I am a novice, home gamer wanna bee mechanic. I only aspire the keep my cars as long as possible and not see them destroyed by rust. Actually keeping the bolts for fusing in one big mass of rust is my biggest issue. I have no garage and my driveway is on an incline. So technically I can't work on my driveway way as it's unsafe. My window to do outdoors work is from May to October so my vehicle lift will light usage 2-4 times are year for 48 hour periods.
If Egyptians were able to build Pyramids then surely I can figure out how lift a car off the ground , in theory I have youtube forums etc, they didn't have that so I should at an advantage.
One the products that was on my short list of solutions was a car tilting / pivoting lift / jack. Not suppose to work on an incline but once its off the ground it's balanced so the incline is minor point right ?
This spring I managed to "negociate" a lower price for something that was not selling locally https://www.princessauto.com/en/700...vehicle-lift/product/PA0009056656#reviews-box
Used this device to undercoat a Mazda CX-3 that I purchased for my mon. Worked very well I was able to tilt the car back on fort on an inclined driveway. I thought this lift was keeper, minus the issue of pavers chewing up the plastic wheels this type of lift should be used on a flat solid concrete floor. Ideally I have to use some running board, plywood, ideally metal under the plastic wheels that run inwards.
I tried using this on our 2017 Prius Prime, and no go as the rocker panels are covered in plastic, there is nothing solid on the under body other than the official rocker panel jack points to lift the car at the front and back so no go for that vehicle.
Next I tried lifting our 2019 Highlander and again no go, the pinch welds on the rocker panel are not low enough so the panels on the tilt lift would crush some of the plastic shields that would have gotten in way.
What a shame to this ride of something what allow me to get the 4 wheels off the ground and keep the car level for such things a brake beading and ABS brake bleed using the techstream software and my annual rust proofing with woolwax. I typical do the 4 corners off the ground and it's always a pain to setup.
So before selling the lift I cut up some 4x4 old fence posts, ( they finished splitting years ago) cut a grove following the same depth I found on the factory supplied toyota scissor jack , Yeap that post will split right ? ( well is has not after 24 hours of standing ) but I will put a few bolts across to prevent that post from splitting open. If that were to happen hopefully I would hear the crack before it all comes tumbling down.
It took a few attempts the find the balance point of the car, amount of fuel in the tank and bike rack will change the balance point each time a vehicle is lifted.
On the balance point a male adult having normal strength can tilt a vehicle in a controlled safer manner. Before I start doing any work I will make sure to properly brace both the back and front, just incase something folds. I have a ton of old 4x4 posts I can use to make Jenga style towers underneath.
That Highlander is suffering from major cylinder scoring at a low mileage, it has been suggested on another thread here that the low tension piston rings are stuck so I was going to try the B12 chemtool cylinder soak but with a V6 2GR-FKS and its cylinders at 60 degrees I would have to tilt the car a full 30 degrees on each opposite side to get the cylinders level 3 at a time. What a pain.
If Egyptians were able to build Pyramids then surely I can figure out how lift a car off the ground , in theory I have youtube forums etc, they didn't have that so I should at an advantage.
One the products that was on my short list of solutions was a car tilting / pivoting lift / jack. Not suppose to work on an incline but once its off the ground it's balanced so the incline is minor point right ?
This spring I managed to "negociate" a lower price for something that was not selling locally https://www.princessauto.com/en/700...vehicle-lift/product/PA0009056656#reviews-box
Used this device to undercoat a Mazda CX-3 that I purchased for my mon. Worked very well I was able to tilt the car back on fort on an inclined driveway. I thought this lift was keeper, minus the issue of pavers chewing up the plastic wheels this type of lift should be used on a flat solid concrete floor. Ideally I have to use some running board, plywood, ideally metal under the plastic wheels that run inwards.
I tried using this on our 2017 Prius Prime, and no go as the rocker panels are covered in plastic, there is nothing solid on the under body other than the official rocker panel jack points to lift the car at the front and back so no go for that vehicle.
Next I tried lifting our 2019 Highlander and again no go, the pinch welds on the rocker panel are not low enough so the panels on the tilt lift would crush some of the plastic shields that would have gotten in way.
What a shame to this ride of something what allow me to get the 4 wheels off the ground and keep the car level for such things a brake beading and ABS brake bleed using the techstream software and my annual rust proofing with woolwax. I typical do the 4 corners off the ground and it's always a pain to setup.
So before selling the lift I cut up some 4x4 old fence posts, ( they finished splitting years ago) cut a grove following the same depth I found on the factory supplied toyota scissor jack , Yeap that post will split right ? ( well is has not after 24 hours of standing ) but I will put a few bolts across to prevent that post from splitting open. If that were to happen hopefully I would hear the crack before it all comes tumbling down.
It took a few attempts the find the balance point of the car, amount of fuel in the tank and bike rack will change the balance point each time a vehicle is lifted.
On the balance point a male adult having normal strength can tilt a vehicle in a controlled safer manner. Before I start doing any work I will make sure to properly brace both the back and front, just incase something folds. I have a ton of old 4x4 posts I can use to make Jenga style towers underneath.
That Highlander is suffering from major cylinder scoring at a low mileage, it has been suggested on another thread here that the low tension piston rings are stuck so I was going to try the B12 chemtool cylinder soak but with a V6 2GR-FKS and its cylinders at 60 degrees I would have to tilt the car a full 30 degrees on each opposite side to get the cylinders level 3 at a time. What a pain.
