Looking forward to getting my first FC experience in a few short weeks at California Speedway.

[DaveW]

Greg,

What I was worried about were these things:

1) If the load is not carried evenly (and it can't be with four casters), then some will be overloaded. In addition, the CG of the racecar may not be divided evenly fore-aft.
2) While pushing the table around, or even while working on it, the table could have a tendency to tip, especially if the castors on one side were rotated to place the wheels inward.
3) If a castor failed or pulled loose, the table could list to one side and tip over.

Using heavier-duty castors, spacing them farther out to the sides, and lowering the table so the wood legs were just off the floor solves all these potential problems.

[EPRacer]

Sean:

As I said enlist the help of good carpenter/contractor and you appear to be both. The drawing was very good too. There should be no problem with the framing you used. I lift my car with an engine crane and it wants to rotate, so I tie a small rope to the front suspension and tie it off to the crane. It needs the front wheels extended all the way out or it wants to lift in the back.

You certainly thought your project well and your craftsmanship is excellent. Car ain't bad either!

Warm and joyous Holidays to you and yours,
Lyn Pollock
Fort Myers, Florida

[Daniel]

Sean,

Where did you get that aluminum I-beam? What is the cost?

[Jim Garry]

So you mean not everyone gets their car up on jackstands for the winter by jacking one side up, then the other, then using wood blocks under the lift and jacking the first side some more, etc?

Wow. What an eye opener.

Jim

[Bob Ramberg]

I built a lift for my garage also. I put a piece of C8x1/4 across six of the rafters and screwed it down. I also put shims between the steel and the rafters, starting at the ends and getting progressively thinner towards the center, with no shimms at the two center rafters. This helps distribute the load evenly, you don't have to wait for the center two rafters to deflect befor the end ones start taking load. I then drilled a hole in the center and put in a short section of 1" all-thread and secured it to the steel by two heavy hex nuts. On the garage side where the allthread comes through the plasterboard ceiling I put an eschucheon (sp?) plate and an eye hook. Except for the eye hook you don;t even know it is there.

For lifting up the car I designed a spreader bar from 2" sq. SS tubing. I grab the front and rear roll bars with lifting slings and the car lifts up level. I am using a come-along but will be upgrading to a chain fall soon.

I'll try to post a picture.

[Dave Hopple]

Sean, one thing you could do is, on the rolling chassis cart I made (out of steel) is add a shelf to lower part (on top of the long horizontial beams), lay/bolt a piece of plywood down, works great for storing stuff while you work, put the trickle charger, oil pan etc off the floor. -Dave

[carnut169]

Great idea Dave... when I first built the stand I wanted it to be easy to take apart and light so I could take it to the track. I was going to have some legs made for the I beam, but it seemed to cost more than it was worth to have. I also did not want a table- this way almost the entire car is accessable. Since it is not going to be used at the track I probably will add that shelf.

The I beam I found at a salvage yard- Cartersville Industrial Supply. I went looking for a small beam to use when leveling the platform but found this instead. The yard was probably 100 acres and the owner & I went out looking... there between city buses turned over and piles of other crap we found the beam. I was really not going to buy it but the owner (might have been 80+ years old) took a big fall and was a bloody mess. He did not want to loose the sale after his experience so he sold me the beam for $30 before heading off to the hospital. I felt too guilty not to buy it. Dan- he did have some more.

Bob- I like the idea of using thew square tubing... its not a big deal when the car is complete, but with the bell & rear end off the roll hoop is no longer the center of the weight and putting it back on the stand last night required lifting the car 5' off the ground!